15+ Healthy Evening Snack Ideas for Athletes
Planning a nutritious evening snack before bed can help support athletes with achieving their sports nutrition goals.
Equipping athletes with healthy evening snack ideas can be key for promoting recovery during sleep.
What to Include in a Healthy Evening Snack for Athletes
When planning what to eat for an evening snack, there are several key nutrition considerations I encourage athletes to keep in mind.
Let’s explore the benefits of including protein, carbohydrates, and anti-inflammatory foods in an athlete’s evening snack.
Include Protein in Evening Snacks for Athletes
Athletes desiring to gain or maintain muscle mass should aim to consume an evening snack that provides a good source of protein.
Consuming protein before sleep can help promote muscle protein synthesis during the overnight recovery period (1).
In visiting with athletes, I often find their evening snacks to be lacking in protein. Thus, this is one area many athletes can capitalize on to improve their sports nutrition meal plan.
Add Carbohydrates to Evening Snacks
In addition to protein, consuming carbohydrates with the evening snack can be beneficial for athletes.
Carbohydrate intake helps supports sleep by increasing tryptophan concentrations in the body. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that is used to produce the hormones serotonin and melatonin. These hormones both play an important role in regulating sleep (2).
I encourage athletes to be particularly mindful to include carbohydrates in their bedtime snacks when they have evening practices and games.
The added carbohydrates can help athletes with replacing energy stores used during the activity and support them with meeting their recovery nutrition needs.
Incorporate Anti-Inflammatory Foods into Healthy Evening Snacks
Finally, I encourage athletes to look for ways to incorporate foods in their evening snacks that can help reduce inflammation in the body and support recovery.
Anti-inflammatory foods that I commonly recommend to athletes to include in their evening snacks are listed below.
- Berries and cherries
- Tart cherry juice
- Kiwifruit
- Dark green leafy vegetables
- Avocados
- Nuts and nut butters
- Seeds: Chia seeds, flaxseeds
- Herbs and spices: Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon
Healthy Evening Snack Ideas for Athletes
Based on these nutrition considerations, let’s take a look at a variety of items that can be a great addition to an athlete’s evening snack.
Cottage Cheese: High-Protein Evening Snack Idea
Cottage cheese is an excellent high-protein snack for athletes to enjoy in the evening before bed.
A 1-cup serving of cottage cheese provides ~28 grams of protein (3). The majority of protein in cottage cheese is casein protein, which is more slowly absorbed by the body compared to other types of protein (4).
Athletes can top their cottage cheese with fruit, such as sliced kiwi, pineapple, peaches, berries, or cherries.
Stirring in seeds or nuts can be another great way to boost the nutrient content of their cottage cheese. Some of my favorite additions include: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, walnuts, and pistachios.
Pro Tip: If athletes are not a fan of the texture of cottage cheese, they can consider blending it into a smoothie. The cottage cheese won’t alter the flavor of the smoothie, but will make it extra creamy.
Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt is another great way for athletes to add protein to their evening snack.
The protein content of Greek yogurt is higher than traditional yogurts. A 5.3 oz individual container of Greek yogurt contains ~13 grams of protein (5).
Consider making a Greek yogurt parfait with frozen berries and a whole grain cereal or granola. This nutrient-packed evening snack provides protein, whole grains, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Ultra-Filtered Milk
Ultra-filtered, high-protein milks, such as Fairlife® or H‑E‑B MooTopia®, are a nutritious option for boosting the protein content of an evening snack.
These milks are filtered to remove the lactose and contain a concentrated protein and calcium content.
To provide a comparison, a cup of regular cow’s milk has 8 grams of protein (6), while a cup of ultra-filtered milk has ~13 grams of protein (7).
Adding 2 cups of ultra-filtered milk to an evening snack could significantly boost an athlete’s protein intake before bed.
As an added benefit, milk is also a dietary source of tryptophan, which can support improved sleep for athletes (2).
I suggest pairing ultra-filtered milk with a nutritious, whole grain breakfast cereal for a healthy evening snack. Athletes can add dried fruit, fresh berries, banana slices, or nuts to your bowl of cereal to further increase the nutrient content of the snack.
High-Protein Waffles and Muffins
Protein frozen waffles, such as those made by Kodiak Cakes®, can be a quick and easy evening snack. Just pop them in the toaster and you have a high protein snack ready in minutes.
Athletes can top the waffles with nut butter for a delicious spread that contains healthy fats and protein.
Protein muffins can also make for a delicious evening snack. Kodiak Cakes® also offers a variety of high-protein muffin mixes.
I encourage athletes to take time to meal prep a batch of the muffins on the weekend to enjoy all week long.
Enjoying the toaster waffles or muffins with a glass of high-protein milk can help ensure athletes meet their protein needs prior to bed.
Tart Cherries and Tart Cherry Juice
Tart cherries are a nutrient-rich fruit choice for athletes. They contain antioxidants and phytochemicals, which have anti-inflammatory effects in the body (8).
In addition, tart cherries provide a natural source of melatonin. Montmorency tart cherries, in particular, are rich in melatonin compared to other varieties (9).
Thus, consuming tart cherry juice has been researched as a natural way to support sleep quality and duration in athletes (2).
Athletes can consider drinking a glass of tart cherry juice with their evening snack before bed. If the tartness of tart cherry juice is too “tart” for their tastes, athletes can try blending it into a fruit smoothie.
Berries: Healthy Addition to an Evening Snack
Berries are a nutrient-rich addition to an athlete’s evening snack, providing fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
They are recognized as being one of the best dietary sources of polyphenols, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the body (10).
I encourage athletes to include a variety of berries in their evening snacks, such as:
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Cranberries
- Acai berries
- Goji berries
Kiwis: Nutrient-Rich Addition to an Evening Snack
Kiwis are another nutritious fruit option for athletes to include in their snacks before bed. They are packed full of nutrients, including: Vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as potassium, copper and dietary fiber (11).
One of the benefits associated with kiwi consumption is improved sleep. Kiwis contain serotonin, as well as folate and antioxidants, which together may promote improved sleep (2).
15 Healthy Evening Snack Ideas for Athletes
Putting this all together, here are 15 easy evening snack ideas for athletes.
- Greek yogurt with blueberries and whole grain granola
- Protein toaster waffles with peanut butter
- Cottage cheese with sliced kiwi and almonds
- Breakfast bars with chocolate high-protein milk
- Bagel with almond butter, banana slices, honey
- Sliced cheese, whole grain crackers, grapes, cashews
- Trail mix made with pretzels, cereal, air-popped popcorn, dried fruit, mixed nuts
- Avocado toast with hardboiled eggs
- Chia seed pudding with cherries (make with high-protein milk)
- String cheese, fig bars, tart cherry juice
- Whole grain breakfast cereal with strawberries, walnuts, high-protein milk
- Greek yogurt drink, protein muffin
- Graham crackers with nut butter
- Protein overnight oats
- Peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread with high-protein milk
Bonus Healthy Evening Snack Idea for Athletes – Fruit Smoothie
A fruit smoothie is an easy way for athletes to enjoy a power-packed evening snack.
By carefully selecting the ingredients added to the smoothie, athletes can create a nutrient-rich smoothie that supports their sports nutrition needs.
Add Protein to Your Evening Smoothie
There are a variety of ways athletes can boost the protein content of their smoothie with real food items.
Ideas include:
- Greek yogurt
- Cottage cheese
- Ultra-filtered milk
- Dry milk
- Nut butter
- Tofu
These are all simple alternatives to protein powder that athletes can use in a smoothie to increase the protein and overall nutrient content of the drink.
Include Anti-Inflammatory Ingredients
Athletes should also include a variety of anti-inflammatory fruits, leafy greens, avocado, nut butter, seeds, and spices in their smoothies for added nutritional benefit.
Add a Variety of Frozen Fruits to Your Smoothie
Frozen fruit is flash-frozen at the peak of ripeness so it maintains a high nutrient content. Using a variety of fruits allows athletes to change the flavor each time they make the smoothie.
Athletes can consider trying the following fruits in your smoothie:
- Tart cherries
- Berries: Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
- Tropical Fruits: Mango, pineapple, papaya
- Banana slices
15+ Healthy Evening Snack Ideas for Athletes
You are now equipped with ideas for building a healthy evening snack to support an athlete’s sports nutrition needs.
To be successful with incorporating these snack ideas into their meal plan, athletes should take time to plan what snacks they will have before bed.
I encourage athletes to ingredient prep their snacks for the week in advance. This will help to ensure that they have healthy snacks ready when they are tired at the end of the day.
For additional suggestions on ways to meet their performance nutrition needs, athletes should visit with a sports dietitian nutritionist. The sports dietitian can work with the athlete on developing a customized sports nutrition meal plan that meets their training and performance needs.
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About the Author
Mandy Tyler is a Sports Dietitian Nutritionist in the San Antonio, TX area. She is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, a Licensed Athletic Trainer, and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine. Mandy has experience working with athletes at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. She believes the key to reaching one’s full potential, both in everyday life and in sports performance, relies on a healthy nutritional foundation.
If you are looking to take your performance to the next level, make sure to check out my new Sports Nutrition Game Day Guide. This downloadable guide is written to help athletes develop an individualized plan to achieve peak performance on game day.
