Cucumber Slices with Turkey Breast
One motion: roll turkey around cold cucumber, crack pepper, eat. That is the entire recipe.
80 kcal, 13g of protein, and nothing between you and a high-protein snack except three minutes and two ingredients. The kind of thing you make when the gap between lunch and dinner gets loud but the calorie budget has no room for negotiation.
Ingredients
- cucumber 0.5
- turkey breast 4 slices
Method
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Slice the cucumber into strips. Halve the slices of turkey breast.
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Roll the turkey breast around the cucumber strips. Season with pepper.
Spread a thin layer of sambal on the turkey slices before rolling. The heat lifts the snack from plain assembly to something you actually look forward to making again.
Behind this recipe
Is 13g of protein enough for a snack?
For a between-meal bridge, 13g is a solid dose. Research found that protein suppresses appetite through three gut hormones (GLP-1, PYY, and CCK) that fire within minutes of eating protein, regardless of portion size. A 49-trial meta-analysis with nearly 3,000 participants confirmed this mechanism works even at small protein doses. If you want more, double the recipe to 26g at 160 kcal.
Why does such a small snack actually fill me up?
The protein. 65% of this snack's calories come from protein, which triggers specific satiety hormones your gut releases the moment protein arrives. Those hormones tell your brain to stop reaching for food, and they keep working for hours. Eighty calories of crackers would not do the same thing because carbohydrates alone do not trigger the same hormonal response.
Can I prep these ahead of time?
You can, but they are best fresh. Pre-rolled turkey dries out within a few hours in the fridge, and the cucumber releases water that makes the rolls soggy. For prepping ahead, store the cucumber strips and turkey slices separately in sealed containers and roll them when you are ready to eat. Assembly takes under a minute.
