Producing recombinant proteins in bacterial hosts is a widely-used laboratory procedure. But generating a large yield of protein is often challenging. Getting enough raw material for experiments can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. In the August issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, Jianjun Wang and colleagues present a method for Preparation of Very-High-Yield Recombinant Proteins using Novel High-Cell-Density Bacterial Expression Methods. By combining traditional IPTG induction with high-cell-density auto-induction, the method routinely produces 15-35 mg of pure protein from 50 mL bacterial cell cultures. Detailed protocols are given for preparation of a starting culture, double colony selection and optimization of expression conditions, which ensure plasmid stability resulting in a high yield of recombinant protein production.