Return certain fields with populate from mongoose
Model .find(query) .populate({ path: 'key_with_ref', model: 'model_name', select: { 'field_name': 1,'field_name':1}, }) -OR- Model .find(query) .populate({ path: 'key_with_ref', model: 'model_name', select: 'field_name, field_name', })
Source: stackoverflow.com