High-Protein Vegetables: 21 Vegetables Ranked by Protein, Plus 6 Legumes That Beat Them All

The short answer: the vegetables with the most protein are green peas (8.2 grams per cooked cup), Brussels sprouts (5.6 g), spinach (5.3 g), snow or sugar snap peas (5.2 g), artichoke hearts (5.2 g) and collard greens (5.1 g). If you count legumes, edamame (18.5 g per cup) and lentils (17.9 g) beat every vegetable on the list.

Here's what most lists won't tell you: no vegetable is a high-protein food on its own. To get 30 grams of protein from broccoli, you'd need about 8 cups. Vegetables add a few grams, a lot of fiber and very few calories. Your protein still has to come mostly from protein foods.

Every number here comes from the USDA's nutrition database.

How these numbers were measured

• Cooked, not raw. Every serving is 1 cup cooked (boiled and drained, no salt), unless the table says otherwise. Cooked vegetables pack down, so a cooked cup holds far more vegetable than a raw cup. A cup of cooked spinach weighs 180 grams. A cup of raw spinach weighs 30 grams.
• Frozen is noted. Some numbers are for vegetables cooked from frozen, because that's how USDA measured them.
• Protein is shown to one decimal. The numbers are small, so rounding to whole grams would hide the differences. Calories are rounded to the nearest calorie.
• Butter, oil and sauces aren't included. One tablespoon of butter or oil adds about 100 to 120 calories.

The full list: 21 vegetables ranked by protein

Source: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy database. Each food's USDA ID is listed in the sources at the end.

The most protein per calorie

If you're watching calories, this is the number that matters. These eight give you the most protein for the fewest calories:

For comparison, skinless roasted chicken breast has 18.8 grams of protein per 100 calories. Even the leanest greens give you less protein per calorie than chicken breast, and far less per serving. For the foods that beat chicken, see High-Protein, Low-Calorie Foods: 30 Best Choices.

Legumes: the plant foods that actually have protein

For this comparison, edamame, lentils and beans are listed separately from the vegetables above. Many lists mix them in. They're separated here because they have 12 to 18.5 grams of protein per cup, compared with about 2 to 8 grams for the vegetables above. They also have more calories.

Edamame has the most protein per cup and per calorie. Lentils and black beans have the most fiber, at about 15 grams per cup.

How much would you have to eat to get 30 grams?

Thirty grams is the per-meal protein amount linked to better muscle protein building in research (Mamerow et al., Journal of Nutrition, 2014). Here's what it takes to get there from vegetables and legumes alone:

Compare that with 4 oz of skinless roasted chicken breast: 35 grams of protein for 186 calories.

This is why The Diet Rebel approach treats vegetables as the volume on your plate, not the protein. They fill you up for very few calories. The protein comes from the food next to them.

Raw vs. cooked: why the numbers look so different

Protein numbers for the same vegetable can look very different from one list to the next. Usually that's raw versus cooked.

Cooking doesn't add protein. A cup of cooked spinach is packed down, so it weighs six times as much as a cup of raw spinach (180 grams versus 30 grams).

How to use vegetables on a high-protein plate

Put a protein food at the center and add one or two vegetables from the top of the list. For example:

• 4 oz roasted chicken breast + 1 cup cooked spinach + 1 cup cooked Brussels sprouts: 293 calories and 46 grams of protein. The two vegetables add about 11 grams of that.

For full meals built this way, see High-Protein Meals: 14 Easy Meals With 30+ Grams of Protein. For mornings, see High-Protein Breakfast: 12 Ideas With 30+ Grams of Protein. For between meals, see High-Protein Snacks.

Common mistakes

• Counting on vegetables for protein. Even the top vegetable on this list, green peas, has 8.2 grams per cup. Set your daily target first with How Much Protein Do I Need?, then build meals around protein foods.
• Forgetting the butter, oil and cheese sauce. Vegetables are low in calories until you add them. Measure what goes on top. If tracking feels like a chore, read How to Count Calories Without Going Crazy.
• Treating potatoes, corn and peas like greens. They're starchier. A medium baked potato has 161 calories. A cup of cooked spinach has 41.
• Comparing raw numbers to cooked numbers. Check whether a label or list is raw or cooked before you compare.

Frequently asked questions

What vegetable has the most protein?

Green peas, with 8.2 grams per cup cooked from frozen. Among leafy greens, cooked spinach has the most, at 5.3 grams per cup. If you count legumes, edamame has the most, at 18.5 grams per cup.

Does broccoli have protein?

Yes, but not much. A cup of chopped, cooked broccoli has 3.7 grams of protein and 55 calories. A cup of raw chopped broccoli has 2.6 grams.

Does spinach have protein?

Yes. A cup of cooked spinach has 5.3 grams of protein for 41 calories. A cup of raw spinach has 0.9 grams, because it weighs much less.

Do peas have protein?

Yes. Green peas have the most protein of any vegetable on this list: 8.2 grams per cup, cooked from frozen, with 125 calories.

Does cauliflower have protein?

A little. A cup of cooked cauliflower has 2.3 grams of protein and 29 calories.

Are there any high-protein vegetables?

Not by the standard most people mean. No vegetable here comes close to the 30 grams per meal used in this article series. Vegetables are high in protein per calorie, though. Bok choy and spinach both have about 13 grams per 100 calories.

The bottom line

Green peas, Brussels sprouts, spinach, snap peas, artichoke hearts and collard greens have the most protein of any vegetable, at about 5 to 8 grams per cooked cup. Edamame and lentils have more than twice that. Eat plenty of vegetables for volume and fiber, and get most of your protein from the food beside them. To find your calorie number, see Know Your Number.

Want a plan built around foods you actually like? Book a free consult.

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About the author: Brian is The Diet Rebel, an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, Fitness Coach and Certified Weight Management Specialist, with a Precision Nutrition Certificate in Nutrition and Coaching.

This article is for education, not medical advice. If you have kidney disease or another medical condition, ask your doctor before changing how much protein you eat.

Sources

1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018 release). https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/ — USDA food ID (FDC ID) for each food:
   • Green peas, frozen, cooked: 170017
   • Brussels sprouts, frozen, cooked: 169973
   • Spinach, cooked: 168463
   • Spinach, raw: 168462
   • Snow and sugar snap peas (edible-podded peas), cooked: 170011
   • Artichokes, frozen, cooked: 168388
   • Collard greens, cooked: 170407
   • Potato, baked, flesh and skin: 170093
   • Asparagus, cooked: 168390
   • Sweet corn, frozen, cooked: 168399
   • Sweet potato, baked in skin: 168483
   • Broccoli, cooked: 169967
   • Broccoli, raw: 170379
   • Beet greens, cooked: 170376
   • Mustard greens, cooked: 169257
   • Kale, cooked: 169238
   • White mushrooms, cooked: 169252
   • Swiss chard, cooked: 170401
   • Mung bean sprouts, raw: 169957
   • Bok choy, cooked: 170391
   • Green beans, cooked: 169141
   • Cauliflower, cooked: 170397
   • Zucchini, cooked: 169292
   • Edamame, frozen, prepared: 168411
   • Lentils, cooked: 172421
   • Kidney beans, cooked: 175194
   • Black beans, cooked: 173735
   • Chickpeas, cooked: 173757
   • Lima beans, baby, frozen, cooked: 169956
   • Chicken breast, skinless, roasted: 171477
2. Mamerow MM, et al. Dietary protein distribution positively influences 24-h muscle protein synthesis in healthy adults. Journal of Nutrition, 2014. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24477298/

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