🩸 Foods Highest in Iron — TOP 30(per 100g)
Carries oxygen in red blood cells. Critical for preventing anemia. FDA Daily Value: 18mg.
1–30 of 7,855 foods
What Iron Does
Iron is the core of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through the bloodstream. Deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide and produces fatigue, breathlessness, and impaired concentration long before it is diagnosed.
This ranking is topped entirely by dried herbs — thyme at 123.6mg per 100g, basil at 89.8mg, spearmint at 87.5mg. Drying removes water and concentrates minerals enormously, but a teaspoon of dried thyme weighs about a gram.
The sources that move the needle are red meat and organ meats for heme iron, and legumes, dark leafy greens, and enriched grains for non-heme iron. Cooked white beans (3.7mg) and lentils (3.3mg) are the strongest everyday plant options.
Daily intake reference (FDA Daily Value)
FDA Daily Value: 18mg per day. Needs differ sharply by group — menstruating women lose more iron and often fall short, while pregnancy raises requirements further still.
Getting Enough Iron
Pair non-heme iron with vitamin C
Vitamin C converts plant iron into a form the gut absorbs far more readily, raising uptake several-fold. Tomatoes in a bean chili, peppers in a lentil salad, or citrus after the meal all work.
Know which kind you are eating
Heme iron from meat and seafood is absorbed at roughly 15–35% and is largely unaffected by the rest of the meal. Non-heme iron from plants runs 2–20% and is heavily influenced by what it is eaten with.
Move coffee and tea away from meals
Tannins bind non-heme iron and cut absorption. Shifting a strong coffee or tea to between meals rather than with them is one of the simplest changes available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why do dried herbs top the iron ranking?
A. Drying removes nearly all the water, so everything left is concentrated into the remaining 100g. Dried thyme genuinely contains 123.6mg per 100g, but a typical serving is about one gram, contributing roughly 1.2mg.
Q. What are the best practical iron sources?
A. For heme iron: beef, lamb, liver, oysters, and clams. For non-heme: cooked white beans (3.7mg per 100g), lentils (3.3mg), kidney beans, tofu, and enriched breads and cereals.
Q. Can you get too much iron?
A. From food, rarely. Supplemental iron is a different matter — excess is stored rather than excreted, and people with hemochromatosis or without a diagnosed deficiency should not supplement without medical advice.
Related Reading
Related Products & Books
These are unpaid product suggestions. NutriDB is not an affiliate of these retailers and receives no commission from these links.
Data source: USDA FoodData Central (Public Domain) — fdc.nal.usda.gov