🥩 Foods Highest in Protein — TOP 30(per 100g)

Essential macronutrient for muscle, organ, and immune function. FDA Daily Value: 50g.

#	Food	Category	Protein(g)	% DV
🥇	Soy protein isolate, potassium type	Legumes and Legume Products	88.32	177%
🥈	Soy protein isolate	Legumes and Legume Products	88.32	177%
🥉	Gelatins, dry powder, unsweetened	Sweets	85.6	171%
4	Egg, white, dried, stabilized, glucose reduced	Dairy and Egg Products	84.08	168%
5	Seal, bearded (Oogruk), meat, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	82.6	165%
6	Egg, white, dried, powder, stabilized, glucose reduced	Dairy and Egg Products	82.4	165%
7	Egg, white, dried	Dairy and Egg Products	81.1	162%
8	Egg, white, dried	Dairy and Egg Products	79.9	160%
9	Beverages, Protein powder whey based	Beverages	78.13	156%
10	Steelhead trout, dried, flesh (Shoshone Bannock)	Other	77.27	155%
11	Egg, white, dried, flakes, stabilized, glucose reduced	Dairy and Egg Products	76.92	154%
12	Vital wheat gluten	Cereal Grains and Pasta	75.16	150%
13	Whale, beluga, meat, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	69.86	140%
14	Beverages, ABBOTT, EAS whey protein powder	Beverages	66.67	133%
15	Soy protein concentrate, produced by alcohol extraction	Legumes and Legume Products	63.63	127%
16	Soy protein concentrate, produced by acid wash	Legumes and Legume Products	63.63	127%
17	Fish, cod, Atlantic, dried and salted	Finfish and Shellfish Products	62.82	126%
18	Fish, whitefish, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	62.44	125%
19	Seal, bearded (Oogruk), meat, partially dried (Alaska Native)	Other	62.38	125%
20	Fish, salmon, chum, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	62.09	124%
21	Snacks, pork skins, plain	Snacks	61.3	123%
22	Salmon, red (sockeye), filets with skin, smoked (Alaska Native)	Other	60.62	121%
23	Fish, herring eggs, Pacific, dry (Alaska Native)	Other	60.4	121%
24	Caribou, shoulder meat, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	59.38	119%
25	Beverages, Whey protein powder isolate	Beverages	58.14	116%
26	Snacks, pork skins, barbecue-flavor	Snacks	57.9	116%
27	Seaweed, spirulina, dried	Vegetables and Vegetable Products	57.47	115%
28	Walrus, meat, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	57	114%
29	Smelt, dried (Alaska Native)	Other	56.19	112%
30	Beverages, Protein powder soy based	Beverages	55.56	111%

1–30 of 7,879 foods

What Protein Does

Protein supplies the amino acids your body uses to build and repair muscle, organs, skin, enzymes, and antibodies. Unlike fat and carbohydrate, the body keeps no dedicated protein store, so intake needs to be steady rather than occasional.

The top of this ranking is held by isolated and dried ingredients — soy protein isolate at 88.3g per 100g, unsweetened gelatin powder at 85.6g, dried egg white at 84.1g. These are concentrated ingredients, not meals.

Among foods you would actually plate, cooked chicken breast (31.0g), pork tenderloin (30.4g), lean ground beef (28.9g), and canned tuna (25.5g) are the practical leaders, with cooked legumes clustering around 7–10g.

Daily intake reference (FDA Daily Value)

FDA Daily Value: 50g per day on a 2,000-calorie diet. Requirements scale with body weight and activity — commonly cited targets run from 0.8g to 1.6g per kilogram of body weight per day, with the higher end for people doing resistance training.

Getting Enough Protein

Spread it across the day

There is a ceiling on how much protein the body can put toward muscle synthesis in one sitting. Roughly 20–30g per meal beats one large evening portion — breakfast is where most people fall short.

Mix animal and plant sources

Animal proteins are complete and highly digestible; legumes and grains bring fiber that animal foods have none of. Beans with rice is the classic pairing because legumes are low in methionine and grains are low in lysine.

Watch the cooking state

Dry legume figures are roughly three times the cooked ones — dry lentils show 24.6g per 100g against 9.0g cooked. Always check which state a number refers to before comparing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Which everyday food has the most protein per 100g?

A. Cooked chicken breast leads the common foods at 31.0g per 100g, followed by pork tenderloin (30.4g), lean ground beef (28.9g), and canned tuna (25.5g). Isolated ingredients like soy protein isolate go higher but are not eaten by the 100g.

Q. How much protein do I actually need?

A. The FDA Daily Value is 50g. Most guidance sets a floor of 0.8g per kilogram of body weight, rising toward 1.2–1.6g/kg for people training regularly or trying to preserve muscle while losing weight.

Q. Is plant protein worse than animal protein?

A. It is lower per 100g and individual sources are limited in specific amino acids, but a varied plant diet covers the full profile. Soybeans are the exception — at 18.2g per 100g cooked they match animal density and are complete on their own.

🥩 Foods Highest in Protein — TOP 30(per 100g)

What Protein Does

Getting Enough Protein

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Reading

Other Nutrient Rankings