List of foods by protein content

Below is a list of protein content in foods, organised by food group and given in measurements of grams of protein per 100 grams of food portion. Most natural foods are comprised largely of water. Reduction of water content has the greatest effect of increasing protein. It is to be noted that not all protein is equally digestible. Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) is a method of evaluating the protein quality based on the amino acid requirements of humans.

Egg and dairy
Protein content range: 7.0 to 40.8
 * Cheese
 * high scores: parmesan 34.99 to 40.79; gruyère 29.8; traditional cheddar 24.9 to 27.2
 * average scores: camembert 19.8; processed cheddar 16.42 to 24.6
 * low scores: feta 14.7; ricotta 11.26 to 11.39

10.62 to 13.63 (cooked)
 * Whole chicken egg


 * Milk and milk substitutes:
 * Cow milk (fluid, raw or pasteurized) - 3.2 to 3.3
 * Soy milk 5.1 to 7.5
 * Goat milk 4.9 to 9.9
 * Almond milk 1

Meat and mock meat

 * Common red meats:
 * Beef, cooked - 16.91 to 40.6
 * Lamb, cooked - 20.91 to 50.9
 * high scores: braised eye-of-round steak 40.62; broiled t-bone steak (porterhouse) 32.11
 * average scores: baked lean (ground beef) 24.47
 * low scores: corned beef: 16.91


 * Meat oddities:
 * Bearded seal game meat, dried: 82.6
 * Moose game meat, dried: 79.5
 * Beaver game meat, broiled: 23.0


 * White meat
 * Fish
 * Mock meat (cooked vegetarian preparations): 18.53 to 23.64

Vegetables, grain, and pulses

 * Vegetables:
 * Nori seaweed, dried sheets: 5.81
 * ready-to-eat green vegetables: 0.33 to 3.11
 * ready-to-eat starchy tubers: 0.87 to 6.17
 * high scores: home-prepared potato pancakes 6.17; French fries 3.18-4.03
 * average scores: baked potato 2.5; boiled yam 1.49
 * low scores: boiled sweet potato 0.87.


 * Legumes:
 * dry roasted soybeans: 39.58
 * peanuts (raw, roasted, butter): 23.68 to 28.04


 * Baked products:
 * Wholewheat pancakes:
 * Bread: 6.7 to 11.4
 * Crackers: 7.43
 * pulses

Other food elements
Natural protein concentrates (often used in bodybuilding or as sports dietary supplements):
 * Soy protein isolate (prepared with sodium or potassium): 80.66
 * Whey protein isolate: 79.5
 * Egg white, dried: 79.0
 * Spirulina alga, dried: 57.45 (more often quoted as 55 to 77)
 * Baker's yeast: 38.33
 * Hemp husks 30