A standard 3-ounce (85g) serving of cooked meat delivers roughly 20 to 29 grams of protein, depending on the type and cut. That 3-ounce portion is about the size of a deck of cards, and it’s the benchmark used by the USDA for all nutrition labeling on meat. Fattier cuts sit at the lower end of that range, while lean cuts and game meats push toward the top.
Beef Protein by Cut
Beef is one of the most protein-dense meats available, but the numbers shift meaningfully depending on which cut you choose. A 3-ounce serving of braised top round, one of the leanest cuts, packs about 29 grams of protein. Broiled top sirloin comes in around 26 grams, rib steak at 27 grams, and tenderloin at roughly 22 grams per serving.
The pattern is straightforward: leaner cuts contain more protein per ounce because fat takes up space that would otherwise be muscle tissue. A well-marbled ribeye tastes richer, but gram for gram it delivers less protein than a lean sirloin. If you’re eating beef primarily for protein, choosing leaner cuts gets you more per serving without increasing portion size.
Chicken and Turkey
Chicken breast is the go-to protein source for a reason. A 3-ounce roasted chicken breast provides about 24 grams of protein. Chicken thighs, which carry more fat, drop to around 20 grams for the same serving size. Turkey breast edges slightly higher at about 26 grams per 3-ounce serving, while turkey leg comes in at roughly 24 grams.
White meat (breast) consistently outperforms dark meat (thighs, legs) in protein density. The difference is modest, around 3 to 4 grams per serving, so if you prefer dark meat for the flavor, you’re not making a major sacrifice.
Pork Protein by Cut
Pork tenderloin is the leanest option in this category, delivering 25 grams of protein per 3-ounce serving. Pork loin chops and country-style ribs both come in at 24 grams. Rib chops, boneless top loin chops, blade steaks, and sirloin roasts all hover around 22 grams. Spareribs, the fattiest common cut, sit at 21 grams.
The spread across pork cuts is relatively narrow, just 4 grams separating the leanest from the fattiest. Pork tenderloin competes directly with chicken breast in protein content, which makes it a strong option if you’re looking for variety.
Lamb Protein by Cut
Lamb shank and shoulder chops (both arm and blade) top the list at 26 grams of protein per 3-ounce cooked serving. Leaner preparations like braised shoulder blade deliver about 25 grams, while roasted leg of lamb comes in around 21 to 23 grams depending on whether it’s measured with or without visible fat. Rib roast and loin chops both provide about 21 grams.
Braised lamb cuts tend to test higher for protein than roasted ones, partly because the longer cooking time drives off more moisture, concentrating the protein in a smaller volume of meat.
Game Meats: Venison, Bison, and Elk
Game meats are exceptionally lean, and that translates directly into higher protein density. Per 100 grams of cooked meat, bison delivers about 25 grams of protein, venison (deer) hits 26.5 grams, and elk leads the pack at nearly 27 grams. Converted to a 3-ounce serving, that works out to roughly 21 to 23 grams, comparable to or slightly above most conventional meats.
The real advantage of game meats isn’t necessarily more protein per serving. It’s that they deliver that protein with significantly less fat, meaning a higher percentage of the calories you’re consuming come from protein rather than fat.
Why Raw and Cooked Numbers Differ
One of the most common points of confusion when tracking protein is that raw and cooked meat give different numbers on a scale. This doesn’t mean protein is lost during cooking. When meat cooks, it loses water, not protein. The protein concentrates into a smaller, lighter piece of meat.
For example, 100 grams of raw chicken breast contains about 23 grams of protein. Cook that same piece and it shrinks to roughly 75 grams, but it still contains the same 23 grams of protein. If you then weigh out 100 grams of that cooked chicken, you’d measure about 30 grams of protein, because you’re now looking at what started as a larger raw portion.
This matters for meal planning. If a recipe calls for “6 ounces of chicken” and doesn’t specify raw or cooked, the protein count could be off by 20% or more. Most nutrition labels on packaged raw meat list values for the raw weight. If you weigh your food after cooking, you’ll need to account for the moisture loss, typically 25% to 30% of the original weight for most meats.
How Fat Content Affects Protein
Fat and protein compete for space in every cut of meat. The more intramuscular fat (marbling) a cut contains, the less protein it delivers per ounce. This is why a lean top round steak provides 29 grams of protein per serving while a fattier tenderloin provides 22 grams. The tenderloin isn’t lower quality. It simply contains more fat by weight, leaving less room for protein.
With ground beef, this relationship becomes especially clear. As the fat percentage increases from 5% to 30%, protein per serving drops because you’re replacing muscle tissue with fat in every bite. Choosing 90/10 or 95/5 ground beef over 70/30 can add several grams of protein to the same portion size.
Protein Quality in Meat
Not all protein sources are created equal. Meat protein is considered “complete,” meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids your body can’t produce on its own. But beyond completeness, there’s a measure of how well your body can actually digest and use those amino acids, scored on a scale where 100 represents a perfect match for human needs.
Beef and pork consistently score above 100 on this digestibility scale, meaning they provide more usable essential amino acids than the minimum your body requires. A medium-cooked beef ribeye scores around 111 for adults, while pork loin scores between 117 and 139 depending on how thoroughly it’s cooked. Interestingly, overcooking can reduce these scores. Well-done beef ribeye drops to 107, compared to 130 for medium. This suggests that while the total protein doesn’t disappear with longer cooking, the body may absorb it slightly less efficiently.
Meat is also particularly rich in leucine, the amino acid most directly responsible for triggering muscle protein synthesis. Cooked beef provides about 1.9 grams of leucine per 100 grams, comfortably above the 2 to 3 gram threshold generally considered optimal for a single meal when you account for typical serving sizes of 4 to 6 ounces.
Quick Comparison Across All Meats
Here’s how the major meats stack up for a standard 3-ounce cooked serving:
- Beef top round (braised): 29g
- Beef rib steak (broiled): 27g
- Beef top sirloin (broiled): 26g
- Turkey breast (roasted): 26g
- Pork tenderloin (roasted): 25g
- Chicken breast (roasted): 24g
- Pork loin chop (broiled): 24g
- Lamb shoulder (braised): 25g
- Turkey leg (roasted): 24g
- Beef tenderloin (broiled): 22g
- Lamb loin chop (broiled): 21g
- Chicken thigh (roasted): 20g
- Pork spareribs (braised): 21g
The spread from top to bottom is only about 9 grams. If you’re eating any type of meat in reasonable portions, you’re getting a substantial dose of high-quality protein regardless of which animal it came from. The real variation comes from how lean the cut is and whether you’re measuring raw or cooked weight.