One cup of chopped raw broccoli contains about 2.6 grams of protein. That’s a modest amount on its own, but broccoli is one of the higher-protein vegetables you can eat, and its protein comes with an unusually favorable nutrient profile for a plant food.
Protein in Raw vs. Cooked Broccoli
Raw broccoli provides roughly 2.6 grams of protein per cup (about 91 grams). Cooking concentrates broccoli slightly because it loses water, so a cup of boiled, drained broccoli (156 grams) bumps up to around 3.7 grams of protein. The protein itself isn’t destroyed by cooking. You’re simply fitting more broccoli into the same measuring cup once it’s softened and wilted down.
A full head of broccoli, which weighs around 600 grams, contains roughly 17 grams of protein total. Most people eat one to two cups in a sitting, so a realistic serving lands somewhere between 2.5 and 4 grams depending on preparation.
How Broccoli Compares to Other Vegetables
Among common vegetables, broccoli holds its own. When comparing cooked versions cup for cup:
- Cooked spinach: 5.3 grams per cup
- Cooked kale: 3.8 grams per cup
- Cooked broccoli: 3.7 grams per cup
Spinach looks like the clear winner here, but that’s partly because cooked spinach compresses dramatically. A cup of cooked spinach starts as a huge pile of raw leaves. Broccoli holds its structure better, so the comparison is less dramatic than it appears. All three are strong choices if you’re trying to get more protein from vegetables.
The Protein-Per-Calorie Trick
You may have seen the claim that broccoli has “more protein than beef.” This sounds absurd, and on a weight-for-weight basis, it is. A 100-gram serving of ground beef has roughly 17 to 20 grams of protein, while the same weight of broccoli has about 2.8 grams. Beef wins easily by volume or weight.
But the comparison flips when you look at protein per calorie. Broccoli delivers about 11 grams of protein for every 100 calories, while 85% lean ground beef provides about 9 grams per 100 calories. Broccoli is so low in calories that nearly a third of its energy comes from protein. Of course, you’d need to eat over 7 cups of raw broccoli to reach 100 calories, which nobody is doing. The calorie-for-calorie comparison is technically accurate but practically meaningless for meeting your daily protein needs.
Broccoli’s Amino Acid Quality
Not all plant proteins are created equal. Most vegetables are low in one or more essential amino acids, which limits how effectively your body can use their protein in isolation. Broccoli does reasonably well here. Research published in The Journal of Nutrition found that broccoli protein contains good levels of methionine, a sulfur-containing amino acid that many other vegetables and legumes lack.
That said, broccoli protein isn’t complete in the way eggs or meat are. It’s lower in some other essential amino acids. This doesn’t matter much in practice, because you’re eating broccoli alongside other foods throughout the day. Your body pools amino acids from everything you eat, so as long as your overall diet includes variety, broccoli’s protein contributes meaningfully to the mix.
Can You Rely on Broccoli for Protein?
Realistically, no single vegetable will anchor your protein intake. At 2.6 to 3.7 grams per cup, broccoli is a useful contributor but not a primary source. To hit a common daily target of 50 grams, you’d need to eat more than 13 cups of cooked broccoli, which is neither practical nor appealing.
Where broccoli shines is as a protein bonus on top of whatever else you’re eating. Toss a cup into a stir-fry with tofu and rice, and you’ve added nearly 4 grams of protein along with fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and a range of protective plant compounds. Pair it with beans, grains, or animal protein, and the amino acids complement each other well. Think of broccoli’s protein as a steady background contribution rather than the main event.