The vegetables with the most protein are soybean sprouts, lima beans, and green peas, delivering between 5 and 13 grams of protein per 100-gram serving. Beyond those top performers, several everyday vegetables like mushrooms, spinach, and corn contribute meaningful protein, especially when you eat them in larger portions or combine them throughout the day.
The Highest-Protein Vegetables, Ranked
Protein content varies dramatically across the vegetable kingdom. Here are the top performers per 100 grams of cooked weight:
- Soybean sprouts: 13.1 g
- Lima beans: 6.8 g
- Green peas: 5.4 g
- Mushrooms: 3.6 g
- Sweet corn: 3.3 g
- Artichokes: 3.3 g
- Spinach: 3.0 g
- Brussels sprouts: 2.6 g
- Broccoli: 2.4 g
- Asparagus: 2.4 g
Soybean sprouts sit in a class of their own at 13.1 grams per 100-gram serving. That’s roughly double what lima beans provide and more than five times the protein in broccoli. If you’re trying to boost protein from vegetables alone, soybean sprouts are the most efficient option by a wide margin.
Where Legumes and Pulses Fit In
Depending on how you define “vegetable,” legumes and pulses can dramatically change the picture. Edamame (young soybeans) delivers about 9.8 grams of protein in a small 80-gram serving. Lentils provide around 8.8 grams per 100 grams cooked, and chickpeas come in at 7.6 grams per 100 grams. These numbers rival or exceed what you’d get from most traditional vegetables, which is why legumes are the cornerstone of high-protein plant-based diets.
Soybeans also stand out for protein quality. A protein quality score measures how well your body can digest and use a food’s amino acids. Soybeans score 0.91 out of 1.0, nearly identical to beef at 0.92. No other plant protein comes that close.
Cooking Changes Everything for Leafy Greens
Raw spinach has a reputation as a protein-rich green, but a cup of raw leaves contains just 0.86 grams of protein. That’s barely noticeable. Cook that spinach down, though, and one cup of boiled, drained spinach provides 5.3 grams. The protein itself doesn’t change; cooking simply lets you fit far more spinach into a single cup because the leaves wilt and compress. This same principle applies to kale, Swiss chard, and other leafy greens. If you’re eating them for protein, cooked servings deliver roughly six times more than raw.
Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Protein Per Calorie
Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower don’t top any protein charts in absolute terms, but they’re surprisingly efficient when you consider how few calories they contain. A cup of raw broccoli (91 grams) has 2.5 grams of protein for only 31 calories. A cup of raw cauliflower provides 2 grams for 27 calories. That means roughly 30% of broccoli’s calories come from protein, a ratio that competes with many animal foods. If you’re watching calories while trying to keep protein up, loading your plate with cruciferous vegetables is a practical strategy.
Potatoes: A Surprising Contributor
Most people don’t think of potatoes as a protein source, but russet potatoes contain more protein and fiber than sweet potatoes while being lower in fat and sugar. A medium baked russet provides around 4 to 5 grams of protein. That’s not enough to build a meal around, but potatoes are eaten in large enough quantities that they can meaningfully contribute to your daily total, especially if they’re a regular part of your diet.
Why Pairing Vegetables Matters
Most vegetable proteins are incomplete, meaning they’re low in one or more of the essential amino acids your body can’t make on its own. The four amino acids most commonly in short supply from plant foods are lysine, threonine, methionine, and tryptophan. But different foods are missing different amino acids, so combining them fills the gaps.
The classic pairings work like this:
- Beans + grains, nuts, or seeds: Beans are low in methionine; grains and seeds supply it.
- Grains + legumes: Grains are low in lysine and threonine; legumes provide both.
- Corn + legumes: Corn is low in tryptophan and lysine; beans or lentils fill those gaps.
- Vegetables + grains, nuts, or seeds: Most vegetables are low in methionine, which grains and seeds have in abundance.
You don’t need to eat these combinations in the same meal. As long as you’re eating a variety of plant proteins throughout the day, your body gets access to the full set of amino acids it needs.
Putting the Numbers in Context
The recommended daily protein intake for adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, or about 0.36 grams per pound. For a sedentary 140-pound person, that works out to roughly 53 grams per day. That number goes up with physical activity, age, and certain health conditions.
Getting 53 grams from vegetables alone would require eating large volumes of food. Even the most protein-dense option, soybean sprouts, would require about 400 grams (roughly 4 cups) to deliver that much. A more realistic approach is treating high-protein vegetables as meaningful contributors rather than sole sources. A cup of cooked spinach (5.3 g), a cup of green peas (about 8.5 g), and a serving of lentils (8.8 g per 100 g) together get you past 20 grams. Add grains, nuts, or other protein sources and you reach your target comfortably.
The vegetables that pack the most protein per bite are legume-adjacent: soybean sprouts, lima beans, green peas, and edamame. For everyday cooking, mushrooms, spinach (cooked), corn, and broccoli all contribute more than most people realize, especially when they show up on your plate consistently.