Most fruits and vegetables contain some protein, but a handful stand out with surprisingly high amounts. Cooked lentils lead the pack at nearly 18 grams per cup, while green peas, chickpeas, and spinach all deliver meaningful protein for plant foods. On the fruit side, guava tops the list at 4.2 grams per cup. None of these will rival a chicken breast, but when you eat a variety of them throughout the day, the grams add up fast.
Vegetables With the Most Protein
Legumes dominate the top of any protein-per-cup ranking for vegetables. One cup of cooked lentils delivers 17.86 grams of protein, making them one of the most protein-dense plant foods available. Cooked chickpeas come in at 14.5 grams per cup. These numbers put legumes in the same neighborhood as a couple of eggs.
Green peas are an easy, everyday option at 8.6 grams per cup. That’s more protein than a cup of milk. Cooked quinoa (technically a seed, but used like a grain or vegetable) provides about 8 grams per cup.
Below those top-tier options, several common vegetables still offer a solid contribution:
- Spinach (cooked): 5.2 grams per cup
- Broccoli (cooked): 5.7 grams per cup
- Artichokes: 4.8 grams per cup
- Sweet corn: 4.7 grams per cup
- Asparagus: 4.3 grams per cup
- Brussels sprouts: 4 grams per cup
- Mushrooms: 4 grams per cup
Individually, 4 to 5 grams may not seem like much. But a stir-fry with broccoli, mushrooms, and peas can easily reach 15 or more grams of protein from the vegetables alone, before you add any meat, tofu, or grains.
Which Vegetables Give You the Most Protein Per Calorie
If you’re watching calories while trying to increase protein, certain vegetables are remarkably efficient. Spinach has the best protein-to-calorie ratio of any common vegetable: a quarter cup of raw spinach has just 2 calories but still delivers measurable protein. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are close behind, all offering roughly 0.07 to 0.09 grams of protein per calorie. Zucchini rounds out the top five.
In practical terms, this means loading up on leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables adds protein to your meals with almost no caloric cost. A big spinach salad or a plate of roasted broccoli is doing more for your protein intake than you might assume.
Fruits With the Most Protein
Fruits are generally not known for protein, which is why the few exceptions are worth knowing about. Guava is the clear winner: one cup of raw guava packs 4.2 grams of protein. Cleveland Clinic notes it’s one of the very few fruits with a meaningful protein content. A single medium guava still gives you about 1.4 grams, making it a solid snack choice.
Avocado is the runner-up. One cup of sliced avocado has 3 grams of protein, and if you mash it (which packs more fruit into the same cup), you get 4.6 grams. Jackfruit offers 2.8 grams per cup, which is one reason it’s popular as a meat substitute in plant-based cooking. Its fibrous texture absorbs flavors and mimics pulled pork or shredded chicken in recipes. Blackberries round out the top fruits at 2 grams per cup.
For comparison, most common fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas contain less than 1.5 grams per serving. If protein is your goal, guava and avocado are the fruits to prioritize.
Cooked vs. Raw: How Preparation Affects Protein
Cooking doesn’t destroy protein, but it changes how well your body can absorb it. Heat causes plant proteins to unfold, which exposes more of their structure to digestive enzymes. Research on soy and pea proteins found that heating them to boiling temperature roughly doubled their digestibility, from about 30% to 60% for soy protein, and from 52% to 65% for pea protein.
This is one reason cooked lentils and chickpeas are better protein sources than their raw counterparts (which you wouldn’t eat raw anyway). It also means that lightly steaming or sautéing vegetables like spinach, broccoli, and peas can help you absorb more of the protein they contain. Raw spinach has only 0.86 grams of protein per cup because the leaves are so light. Cook that spinach down and a cup of the cooked version jumps to around 5 grams, simply because you’re eating far more leaves per cup.
How to Get More Protein From Produce
The simplest strategy is combining several moderate-protein vegetables in one meal rather than relying on a single source. A grain bowl with lentils, peas, spinach, and broccoli can hit 25 to 30 grams of protein before adding any animal products or tofu. Tossing chickpeas into a salad adds 14.5 grams per cup, turning a side dish into something more substantial.
For snacks, guava slices or avocado on toast offer protein that most fruit-based snacks lack. Frozen peas and edamame (young soybeans) are easy to keep on hand and cook in minutes. Smoothies with spinach, avocado, and a handful of peas blend well and add several grams of protein without changing the flavor much.
Plant proteins from fruits and vegetables are not “complete” in the way animal proteins are, meaning each source is low in one or more essential amino acids. But eating a variety of plant foods throughout the day covers this gap naturally. You don’t need to combine specific foods at the same meal. A diet that includes legumes, greens, grains, and nuts across the day will supply all the amino acids your body needs.