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The best plant-based
high-protein foods

Are you a vegan or vegetarian interested in learning which plant-based proteins are best for losing weight? Do you currently eat animal proteins but want to add more plant proteins to your daily meals?

One key to healthy weight loss is choosing high-protein foods that provide maximum satiety (feeling full and satisfied) per calorie. Also, as a plant-based eater, it’s important to get enough protein from a variety of sources on a daily basis.

In this guide, you’ll learn which plant foods can help you lose weight and meet your protein needs. You’ll also find our tips for including these high-protein vegan foods in your diet, along with tasty and healthy recipes to try.

The top 9 plant-based protein foods

  1. Seitan (vital wheat gluten): 77% protein
  2. Lupini beans: 55% protein
  3. Extra-firm tofu: 48% protein
  4. Canned black soybeans: 46% protein
  5. Lentils: 42% protein
  6. Edamame: 40% protein
  7. Tempeh: 40% protein
  8. Split peas: 37% protein
  9. Lima beans: 35% protein

If you want to go straight to the complete high-protein plant foods list, .

The image below shows the protein as a percentage of calories for different plant-based protein foods.The higher the number, the more protein the food provides per calorie.

_Desktop – Plant protein foods

Plant-based recipes

Learn more about protein

The best plant-based high-protein foods - the evidence

This guide is written by Franziska Spritzler, RD and was last updated on June 17, 2022. It was medically reviewed by Dr. Bret Scher, MD on March 11, 2022.

The guide contains scientific references. You can find these in the notes throughout the text, and click the links to read the peer-reviewed scientific papers. When appropriate we include a grading of the strength of the evidence, with a link to our policy on this. Our evidence-based guides are updated at least once per year to reflect and reference the latest science on the topic.

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Read more about our policies and work with evidence-based guides, nutritional controversies, our editorial team, and our medical review board.

Should you find any inaccuracy in this guide, please email andreas@dietdoctor.com.

  1. Your body can recycle and reuse some of these amino acids, but most of them must be replenished by your diet:

    International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research 2011: Protein turnover, ureagenesis and gluconeogenesis [overview article; ungraded]

  2. The protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) compares the amino acid content of a protein (such as beans or wheat) to a reference protein believed to meet human essential amino acid requirements. This creates a ratio known as the amino acid score or chemical score. This score is then corrected for the amount of protein that is digested and used by the body. Milk, eggs, and other animal proteins have PDCAAS scores of about 1.0, whereas plant proteins (with the exception of soy) have PDCAAS scores ranging from 0.4 to 0.88:

    Nutrients 2020: Plant proteins: Assessing their nutritional quality and effects on health and physical function [review article; ungraded]

    Nutrition Reviews 2019: Maximizing the intersection of human health and the health of the environment with regard to the amount and type of protein produced and consumed in the United States [review article; ungraded]

  3. The two requirements for a protein to be considered complete are having adequate levels of essential amino acids to support growth and having protein that is well digested and absorbed:

    Nutrients 2020: Plant proteins: Assessing their nutritional quality and effects on health and physical function [review article; ungraded]

  4. Hemp is slightly low in the essential amino acids lysine and leucine and has a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of 0.63 to 0.66:

    Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2010: Evaluating the quality of protein from hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) products through the use of the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score method [laboratory study; ungraded]

    Amino Acids 2018: Protein content and amino acid composition of commercially available plant-based protein isolates [laboratory study; ungraded]

    Quinoa is slightly low in the essential amino acid leucine and has a PDCAAS of 0.55 to 0.78:

    Food Research International 2020: The functional attributes of Peruvian (Kankolla and Blanca juli blend) and Northern quinoa (NQ94PT) flours and protein isolates, and their protein quality [laboratory study; ungraded]

    Frontiers in Nutrition 2020: Seed composition and amino acid profiles for quinoa grown in Washington State [laboratory study; ungraded]

    Nutrients 2020: Plant proteins: Assessing their nutritional quality and effects on health and physical function [review article; ungraded]

    Nutritional yeast is slightly low in the essential amino acid methionine and has a PDCAAS of 0.65 to 0.68:

    Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2008: Study of the lipidic and proteic composition of an industrial filmogenic yeast with applications as a nutritional supplement [laboratory study; ungraded]

    Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2005: Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) protein concentrate: preparation, chemical composition, and nutritional and functional properties [laboratory study; ungraded]

  5. Soy protein has a protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of about 1.00, similar to casein and whey:

    Nutrients 2020: Plant proteins: Assessing their nutritional quality and effects on health and physical function [review article; ungraded]

  6. The position of protein researchers and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is that complementary plant proteins should be consumed within a 24-hour period, not necessarily at every meal:

    Nutrition Reviews 2019: Maximizing the intersection of human health and the health of the environment with regard to the amount and type of protein produced and consumed in the United States [review article; ungraded]

    Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2016: Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: vegetarian diets [position statement; ungraded]

    The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994: Plant proteins in relation to human protein and amino acid nutrition [review article; ungraded]

  7. Systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials — considered the strongest type of evidence — demonstrate that higher-protein diets tend to help people feel full and retain muscle while losing weight:

    Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2004: The effects of high protein diets on thermogenesis, satiety and weight loss: a critical review [systematic review of randomized trials; strong evidence]

    Nutrition Reviews 2016: Effects of dietary protein intake on body composition changes after weight loss in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis [systematic review of randomized trials; strong evidence]

    The Journal of Nutrition 2013: Normal protein intake is required for body weight loss and weight maintenance, and elevated protein intake for additional preservation of resting energy expenditure and fat free mass [randomized trial; moderate evidence]

  8. In a systematic review of randomized controlled trials comparing a low-fat vegan diet to an omnivore diet, vegan diets resulted in greater or equal weight loss, although results varied due to different dietary protocols among the trials:

    Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity 2020: Effects of plant-based diets on weight status: A systematic review [strong evidence]

  9. Fiber isn’t included in the calorie count because it’s generally accepted that the human body doesn’t produce the enzymes needed to break down fiber:

    Gut Microbes 2017: Dietary fiber and prebiotics and the gastrointestinal microbiota [overview article; ungraded]

    Instead, fiber passes through your system until it reaches your colon, where it is either fermented by bacteria or eliminated, depending on the type:

    International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2017: Gut fermentation of dietary fibres: physico-chemistry of plant cell walls and implications for health [overview article; ungraded]

  10. We obtained nutrition information from FoodData Central, the USDA’s nutrient profile database. For the few foods not listed in the USDA database, we calculated average values from other sources or used the nutrition information listed by the manufacturer.

  11. This may or may not be true for people on low-carb diets: At this time, there is no research comparing a low-carb diet with beans to a low-carb diet without beans:

    The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2014: Effects of dietary pulse consumption on body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials [strong evidence]

  12. Published carbohydrate values for lupini beans vary greatly. However, they appear to be lower in carbs than other beans and legumes.

  13. In one trial, people reported similar satiety after eating a pea-based meal compared a meat-based meal with the same amount of fiber:

    Nutrients 2018: Protein from meat or vegetable sources in meals matched for fiber content has similar effects on subjective appetite sensations and energy intake: A randomized acute cross-over meal test study [moderate evidence]

  14. Despite its name, buckwheat is not related to wheat and contains no gluten.

  15. Nutrients 2020: Plant proteins: Assessing their nutritional quality and effects on health and physical function [review article; ungraded]

  16. Soy contains isoflavones, a phytoestrogen or plant compound with a structure similar to estrogen. Isoflavones are found in soy and some other legumes and seeds, such as flaxseed.

  17. This is true for observational studies spanning many years as well as shorter but much higher-quality clinical trials:

    Advances in Nutrition 2018: Associations between phytoestrogens, glucose homeostasis, and risk of diabetes in women: a systematic review and meta-analysis [meta-analysis of randomized and observational trials; moderate evidence]

    PloS One 2013: Soy, red clover, and isoflavones and breast cancer: a systematic review [meta-analysis of randomized and observational trials; moderate evidence]

    Gynecological Endocrinology 2013: Endometrial, breast and liver safety of soy isoflavones plus Lactobacillus sporogenes in post-menopausal women [randomized trial; moderate evidence]

    Reproductive Toxicology 2020 Neither soy nor isoflavone intake affects male reproductive hormones: An expanded and updated meta-analysis of clinical studies [review of nonrandomized studies, weak evidence]

  18. Nutrients 2018: Soy, soy foods, and their role in vegetarian diets [overview article; ungraded]

  19. Nuts are high in methionine but low in lysine, while beans are low in methionine but high in lysine.

  20. Essential amino acid content differs among vegetables.
    In one study, researchers found that spinach contained all nine essential amino acids, although methionine was only present in small amounts:

    Food Chemistry 2011: Amino acid profile of raw and as-eaten products of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) [laboratory study; ungraded]

    In an older study, cauliflower was found to be high in five of the nine essential amino acids, while carrots were found to be low in all of the essential amino acids:

    The Journal of Nutrition 1949: The essential amino acid content of several vegetables [laboratory study; ungraded]