Highest Protein Dairy Foods

Aged cheese is the dairy aisle's protein champion: parmesan rows open the table at 41.6–35.8g per 100g, romano and hard goat cheese follow at 31.8 and 30.5g, and the whole top twenty stays above 23.8g. The quiet star sits at row four: nonfat cheddar carries 32.1g of protein at 157 kcal and 0g fat — a protein density most meats cannot match. Mozzarella lands mid-table at 28g, Swiss at 27g.

How this ranking works

Every dairy-category row in the database with a real Arabic name enters, ranked by protein per 100g, descending. The family scope rules apply (no spice rows, no dried/powder forms); fresh milk, yogurt and cottage cheese rank below the top twenty on their own pages — their water content dilutes the per-100g figure, which is exactly what hard cheese removes.

The table: top 20

#	Food	Protein (g / 100g)	Calories (kcal/100g)
1	Cheese, parmesan, low sodium	41.6	451
2	Cheese, parmesan, shredded	37.9	415
3	Cheese, parmesan, hard	35.8	392
4	Cheese, cheddar, nonfat or fat free	32.1	157
5	Cheese, romano	31.8	387
6	Cheese, goat, hard type	30.5	452
7	Cheese, gruyere	29.8	413
8	Cheese, parmesan, grated	28.4	420
9	Mozzarella Cheese	28	280
10	Cheese, swiss	27	393
11	Cheese, fontina	25.6	389
12	Cheese, provolone	25.6	351
13	Cheese, caraway	25.2	376
14	Cheese, edam	25	357
15	Cheese, gouda	24.9	356
16	Cheese, monterey	24.5	373
17	Cheese, mozzarella, part skim milk	24.3	254
18	Cheese, colby	23.8	394
19	Cheese, mozzarella, low moisture, part-skim	23.8	295
20	Cheese, port de salut	23.8	352

Source: the Alkemos food database — the same rows each food’s page shows (per-100g values; every name links to that food’s full page).

Reading the table

Why hard cheese runs away with it

Cheese is milk with most of its water removed, so every 100g concentrates the protein of roughly a liter of milk's solids. Parmesan's 41.6g comes from long aging that also dries it further — you grate it, a serving is grams, and the calorie column (451 kcal) is the honest cost of that concentration.

The nonfat cheddar anomaly

Row four is the diet hack the table surfaces on its own: 32.1g protein, 157 kcal, zero fat. In protein-per-calorie terms it outperforms every other row here including the parmesan podium — the trade is texture and melt behavior, which the food page documents honestly.

Where your daily glass ranks

Milk sits near 3g per 100g — far below this table — because it is mostly water. That is not a flaw; it is a different serving reality. The table answers "which dairy packs the most protein per bite"; a glass answers hydration, calcium and routine. Both pages carry their own numbers.

Common questions

Is cheese a good protein source for muscle building?

Per bite, the hardest cheeses rival meat: 41.6g in parmesan, 27g in Swiss. The catch is the fat that rides along — 31g per 100g in Swiss — so lifters on tight calories usually lean on the nonfat rows and treat full-fat cheese as a flavor layer, not the protein base.

Why do so many parmesan rows appear?

The database keeps each commercial form as its own measured row — low-sodium, shredded, hard, grated — and each carries slightly different numbers (41.6 down to 28.4g). The ranking is honest to the data; pick the row that matches what your kitchen actually holds.

What about Greek yogurt and cottage cheese?

They are the per-calorie winners of dairy but sit under the 100g bar this table measures — around 10-12g — because they keep far more water. If your goal is maximum protein per calorie rather than per bite, the efficiency ranking answers it better than this one.

Turn these tables into a plan: the Macro Calculator splits your daily budget into grams — free, no account needed.

New to this topic? Start from the curated High Protein Foods collection — the hand-picked staples — then come back for the full ranking.