Highest Protein Vegetables

Vegetables peak where the legume family lives: soybean sprouts open at 13.1g per 100g, green soybeans and edamame hold the 12.9–11.9g band, and immature pinto beans, black-eyed peas and sprouted lentils fill the middle down to 7.1g. The table's honest ceiling matters: not one leafy salad staple reaches it — spinach and broccoli sit far below, on their own pages, at a fraction of these numbers.

How this ranking works

Every vegetable-category row with a real Arabic name enters, ranked by protein per 100g, descending. Family scope rules apply, and dehydrated vegetable rows are additionally excluded — removing water concentrates the number without changing any real plate. Immature (green) beans and sprouts stay: they are the category's genuine vegetables-as-protein.

The table: top 20

#	Food	Protein (g / 100g)	Calories (kcal/100g)
1	Soybeans, mature seeds, sprouted, cooked, stir-fried	13.1	125
2	Soybeans, mature seeds, sprouted, raw	13.1	122
3	Soybeans, green, raw	12.9	147
4	Soybeans, green, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt	12.3	141
5	Soybeans, green, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	12.3	141
6	Edamame, frozen, prepared	11.9	121
7	Edamame, frozen, unprepared	11.2	109
8	Beans, pinto, immature seeds, frozen, unprepared	9.8	170
9	Beans, pinto, immature seeds, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	9.3	162
10	Beans, pinto, immature seeds, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt	9.3	162
11	Cowpeas (blackeyes), immature seeds, frozen, unprepared	9	139
12	Lentils, sprouted, raw	9	106
13	Lentils, sprouted, cooked, stir-fried, with salt	8.8	101
14	Lentils, sprouted, cooked, stir-fried, without salt	8.8	101
15	Cowpeas (blackeyes), immature seeds, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	8.5	132
16	Soybeans, mature seeds, sprouted, cooked, steamed	8.5	81
17	Beans, fava, in pod, raw	7.9	88
18	Lima beans, immature seeds, frozen, baby, unprepared	7.6	132
19	Beans, navy, mature seeds, sprouted, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt	7.1	78
20	Beans, navy, mature seeds, sprouted, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt	7.1	78

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

Soy owns the podium

Every top-seven row is a soy vegetable: sprouts at 13.1g, green soybeans at 12.9g, edamame at 11.9g. No other plant in the produce aisle comes close to that band — which is why tofu and its family anchor every serious plant-protein kitchen.

The pod vegetables earn their rows

Immature pinto beans (9.8g) and black-eyed peas (9g) are picked green and eaten as vegetables — pods and all in some kitchens — carrying both protein and 5.7g-class fiber. Sprouted lentils (9g) turn a dry pantry staple into a fresh-crisp one within days.

Where the famous greens actually sit

Spinach's celebrated protein lives around 3g per 100g — a tenth of the podium — because a leaf is mostly water and air. This table does not diminish greens; it prices them honestly: eat them for micronutrients and volume, and let the soy and pod rows carry the protein load.

Common questions

Can I build muscle on vegetable protein alone?

Yes, with planning: the soy rows here deliver complete protein at meat-adjacent per-bite density, and the pod vegetables stack alongside. The volume is the challenge — matching a chicken breast's 31g means roughly 240g of edamame. The macro calculator sizes whichever mix you choose.

Why are dried vegetables excluded?

A dehydrated onion flake measures 8+ grams of protein per 100g — but that 100g started as roughly a kilogram of fresh onions. The number is arithmetically true and practically meaningless, so this list excludes dehydrated rows mechanically, and says so here.

Are sprouts safe to eat raw?

The rows offer both states — raw and stir-fried measure the same 13.1g band here — and the choice is food safety, not protein: warm sprouting conditions can grow bacteria, so vulnerable groups are advised to cook them. The protein survives the pan either way.

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 Vegan Protein Sources collection — the hand-picked staples — then come back for the full ranking.