Which Vegetables Have The Most Protein?

If someone tells you to eat more protein, your brain probably doesn't jump straight to vegetables. It jumps to chicken, eggs, Greek yogurt, maybe a protein shake if you're that way inclined.

A cucumber isn't going to help you hit 30g of protein at lunch. But a reasonable chunk of the vegetable world does contribute something real, and if you're eating plant-heavy meals or just trying to get more variety into your diet, it's worth knowing which ones are actually doing any work.

This post goes through the vegetables with the highest protein content, gives you the actual numbers, and tells you how useful they are in practice.

Edamame (about 11-12g per 100g)

Edamame sits at the top of this list by some distance. They're young soybeans, usually served in the pod, and they have genuinely impressive protein numbers for a vegetable. Around 11-12g per 100g cooked, which puts them closer to the legume end of the spectrum than almost anything else that gets called a vegetable.

You'll find them in the freezer section of most supermarkets. They're quick to cook, they're filling, and they work in salads, stir-fries, or just eaten warm with a pinch of salt. If you're eating plant-based and you haven't made edamame a regular fixture, you're missing out on one of the easiest protein sources going.

Peas (around 5g per 100g)

A decent protein source, sitting at around 5g per 100g. That's not edamame territory, but it's not nothing either.

The real advantage is that peas are in almost everything. You probably already eat them a few times a week without really counting them. A decent serving of peas on the side adds a few grams of protein without any effort at all, which is how a lot of useful dietary changes actually happen.

Mushy peas count, by the way. So does pea protein powder.

Lentils and beans (worth a separate note)

Strictly speaking, lentils and beans are legumes, not vegetables. But they're listed in the vegetable category on most food tracking apps and plenty of nutritional guidance, so it seems daft to leave them out.

Lentils come in at around 9g of protein per 100g cooked. Red, green, or puy, the numbers are broadly similar across varieties. Chickpeas are around 8-9g per 100g cooked, and kidney beans and cannellini beans are both in the 8-9g range depending on preparation.

The other thing legumes have going for them is fibre, which matters a lot for how full you stay. High-protein, high-fibre foods keep you satiated in a way that a handful of cashews, for example, doesn't. If protein is your priority and you're not already eating legumes most days, that's the biggest single change you can make.

Spinach (about 2.9g per 100g cooked)

The numbers on spinach look a bit misleading at first. 2.9g per 100g sounds low, and raw it is. But spinach wilts dramatically when cooked, so a large bag of raw spinach cooks down to a much smaller volume that still carries a reasonable protein amount for a green leaf.

It's not a primary protein source. But spinach is nutritionally dense in a way that a lot of vegetables aren't, with iron and folate alongside the protein, so it earns its place in a high-protein plant diet as a supporting act rather than a headline.

Broccoli (around 2.8g per 100g)

Broccoli is often cited as one of the better protein vegetables, partly because it's widely eaten and partly because its protein-to-calorie ratio is genuinely good. 100g of broccoli has roughly 34 calories and 2.8g of protein. Per calorie, that stacks up well against a lot of foods.

In practice, most people eat 150-200g of broccoli in a meal, which gets you to 4-5g of protein without really trying. Pair it with edamame or lentils and you've got a solid combined total from plant sources alone.

Asparagus (around 2.2g per 100g)

Asparagus doesn't usually get mentioned in protein conversations, but it's worth including. About 2.2g per 100g, which isn't high in isolation, but asparagus tends to be eaten in reasonable quantities and it's a good source of folate and vitamins alongside that.

It's a seasonal vegetable in the UK. The British asparagus season runs traditionally from late April to 21st June, so it's not a year-round staple for most people. But during that window it's genuinely worth eating a lot of it, and the protein content is a small bonus on top of the taste.

Sweetcorn (about 3.3-3.4g per 100g)

Sweetcorn is higher in carbohydrates than most of the vegetables on this list, so it gets a mixed reception from people watching their macros. But the protein content is real, around 3.3-3.4g per 100g, and it's one of the more palatable higher-protein vegetables for people who aren't naturally drawn to leafy greens.

Tinned sweetcorn is cheap, has a long shelf life, and works in a lot of dishes. It's not going to be the centrepiece of a protein strategy, but it's a useful addition to salads, soups, and grain bowls.

What this actually means for your diet

If you're relying solely on vegetables for protein you need to be deliberate about it: eat edamame and legumes in large portions, pair higher-protein vegetables with each other, and count the cumulative grams across the whole meal rather than looking for one magic ingredient.

The vegetables with the most protein are mostly things you already know about. It's just a matter of eating more of them, in bigger portions, more consistently.