How much protein is in everyday foods? As a rough guide, per 100 g: cooked meat and fish give about 20–32 g, hard cheeses 25 g or more, eggs about 13 g, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and tofu about 10–15 g, cooked beans and lentils about 7–9 g, bread about 9–10 g, cooked grains and pasta about 3–6 g, and most vegetables 1–3 g. The tables below give the details, food by food, along with the one thing that confuses almost everyone: why the same food can show very different numbers raw, cooked or dried.
All figures are approximate, widely published values. They vary by product, brand, variety and cooking method, so check the label on the pack you actually buy. This is general information, not medical advice: if you have a medical condition, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian about your own needs.
Raw, cooked or dried: why the numbers change
Cooking doesn't add protein or take much away. What changes is the water. Meat and fish lose water as they cook, so the same protein is packed into less weight: raw chicken breast is about 23 g of protein per 100 g, but cooked it is about 31 g. Dried pulses and grains go the other way. They soak up water, so 100 g of dried lentils (about 24 g protein) becomes roughly 250 g of cooked lentils at about 9 g per 100 g. The protein in the pot is the same; it's just spread across more weight.
So when you compare figures, always check whether they're raw, cooked or dry. In the tables below, each food is labelled.
Meat and poultry
| Food (per 100 g) | Protein (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Chicken breast, skinless, raw | about 23 g |
| Chicken breast, skinless, cooked | about 31 g |
| Chicken thigh, skinless, cooked | about 25 g |
| Turkey breast, cooked | about 29 g |
| Lean beef mince (5% fat), raw | about 21 g |
| Lean beef mince (5% fat), cooked | about 26 g |
| Pork tenderloin, cooked | about 26–30 g |
| Ham, sliced | about 18–21 g |
Fish and seafood
| Food (per 100 g) | Protein (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Salmon, raw | about 20 g |
| Salmon, baked | about 24–25 g |
| Cod, cooked | about 21–23 g |
| Tuna tinned in spring water, drained | about 24–26 g |
| Sardines, tinned, drained | about 23–25 g |
| Smoked salmon | about 20–25 g |
| Prawns, cooked | about 17–24 g, depending on processing |
Eggs and dairy
| Food | Protein (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Egg, whole | about 13 g per 100 g; about 6–7 g per large egg |
| Milk | about 3.4 g per 100 ml |
| Greek yogurt, strained | about 9–10 g per 100 g |
| "Greek-style" or natural yogurt | about 4–6 g per 100 g |
| Skyr | about 10–11 g per 100 g |
| Quark | about 12 g per 100 g |
| Cottage cheese | about 11–12 g per 100 g |
| Feta | about 14–17 g per 100 g |
| Mozzarella | about 18–22 g per 100 g |
| Halloumi | about 21 g per 100 g |
| Cheddar | about 25 g per 100 g |
| Parmesan | about 33–36 g per 100 g |
The yogurt row catches a lot of people out. True Greek yogurt is strained, which concentrates the protein. Many pots labelled "Greek-style" are thickened instead, and carry roughly half the protein. The label will tell you.
Beans, lentils and soya
| Food (per 100 g) | Protein (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Lentils, dried | about 24 g |
| Lentils, cooked | about 9 g |
| Chickpeas, cooked or tinned and drained | about 7–9 g |
| Kidney or black beans, cooked | about 8–9 g |
| Baked beans in tomato sauce | about 5 g |
| Firm tofu | about 12–15 g |
| Tempeh | about 19 g |
| Edamame, shelled | about 11 g |
| Garden peas, frozen | about 5–6 g |
For how to cook these so they're worth eating, our vegan protein guide goes through each one.
Grains, bread and starchy foods
| Food | Protein (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Oats, dry | about 11–13 g per 100 g; about 5 g per 40 g portion |
| Wholemeal bread | about 9–10 g per 100 g; about 3–4 g per slice |
| Pasta, cooked | about 5–6 g per 100 g |
| Quinoa, cooked | about 4 g per 100 g |
| Rice, cooked | about 2.5–3 g per 100 g |
| Potato, baked | about 2–2.5 g per 100 g |
Nuts, seeds and vegetables
| Food | Protein (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Peanut butter | about 22–25 g per 100 g; about 3–4 g per tablespoon |
| Almonds | about 21 g per 100 g |
| Pumpkin seeds | about 25–30 g per 100 g |
| Hemp seeds | about 30 g per 100 g |
| Chia seeds | about 17 g per 100 g |
| Broccoli, spinach | about 3 g per 100 g |
Nuts and seeds are protein-rich per 100 g, but you eat them by the spoonful, so they're boosters rather than the main event.
What 20 g of protein looks like
Numbers per 100 g are useful, but it's easier to picture a plate. Each of these gives roughly 20 g of protein:
- About 65 g of cooked chicken breast, a little over half a small breast
- About 80 g of drained tinned tuna
- 3 large eggs (slightly under, at about 19 g)
- About 200 g of strained Greek yogurt, a generous bowl
- About 175 g of cottage cheese
- About 150 g of firm tofu
- About 220 g of cooked lentils, a large ladleful
How to read a label
Most labels show protein per 100 g and per serving. Use the per-100 g column to compare products, and the per-serving column to check whether the serving size is realistic. Watch pasta and rice packs in particular: the figure is usually for the dry product, so a 75 g portion of dry pasta gives about 9 g of protein however much it swells in the pan.
Putting it together
A normal day of home cooking adds up faster than you'd think. Here's how it might look:
- Breakfast: two slices of wholegrain toast with 150 g cottage cheese and tomato, about 24 g. The Cottage Cheese & Tomato Toast in High-Protein Fat Loss is exactly this.
- Lunch: a bowl of chicken and lentil soup, easily 25–30 g. The book's Chicken & Lentil Soup simmers chicken thighs with green lentils, carrot, celery and spinach.
- Snack: two hard-boiled eggs, about 13 g, or the Boiled Eggs & Everything Seasoning Plate if you want to make an occasion of it.
- Dinner: a salmon fillet with potatoes and peas, about 30–35 g.
Every recipe in the book prints its macros on the page, which saves you doing these sums yourself. If you'd rather start from an ingredient you already have, the recipe finder helps: try recipes with cottage cheese. For ideas on building meals this way, read high-protein meals without protein powder.
Weigh once, then eyeball. Weigh your usual portion of chicken, yogurt or lentils a couple of times and look at it on the plate. After that you'll know roughly what 100 g or 150 g looks like, and you won't need the scales every day.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up raw and cooked figures. A cooked-chicken number applied to raw chicken overestimates it by about a third.
- Counting dry pulse figures for cooked pulses. Dried lentils are about 24 g per 100 g; cooked, about 9 g.
- Trusting the word "protein" on the front. Check the per-100 g figure on the back instead.
- Overlooking the everyday stuff. Bread, milk, oats and pasta contribute more across a day than people expect.
Questions people ask
Which everyday food has the most protein?
Per 100 g, cooked chicken and turkey breast, lean meat, tinned tuna and hard cheeses such as Parmesan are among the highest. Among plant foods, tempeh, tofu and dried lentils rank well.
How much protein is in one egg?
A large egg has about 6–7 g of protein, split between the white and the yolk.
Does cooking destroy protein?
Not in any meaningful way. Cooking changes the water content, which is why figures per 100 g differ between raw and cooked food. The protein in the piece you cook stays largely the same.
Is plant protein as good as animal protein?
Soya foods contain all the essential amino acids in useful amounts. Other plant foods are lower in one or another, but eating a variety across the day covers that for most people.