25 Vegan Sources for Protein

If you’ve been vegan for any length of time, there’s a pretty good chance that someone’s asked you the ubiquitous question, “How do you get enough protein?” It’s a common misconception that you need animal products to get enough protein into your diet. In fact, many plant foods are loaded with protein, and if you incorporate 2-3 protein sources into each meal, chances are your protein levels will be a-OK.

Need proof that vegans aren’t hurting for protein? Just take a look at the recent popularity of veganism among bodybuilders! When you’re doing heavy weight training like bodybuilders do, you need to take in a lot more protein than the average recommendations. If it was that hard to get enough protein on a vegan diet, chances are we wouldn’t see so many bodybuilders talking about the benefits of a vegan diet!

The amount of protein you need in your diet depends a lot on your body weight and what activities you do. Americans in general eat far more protein than we need each day. The RDA for protein is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight. So, if you weigh 140 pounds, you’d need 51 grams of protein per day (140 pounds = 63.5 kg, and 63.5 X .8 = 50.8).

The Myth of Protein Combining

You can probably track the idea of protein combining back to the book Diet for a Small Planet. The idea is that plant foods don’t contain “complete” proteins, and you need to combine certain plant foods at each meal to make sure you’re getting enough complete proteins.

Proteins contain amino acids, which are necessary for good health. There are nine amino acids that our bodies need to function, and animal products contain all nine. However, most plant-based protein sources are missing one or two amino acids, and different ones are missing different amino acids.

What makes a good myth is a kernel of truth, right? It’s true that you need to eat a variety of proteins to make sure you’re getting all of the amino acids your body needs, but it’s not as hard as protein combining methods make it seem. You don’t need all nine at the same meal, and it’s even OK if you don’t get them all every single day. If you stick to a variety of protein sources, like the ones on the next page, you’ll be golden. Hey, maybe you’ll even try your hand at bodybuilding!

25 Vegan Protein Sources

There are plenty of vegan protein sources, and if you make sure to eat a variety of these throughout the week, you won’t need to worry about getting enough protein!

1. Tempeh - 41 g per cup
2. Lentils – 18 g per cup
3. Plain soymilk – 11 g per cup
4. Edamame – 20 g per cup
5. Seitan – 19 g per 3 ounces
6. Tofu – 20 g per 1/2 cup
7. Peas – 9 g per cup
8. Brown rice – 5 g per cup
9. White rice – 4 g per cup
10. Cooked broccoli – 4 g per cup
11. Sunflower seeds – 6 g per 1/4 cup
12. Quinoa – 9 g per cup
13. Cooked spinach – 5 g per cup
14. Avocado – 4 g per cup
15. Whole grain bread – 7 g in 2 slices
16. Black beans – 15 g per cup
17. Cashews – 5 g per 1/4 cup
18. Cooked semolina pasta – 8 g per cup
19. Chia seeds – 5 g per 2 tablespoons
20. Flax seeds – 4 g per 2 tablespoons
21. Bulgur – 5.5 g per cup
22. Peanut butter – 8 g per 2 tablespoons
23. Sunflower seed butter – 5.5 g per 2 tablespoons
24. Baked red potato – 3 g per cup
25. Barley – 3.5 g per cup