25 Vegetables With Protein – Plant-Based Produce to Build Muscle

By Emily Lemon On Jul 23, 2022

Maybe you’re all hyped up from The Game Changers. (Dude, Have you ever seen an ox eat meat?) Maybe you’re just looking to move toward a more plant-based diet. Maybe you just like vegetables. Whatever the reason you have for being here, good on you.

If it’s one thing that doctors and dietitians across the planet agree upon (and they don’t agree upon much), it’s that eating more vegetables is good for you. Vegetables contain satiating fiber, disease-fighting antioxidants, and a host of important and essential vitamins and minerals that help you feel generally awesome.

And some vegetables contain protein, that vaunted macronutrient that can help you build and maintain muscle.

But let’s set a few things straight before heading into the list of 25 vegetables with protein.

First, vegetables do not contain as much protein as animal sources. This is one of the challenges of following a vegetarian or vegan diet—especially if you’re active. And when oxen spend so much time eating.

For comparison’s sake, one cup of chopped or diced chicken breast has 43 grams of protein. (Just keep this in mind as you move through the list.) While the vegetables that follow are high in protein relative to other vegetables, they aren’t high in protein relative to other animal-based sources.

Now, processed plant products like tofu, plant-based “meats,” and seiten can all carry more protein, but this list isn’t about those products. It’s about straight-up, straight-out-of-the ground or plucked-from-a-bush vegetables.

And, second, for the purposes of creating a diverse group of plant-based options for you to choose from on this list, legumes are considered a vegetable. That’s also largely because legumes tend to have more protein than, say, leafy greens. If any biologists want to debate this as a sticking point, by all means go ahead, but don’t you have more pressing biology-related issued to attend to?

With all that out of the way, here’s a list of 25 vegetables (and legumes) that are surprising sources of protein.

Giddyup! (Do you say that an ox?)

Edamame

They’re soy beans in a pod. They’re snack-able, especially clobbered with flaky sea salt and dipped into soy sauce. And they have about 11 grams of protein per cup.

Pinto Beans

Another legume, yes. (See the intro if you feel like squabbling.) Pinto beans have seven grams of protein per 1/2 cup. Use them as you would any other been—mixed with rice, stirred into chili, laced into tacos.

Navy Beans

One half cup of these broad, white beans has eight grams of protein per cup. Like all beans, they’re a strong source of fiber too.

Peas

Yeah, peas! If you eat roughly 3/4 cup of these little green guys, you’ll consume five grams of protein.

Baked Potatoes

Mmmmmm, baked potatoes. One large potato has seven grams of protein. Filling too.

Spinach

For every cup of fresh spinach you eat, you’ll consume about one gram of protein. Not a ton, yes, but if you eat a salad with four cups of spinach, that’s at least something.

Broccoli Raab

One bunch of this bitter green contains a mighty 17 grams of protein—but, admittedly, that’s a lot of broccoli raab. That said, a half bunch is pretty reasonable serving and a still delivers a decent about of the nutrient.

Brussels Sprouts

One cup of the cruciferous vegetables, boiled, contains four gram of protein—plus the same amount of fiber.

Button Mushrooms

Also known as white mushrooms, a cup of these contain three grams of protein. Technically, mushrooms are a fungi, and not a vegetable, but whatever.

Turnip Greens

If you tire of spinach, try these fibrous greens, which have the hearty texture of kale, but a mellower flavor. One cup of cooked turnip greens has has about five grams of protein.

Sweet Corn

One medium cob carries about three grams of protein and three grams of fiber. Tastes like summer too.

Oyster Mushrooms

Like white button shrooms, these fungi contain three grams of protein for every one cup, sliced. Unlike white button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms have a meaty texture and mild flavor.

Snowpeas

One cup of raw snowpeas has two grams of protein, which isn’t much. But it’s something?

Kale

Everyone’s favorite superfood delivers on the protein too. Or, at least a bit of the nutrient. One cup of cooked kale has about three grams.

Broccoli

One cup of chopped broccoli contains about four grams of protein. If you smother it in nacho cheese, yes, that would add some more protein. But at what cost?

Cauliflower

Like it’s cruciferous cousin, broccoli, cauliflower offer contains a little protein. Specifically, one cup carries about two grams of the nutrient.

Dandelion Greens

These bitter greens have a little protein to them. One cup of cooked dandelion greens has two grams of fiber. They make a nice pesto.

Arugula

One cup has about half a gram of protein. So four cups would have two grams. Not terrible for salad green.

Beet Greens

A cup of these cooked greens has about four grams of protein, plus a healthy dose of disease-fighting antioxidants.

Avocados

One avocado has four grams of protein, bu also a massive 14 grams of fiber, so watch yourself there.

Asparagus

Eight delicious spears of cooked asparagus contain roughly three grams of protein and 1,325 grams of tastiness.

Lentils

They make a dang good vegetarian chili and a half cup cooked has nine grams of protien.

Cannellini Beans

We’ll close out this list like we started it: with beans, which if you don’t know are healthy for you by now, we give up. Cannellini Beans contain a sizable 8 grams of protein per half cup and they are also so much fun to say.

Black Beans

Creamy, satiating, and the perfect partner for all manner of hot sauce, black beans also have 7 grams of protein per half cup.

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