High protein, low calorie foods, ranked per 100 calories

Key takeaways

• Of the 17 common foods compared here using USDA data, the highest in protein per calorie are lean fish, shrimp, egg whites and skinless poultry breast, at about 19 to 22 grams of protein per 100 calories.^1234567
• Low-fat cottage cheese and plain nonfat Greek yogurt come next, at about 17 grams of protein per 100 calories.⁹¹⁰
• Cooking changes protein per gram, not protein per calorie. Raw chicken breast has 22.5 grams of protein per 100 grams and roasted has 31, and both work out to 18.8 grams per 100 calories.⁸⁷
• Higher-protein meals gave a modest boost to fullness in short feeding trials, and across 24 trials at equal calories, higher-protein diets kept a little more lean mass.¹⁹²¹

Which foods have the most protein per calorie?

Of the 17 common foods compared here using USDA FoodData Central, the highest in grams of protein per 100 calories are canned light tuna, cod, egg whites, turkey breast, tilapia, shrimp and chicken breast, each between about 19 and 22 grams. Low-fat cottage cheese and plain nonfat Greek yogurt come next, at about 17.^1234567910

Protein per 100 calories is the number to compare when you want protein without many calories. Protein per 100 grams can mislead. Almonds have 21.2 grams of protein per 100 grams, close to shrimp's 22.8, but they also have 579 calories, so they give about 3.7 grams per 100 calories.¹⁸⁶

High protein, low calorie foods list

To compare any two foods yourself, divide grams of protein per 100 grams by calories per 100 grams, then multiply by 100. Each row below links to its USDA entry in the sources.

Should you count protein raw or cooked?

Either works, as long as the entry matches what you weighed. USDA's raw chicken breast has 120 calories and 22.5 grams of protein per 100 grams. Roasted, it has 165 calories and 31 grams. Roasting drives off water, from 73.9 grams per 100 grams raw to 65.3 grams roasted, so each cooked gram holds more of everything else.⁸⁷

Protein per 100 calories stays put. Both entries work out to 18.8 grams, which is why the table ranks foods per calorie. Per gram is where a log goes wrong, when the weight and the entry don't match.⁸⁷

Why do lean fish and poultry rank so high?

Fat adds calories without adding protein. Cooked cod and cooked farmed salmon have almost the same protein per 100 grams, 22.8 and 22.1 grams. Cod has 0.86 grams of fat and 105 calories, while salmon has 12.4 grams of fat and 206 calories. So cod gives 21.7 grams of protein per 100 calories and salmon 10.7.²¹²

That doesn't make one better than the other. It means the same protein comes with a different calorie count, which is worth knowing when you log it.²¹²

High protein, low calorie foods for vegetarians

Egg whites, plain nonfat Greek yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese sit near the top of the table for anyone who eats eggs and dairy, at about 17 to 21 grams of protein per 100 calories.³¹⁰⁹

Plant foods rank lower per calorie and bring fiber with them. Extra firm tofu has 12.0 grams of protein per 100 calories, frozen prepared edamame 9.8 and boiled lentils 7.8. Per 100 grams, lentils have 7.9 grams of fiber and edamame 5.2.¹¹¹⁴¹⁶

Why pick high protein foods?

Protein helps with fullness, though the effect is modest. A 2015 review of acute feeding trials found greater fullness and higher satiety hormones after higher-protein meals, but no clear effect on how much people ate at the next meal.¹⁹

Over weeks, the effect showed more clearly in one trial. In a 2005 study of 19 people, raising protein from 15 to 30 percent of calories while keeping carbs the same led people to eat 441 fewer calories a day on their own over 12 weeks.²⁰

A 2012 meta-analysis of 24 trials with 1,063 people compared higher and standard protein diets at the same calories. The higher-protein diets led to 0.79 kilograms more weight loss and 0.87 kilograms more fat loss, and kept 0.43 kilograms more lean mass, over about 12 weeks on average.²¹

How much protein you need each day is its own question. The protein guide linked below covers it, so this article stays on which foods to pick.

How to log protein accurately

• Weigh meat and fish in the same state as the entry you log, raw with raw and cooked with cooked.
• For canned tuna, log the drained weight when your entry is for drained solids.
• For packaged yogurt and cottage cheese, use the label on your own container.
• In TrueCal with Pro, type the food and amount in plain words or scan the barcode, and protein shows next to calories.

Common myths

• Myth, nuts are a high protein, low calorie snack. Almonds have 21.2 grams of protein per 100 grams, but at 579 calories that's about 3.7 grams per 100 calories.¹⁸
• Myth, cooked chicken has more protein than raw. It has more per gram because water cooks off, and protein per calorie stays at 18.8 grams either way.⁸⁷
• Myth, whole eggs are near the top for protein per calorie. A hard-boiled egg gives 8.1 grams per 100 calories, and egg whites alone give 21.0.¹⁵³
• Myth, a high protein meal makes you eat less at the very next meal. The 2015 review found more fullness, but no clear drop in intake at the next eating occasion.¹⁹

A note on medical advice

This article is for general information and isn't medical advice. Talk with your clinician about your own situation.

Worked example

Say you weigh 150 grams of raw chicken breast. Logged against the raw entry, that's 180 calories and about 33.8 grams of protein. Logged by mistake against the roasted entry, the same 150 grams shows about 248 calories and 46.5 grams of protein, about 68 calories and 13 grams of protein too high.⁸⁷

A closer look

Cooking changes protein per gram, not protein per calorie. USDA lists raw chicken breast at 22.5 grams of protein per 100 grams and roasted at 31, because roasting drives water down from 73.9 grams to 65.3. Per 100 calories both come to 18.8 grams, so a cooked weight logged against the raw entry undercounts protein by more than a quarter.⁸⁷

Questions and answers

Related guides

• How to track calories
• How much protein do you need to lose weight?
• High volume, low calorie foods
• Protein tracker
• Calories in chicken breast
• Calories in Greek yogurt
• Calories in low-fat cottage cheese
• Calories in canned tuna

Sources

1. Fish, tuna, light, canned in water, without salt, drained solids. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
2. Fish, cod, Atlantic, cooked, dry heat. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
3. Egg, white, raw, fresh. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
4. Turkey, whole, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
5. Fish, tilapia, cooked, dry heat. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
6. Crustaceans, shrimp, mixed species, cooked, moist heat. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
7. Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
8. Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
9. Cheese, cottage, lowfat, 1 percent milkfat. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
10. Yogurt, Greek, plain, nonfat. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
11. Tofu, extra firm, prepared with nigari. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
12. Fish, salmon, Atlantic, farmed, cooked, dry heat. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
13. Beef, ground, 85 percent lean meat, patty, cooked, pan-broiled. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
14. Edamame, frozen, prepared. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
15. Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
16. Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
17. Peanut butter, smooth style, without salt. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
18. Nuts, almonds. USDA FoodData Central. 2019.
19. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Leidy. 2015.
20. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Weigle. 2005.
21. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Wycherley. 2012.