8 Best High-Protein Vegan Foods, Ranked
Pea Protein Powder tops our database at 80g of protein per 100g, more than double what Tempeh offers. But a scoop of powder and a slab of tempeh aren’t really doing the same job, one’s a supplement, the other’s dinner. Filtered to foods genuinely tagged vegan in our database, here’s the real top 8 by protein per 100g.
The real top 8, by protein per 100g
- Pea Protein Powder: 80g
- Seitan: 75.2g
- Soy Mince (TVP, dried): 52g
- Hemp Protein Powder: 50g
- Hemp Seeds: 31.6g
- Tempeh (fermented): 20.3g
- Natto: 17.7g
- Smoked Tofu: 15.7g
Powders and whole foods aren’t really competing
The top four are all processed into a concentrated form, two protein powders and a dried mince, which is exactly why their numbers run so high, drying out the water content of a whole food concentrates everything left behind, protein included. The bottom four, Hemp Seeds, Tempeh, Natto and Smoked Tofu, are whole, cookable foods you’d actually build a meal around, lower on paper, but a more realistic everyday source.
Where you will see it used on this site
Every food shown here has its own real, live page, and the full Legumes & Pulses and Nuts & Seeds category pages list every food we track in each, filterable by protein, fat, sugar and more. This ranking is a different lens from a separate question we cover elsewhere, whether a food clears the UK’s own legal “high protein” threshold for what can go on a label, covered in full in What Does “High Protein” Actually Mean? Every food in that list, from Pea Protein Powder to Smoked Tofu, is also genuinely halal, covered together with real meat and fish options in our separate halal high-protein roundup.
*This article is general information, not medical or dietary advice. If you’re making dietary changes for a specific health reason, speak to a doctor or registered dietitian.