The Best Vegan Folate Food Sources: From Best to Worst

Folate (often interchanged with folic acid) is a B vitamin that’s involved in creating DNA, and is also involved in creating proteins.

As a vegan, your risk of folate deficiency isn’t any higher. Most folate-containing foods are vegan in the first place.

Folate deficiency is also quite uncommon, and usually only happens when someone has a terrible diet that is deficient in other vitamins as well.

With all that said, I’ve still compiled a list of the best vegan folate sources so that you can know where yours is coming from.

Is Folate Vegan?

Folate is often added to foods, especially fortified foods like cereals and breads.

The good news is that essentially all folate is made industrially from bacteria. In other words, it does not come from animal products in any way and is vegan.

How Much Folate Do You Need?

The RDA of folate depends on your age, but it’s 400 mcg (or “µg”) per day for adults of either gender.

It’s not that easy to get on a vegan diet, but also not that hard, as you’ll see in a second.

The Top Vegan Folate Food Sources

After compiling nutritional data for a few hundred vegan foods from the USDA, here’s the list of the best sources of folate:

Food	Folate (µg) per 100 grams	Folate (µg) per 100 calories
Peanuts	240	42
Turnip greens	195	594
Spinach	194	846
Lentils	181	156
Chickpeas	172	105
Mung bean	159	151
Black beans	149	113
Asparagus	148	685
Navy beans	140	100
Kidney beans	130	102
Cowpeas	127	131
Adzuki beans	121	95
Hazelnut	113	18
Soybeans	111	79
Hemp seeds	110	20
Fava bean	104	95
Seaweed (dried)	100	35
Walnut	97	15
Sesame seeds	97	17
Arugula	95	380
Avocado	89	53
Flaxseed	87	16
Rapini	83	376
Beets	80	182
Chestnut	70	29
Cashew	69	12
Artichoke	68	145
Parsnip	67	89
Bok choy	66	511
Peas	65	80
Leek	64	106
Broccoli	63	184
Kale	62	173
Brussels sprouts	60	168
Okra	60	184
Water spinach	57	291
Cauliflower	57	226
Oats	56	14
Pistachio nuts	50	9
Chia seeds	50	10
Guava	49	73
Red bell pepper	46	174
Almonds	44	8
Napa cabbage	43	362
Mango	43	71
Cabbage	43	173
Quinoa	42	35
Buckwheat groats	42	12
Corn	42	49
Rye grain	38	11
Lettuce (red leaf)	36	280
Celery	36	256
Durian	36	24
Pine nuts	34	5
Green bean	33	106
Squash	29	181
Wheat flour (whole-grain)	28	8
Cassava	27	17
Coconut meat	26	7
Lima beans	26	21
Blackberry	25	58
Jackfruit	24	25
Zucchini	24	142
Strawberry	24	76
Chicory root	23	33
Brazil nut	23	3
Radish	22	133
Pecans	22	3
Eggplant	22	88
Amaranth	22	22
Plantain	22	18
Raspberry	21	40
Cantaloupe	21	60
Banana	20	22
Carrot	19	47
Melon	19	53
Onion	19	47
White potato	18	26
Pineapple	18	36
Orange	17	38
Barley	16	13
Tangerine	16	30
Date	15	5
Tomato	15	82
Lychee	15	22
Swiss chard	14	74
Lotus root	13	18
Mustard greens	13	47
Grapefruit	12	32
Sweet potato	11	13
Macadamia nut	10	1
Lemon	10	35
Green bell pepper	10	48
Pumpkin seeds	9	2
Apricot	9	19
Watercress	8	67
Lime	7	25
Cucumber	7	48
Gourd	7	33
Pear	7	12
Fig	6	8
Nectarine	5	12
Plum	5	10
Cherry	4	7
Peach	4	10
Rice	3	2
Apple	3	6
Bamboo shoot	2	18
Grapes	2	3
Cranberry	1	2

Click the headers to sort by amount of folate per 100 grams or 100 calories (if you’re counting calories).

Types of Plant-Based Foods High in Folate

If we look at the list above, we see certain types of foods in general make up most of the top spots:

• Legumes – Legumes in general dominate the list. Lentils and chickpeas, and several types of beans all have a lot of folate in them. While often considered a nut, peanuts are more like a legume in this case (which they technically are), appearing right near the top of the list.
• Spinach and turnip greens – When you sort by folate per 100 grams, there aren’t too many vegetables (which contain a lot of water and fiber) at the top of the list, except spinach and turnip greens. If you really like spinach, it’s actually possible to meet your RDA from it alone (although hard for most people).

As long as you’re eating beans semi-regularly, you probably meet the RDA from them alone.

However, it’s arguable that spinach is the best overall it comes to folate. Not only does it give you the most per serving, it also gives you the most on a per-calorie basis.