40 Vegan Foods High in Protein and Iron [LIST]

Two of the biggest challenges of a vegan diet is getting enough protein and getting enough iron.

While you can address them individually, it’s also possible to base your diet around foods that are relatively high in both iron and protein for convenience.

I’ve collected a list of vegan foods that are high in protein and iron, shown in the table just below on this page.

The Best High Protein and Iron Vegan Foods

All data below is per 100 gram serving.

The RDA column for iron is based on 18 mg, which is the RDA for adult women. Note that men and other age groups need less, but it typically doesn’t hurt to get a bit more anyways.

Food	Energy (kcal)	Protein (g)	Iron (mg)	% RDA Iron
Vital wheat gluten	370	75.16	5.20	29
Seaweed (dried)	286	57.43	28.57	159
Hemp seeds	553	31.57	7.93	44
Peanuts	567	25.79	4.58	25
Almonds	580	21.15	3.70	21
Sunflower seeds	584	20.79	5.24	29
Pistachio nuts	559	20.16	3.92	22
Pumpkin seeds	445	18.55	3.31	18
Flaxseed	534	18.30	5.73	32
Sesame seeds	574	17.74	14.56	81
Oats	389	16.89	4.72	26
Chia seeds	487	16.53	7.73	43
Cashew	574	15.31	6.00	33
Walnut	655	15.23	2.91	16
Hazelnut	628	14.95	4.70	26
Brazil nut	659	14.32	2.44	14
Pine nuts	673	13.69	5.53	31
Soybeans	141	12.35	2.50	14
Buckwheat groats	346	11.73	2.47	14
Rye grain	338	10.34	2.63	15
Wheat flour (whole-grain)	332	9.61	3.71	21
Pecans	691	9.17	2.53	14
Lentils	116	9.02	3.33	18
Black beans	132	8.86	2.10	12
Chickpeas	164	8.86	2.89	16
Kidney beans	127	8.67	2.94	16
Navy beans	140	8.23	2.36	13
Macadamia nut	718	7.91	3.69	20
Fava bean	110	7.60	1.50	8
Adzuki beans	128	7.52	2.00	11
Mung bean	105	7.02	1.40	8
Lima beans	123	6.81	2.45	14
Garlic	133	6.33	1.67	9
Peas	81	5.42	1.47	8
Quinoa	120	4.40	1.49	8
Amaranth	102	3.80	2.10	12
Coconut meat	354	3.34	2.43	13
Artichoke	47	3.27	1.28	7
Rapini	22	3.17	2.14	12
Kale	36	2.93	1.60	9
Spinach	23	2.86	2.71	15

There’s a few things I’d like to note here:

• Seaweed is the highest on this list in protein and iron, but it’s also dried. In reality, you can’t really eat 100 grams of dried seaweed at once, so it’s not quite as amazing as it seems (but still good).
• Leafy greens like kale and spinach don’t have a ton of protein per 100 grams, but also have very few calories. When you look at the amount of protein and iron per 100 calories, they are great additions to any vegan diet.
• Pea protein powder has a lot of iron. If you’re struggling to get enough protein, you can try drinking vegan protein shakes, which are packed with protein and often iron as well (since pea protein is the most common type used).

The Top 6 Vegan Foods For Protein and Iron

Seaweed

I only included generic dried seaweed in my list of foods, but pretty much any type of seaweed is relatively high in protein and iron. This includes:

• Kelp
• Nori
• Kombu
• Arame
• Chlorella

Even if you don’t make recipes like sushi that call for seaweed, or don’t like the taste of it on its own, you can buy seaweed in powder and just sprinkle it on top of many recipes.

Seeds

When it comes to healthy vegan fats and protein, seeds should be a staple of most vegan diets as long as allergies aren’t an issue.

Eat them by themselves, as seed butters, or add them to salads.

Pretty much any seed has a good amount of protein and iron, but the top ones from above are:

• Sesame seeds
• Hemp seeds
• Chia seeds
• Flax seeds
• Sunflower seeds

Nuts

Like seeds, nuts are great sources of plant protein and iron, but are also high in calories due to their high fat content.

The top types of nuts from the above table were:

• Cashews
• Pine nuts
• Hazelnuts
• Peanuts (technically a legume)
• Almonds
• Macadamia nuts

One thing to be aware of is that nuts have a poor omega 3 to 6 fat ratio, which can be a problem if you eat too many. It’s a topic worth looking at if you’re unfamiliar with the role that omega 3 and 6 fats play in inflammation.

Vital Wheat Gluten

Vital wheat gluten is just gluten (a type of protein) extracted from wheat. It’s basically a protein powder, so it’s not surprising that it’s super high in protein. Since it’s so concentrated, it also happens to be high in iron.

Keep in mind that you can’t eat wheat gluten directly, instead, it’s used to make seitan, a popular type of mock meat. I have a page of over 100 vegan seitan recipes if you’d like to learn more about it.

Oats

When it comes to grains, oats are a decent plant source of protein, and one of the best vegan iron sources.

Vitamin C can improve iron absorption, so I typically eat oats with toppings that are high in vitamin C like strawberries.

Legumes

Legumes are one of the most efficient sources of protein on a vegan diet. They’re high in protein whether you look at them on a per serving or per calorie basis.

Most legumes rank fairly well on the table of high protein and iron vegan foods we looked at above, including:

• Lentils
• Soybeans
• Black beans
• Adzuki beans

Note that this means that processed foods like tofu and tempeh, both from soybeans, are also high in protein and iron.

Spinach plus legumes is one of my favorite combinations both in terms of taste and nutrition. It guarantees you a meal that’s really high in both protein and iron.