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How Do Vegans Get Protein? A Guide to Plant-Based Proteins

July 7, 2019Updated November 7, 2024 By Nava Atlas 4 Comments

How do vegans get protein? Plant-based protein sources are abundant, and we’ll explore them here, from whole foods like grains and legumes, to today’s wide array of vegan meat substitutes. Chances are, if you’ve gone vegan and announce it to a non-vegan you’ll be asked, “How do you get your protein?” 

Quinoa and edamame protein bowl

In all these years that I’ve been writing and speaking about the vegan way of eating and living, I’ve gotten this question a lot. But I’ve rarely felt it was asked in a rude or provocative way. Those who ask seem genuinely to want to know, so I answer in that spirit.

The myth that it’s hard to get adequate protein on a vegan diet is tenacious. Many foods have at least some protein. Whole grains, legumes, soy foods, nuts, and seeds all offer high-quality protein. Many common vegetables have small amounts of protein, so if you eat plenty of them, they add in to your daily total as well.

Studies have shown that plant-based protein is great for most people, including women as they age. Evidence definitively shows that plant-based agriculture is a lot less damaging than animal agriculture when it comes to climate change. And of course, the plant-based diet saves billions of animal lives.

Plant-based protein sources are abundant, and we’ll explore them here, from whole foods like grains and legumes, to today’s wide array of vegan meat substitutes.

You can print this out so that you, too, can answer this question in specifics for others, and have the information at hand for yourself.

Vegan protein sources

The body can manufacture all but nine of the 22 amino acids that make up proteins. These nine amino acids are referred to as “essential” amino acids and must be derived from food.

That is why getting sufficient, good quality protein is crucial. The operative word here is sufficient — this isn’t a case where more is necessarily better. Many Americans eat twice as much protein as needed. 

How to determine your daily protein requirement

Arriving at how much protein you need is based on a calculation. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), established by the National Academy of Sciences, states that an adult in good health needs an average (average being the operative word) of .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. So just to give you an idea, for a 125-pound woman that would be about 46 grams of protein per day. Not difficult to achieve, but remember, there are variables.

Here are a few of articles that will help you calculate how much protein you need for your age, level of activity, gender, and weight. Please note once again that most of these calculate protein needs based on your weight in kilograms, not pounds.

  • Are You Getting Too Much Protein? (Mayo Health Clinic)
  • Protein for Life (NIH)
  • How to Get Enough Protein on a Plant-Based Diet

Jars with legumes

The next time someone asks you where vegan get their protein, refer them to this list. It’s not exhaustive list of all plant-based protein sources, but a fairly thorough rundown of many of the most common, and ones you’re likely to use most.

Beans and legumes (cooked, 1/2 cup serving)

Remember, beans and legumes are so blessedly low in calories and fat that if you need more protein and have the capacity, a 1-cup serving isn’t unreasonable — so you can double the protein count from these sources below.

  • Chickpeas = 7g
  • Edamame (fresh green soybeans) = 8.5g
  • Black beans= 8g
  • Pinto beans = 6g
  • Lentils, brown and others = 6 to 8g
  • Lentils, red = 13g
  • Split peas (green or yellow) = 8 to 10g

Tofu, tempeh, and seitan

  • Seitan (4 ounces) = 28g
    (it’s not easy to find good seitan, but you can make your own)
  • Tempeh (4 ounces) = 20 to 21g 
  • Tofu, firm or extra-firm (4 ounces) = 8 to 10g
  • Tofu, baked (2 ounces) = 10g
  • Tofu, silken (4 ounces) = 7g

Jars with nuts

Nuts (1/4 cup)

  • Almonds = 8g
  • Cashews =  5g
  • Peanuts = 7g
  • Pistachios = 6g
  • Walnuts =  4g

See our guide to Nuts

Nut butters (2 tablespoons)

  • Peanut butter = 8g
  • Cashew butter = 6g
  • Almond butter = 8g

Jars with seeds

Seeds

  • Chia seeds = 4 g
  • Flax seeds (2 tablespoons) = 3.8g
  • Hemp seeds, also known as hemp hearts (2 tablespoons) = 6g
  • Sunflower seeds (2 tablespoons) = 3.5g
  • Pumpkin seeds (1/4 cup) = 8g

Jars with grains

Grains (1/2 cup cooked serving)

As with legumes, whole grains are low in fat and high in fiber. If you need more, up to a 1 cup serving for those  with heartier appetites or higher protein needs is a reasonable quantity.

  • Amaranth = 5g
  • Barley = 8g
  • Brown rice = 3g
  • White rice = 2.2g
  • Farro = 3.5g
  • Millet = 3g
  • Oats, steel cut = 5g
  • Quinoa =  4 to 4.5g

Nutritional Yeast Flakes

Nutritional yeast 

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons = 8 g (also a great source of Vitamin B12;

See our Guide to Nutritional Yeast)

Whole Grain Pasta in jars

Pastas (1 cup cooked serving, unless noted)

  • Quinoa pasta = 4g
  • Spelt pasta = 12g
  • Soba noodles (2 ounce serving) =  7 to 8g
  • Whole wheat pasta = 7g
  • Ordinary durum wheat pasta = 7g

Beyond Meat® burger

Plant-Based Meat alternatives

Plant-based meats are an easy way to pack in a lot of protein. It would be “Impossible” (get it?) to list all the various brands and varieties on the market today  — which seem to be growing by leaps and bounds — so here’s just a small sampling of some of the popular products. 

  • Beyond Burger® (1 patty) = 20g
  • Beyond Sausage® (1 link) = 16g
  • Gardein Beefless Ground (1/2 cup) – 12g
  • Gardein® Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick’n (7 nuggets) = 11g
  • Field Roast® Sausages, any flavor (1 link) = 25 – 28gg
  • Field Roast ®Fieldburger (1 patty) = 25g
  • Impossible® Burger (1 patty) = 19g
  • Lightlife® Smoky Tempeh Strips (4 strips) = 12g
  • Lightlif®e Smart Dogs (2 links) = 14g
  • Tofurky® Bologna Style Deli Slices (3 slices) = 14g
  • Tofurky® Italian Sausage (1 link) = 24 g

Broccoli florets

Vegetables

  • Asparagus (1 cup) = 4 g
  • Broccoli (1 cup cooked florets) = 2 to 3g
  • Brussels sprouts (1 cup cooked) = 4g
  • Kale (1 cup packed) = 2g
  • Spinach (1/2 cup wilted, packed) = 3g
  • Sweet potato (1 medium) – 2. 25g

Other vegetables and fruits, including butternut squash, green peas, blueberries, medjool dates, and others, have from 1g to 2g protein per serving. So it does all add up!

More …

Even ordinary foods like bread (whole grain, of course), add to your day’s total protein needs. A slice of whole grain bread has 2.5g to 4g protein, so a two-slice sandwich gives you 5 to 8 grams, before you even add the filling.

A medium banana has about 1.5g protein! So a simple peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole grain bread provides nearly a third of the daily protein requirement of an average-size woman.

Photos (other than broccoli, nutritional yeast, and Beyond® Burger) by Hannah Kaminsky

  • Adapted from Plant Power by Nava Atlas
  • See more of our tips & trends

Filed Under: Vegan Living

About Nava Atlas

Nava Atlas is the author of many vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including Vegetariana, Plant-Powered Protein, 5-Ingredient Vegan, Wild About Greens, Vegan Holiday Kitchen, and many more. A longtime dedicated vegan, find out more about her on this site's About page.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nancy Nowak

    March 30, 2023 at 8:21 AM

    What an excellent article about protein. Thank you so much for sending it. I have tried to track my protein and I definitely am not getting enough. ( The script here is so tiny and pale. I can hardly see what I am writing!)

    Thanks so much for your great article. I hope to print it out for quick reference. I have all your early books with the great pencil drawings. I used to collect all the vegetarian books until there got to be so many. I think the older recipe books might be better because the recipes were more simple and useful with common ingredients.

    Reply
    • Nava Atlas

      March 30, 2023 at 8:35 AM

      Hi Nancy — thank you so much for your kind comment. I hope you don’t feel it’s daunting to get enough protein. The average woman needs about 45 grams a day, which isn’t difficult to do as long as you’re getting sufficient calories.

      And thank you so much for following me all these years! These days, readers love full color photos; between that and so many more ingredients being available than ever, cookbook trends sure have changed. Still, I try to keep things as easy as possible, and with ingredients that are available in average supermarkets.

      In 2020-2021 — those years when many of us had to stay inside — I redid my first book, Vegetariana, veganized it and even added a few new pencil drawings (https://theveganatlas.com/vegetariana/) — a bit of a throwback to the past, but I wanted this book to be well printed and bound for the very first time!

      Reply
  2. Nancy Nowak

    March 30, 2023 at 9:00 AM

    I was just thinking…another category of protein sources would be plant milks. I am drinking some Silk non sweetened soy milk to get 7 grams of protein in a cup. I notice that the price has really gone up too. It was $4.19 for a 2 quart bottle when I shopped yesterday. It used to be about $2 + change

    Reply
    • Nava Atlas

      March 31, 2023 at 5:12 PM

      That’s a good thought, Nancy … I should add that category to the article. Thanks for the suggestion. And yes, it seems like all food prices have gone up substantially!

      Reply

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