A Food Info data study · June 2026
Stop searching for ‘protein’: the foods that deliver the most protein per calorie
If your goal is to build muscle or manage your energy intake, “high protein” is one of the most searched ideas in nutrition. The internet’s answer usually points to the same suspects: chicken breast, steak and eggs. But that common metric is misleading.
Most fitness apps measure protein per gram, which quietly rewards foods that also happen to be high in fat or carbohydrate. They don’t factor in energy density.
We asked a different question: which foods give you the most protein relative to their energy cost? That’s the number that matters if you want to hit your daily protein target without overshooting your calorie budget.
The leaderboard: protein per 100 calories
Computed across every whole food in six national datasets, excluding protein powders and isolates:
| Food | Protein per 100 kcal | per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Coley (saithe), grilled | 25.9 g | 27.2 g / 105 kcal |
| Egg white | 25.1 g | 10.8 g / 43 kcal |
| Haddock, grilled | 24.4 g | 23.9 g / 98 kcal |
| Shrimp / prawns, cooked | 24.2 g | 24.0 g / 99 kcal |
| Cod, cooked | 23.9 g | 23.9 g / 100 kcal |
| Skate, grilled | 23.9 g | 18.9 g / 79 kcal |
| Pork fillet (tenderloin), lean, grilled | 23.9 g | 36.3 g / 152 kcal |
| Pollack / ling, raw | 22.9 g | 18.8 g / 82 kcal |
The pattern is unmistakable: lean white fish is nearly pure protein.
Lean white fish wins the density game
Our analysis of every whole food across six national datasets revealed an unmistakable trend: the absolute leaders in protein density are typically cheap, unglamorous and incredibly efficient.
Because these foods carry almost no fat and minimal carbohydrate, virtually every calorie is dedicated to protein. The most efficient choices on the planet (cod, haddock, coley, pollack, prawns and egg whites) deliver 24 to 26 g of pure protein for every 100 calories.
Myth vs reality: how the famous foods compare
The classics are good sources, but their fat content dilutes the ratio:
- A grilled lean steak provides about 18 g per 100 calories, held back by the fat it still carries.
- A piece of white fish gives you over 24 g for the same energy cost.
| Food | Protein per 100 kcal |
|---|---|
| Cheddar, nonfat | 20.5 g |
| Lean beef steak, grilled | 17.7 g |
| Tofu, lite silken | 17.0 g |
| Greek yogurt, nonfat, plain | 16.9 g |
Two famous names deserve a closer look. Chicken breast, the food most people picture when they hear “high protein,” comes in at about 19 to 20 g per 100 calories: solid, but in the same territory as a lean steak and clearly behind white fish. Tuna is the exception that lives up to its billing: canned in water it reaches about 22 g per 100 calories, close behind the white-fish leaders and well ahead of chicken.
The science behind the scorecard (methodology)
Our method is built for transparency, so you can see exactly how we calculated these values and where the numbers come from.
- Metric: protein density as grams of protein ÷ kilocalories × 100, per 100 g of edible food.
- Coverage: every whole food across the major national datasets: USDA FoodData Central (US), CoFID (UK), Ciqual (FR), the Danish Food Composition Database (DK) and AUSNUT (AU).
- Transparency: we exclude processed isolates and concentrates, plus foods under 40 kcal/100 g, because the goal is realistic everyday choices, not powders.
Look up the full nutrition of any of these foods, free, no login.
Search any food →Not medical or dietary advice; protein needs are individual. Free to cite or reproduce with a link to food-info.org. For the underlying figures, contact info@food-info.org.