Where Do Vegans And Vegetarians Get Their Protein? 100+ Top Vegan Protein Sources

One of the most common questions vegans and vegetarians are asked is "Where do you get your protein?". Given traditional thinking has been that you need meat, fish, dairy or eggs if you are to get enough protein, this is not an entirely suprising question. Whether it's for sports, body-building, weight-loss diets (such as Atkins) or general health, our society is aware of the importance of consuming enough protein. Therefore, given the perceived disparity between the need to consume protein and the lack of meat or dairy in a plant-based diet, it's understandable that some people might be confused.

As initiatives such as Veganuary gain awareness and mainstream programming reflects the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle an increasing number of people are seeking information about where they can obtain their protein while following a plant-based lifestyle.

The Most Common Vegan Protein Sources

A simple Google search delivers hundreds of articles providing guidance on the best sources of vegan protein - the most common ones are:

1. Soya
2. Seitan
3. Edamame
4. Pea
5. Mycoprotein (aka Quorn)
6. Tofu
7. Tempeh
8. Lentils
9. Chickpeas
10. Hempseed.

High Protein, Low Calorie Vegan Recipes

Equipped with a shopping list of all these potential plant-based protein sources, one might think it simple to add these into your daily diet - and this is true, especially if you're fond of cooking.

At Vegan Supplement Store we fully endorse and recommend a varied diet full of whole foods, minimal processed foods and plenty of fresh fruit and vegatables daily. We've even produced our own healthy vegan recipe books to make it easier to prepare healthy plant-based meals. However, we also understand that not everyone likes spending time in the kitchen - or indeed many do not feel they can spare the time to prepare meals on top of a full-time job, parental responsibilities and many of the other stresses of modern life. That's why we conducted our own research to discover the highest protein plant-based foods available in the main high street shops or online.

Finding High Protein Vegan Products

A few years ago conducting our research would have been a lot more difficult. In fact, when we were founded in 2018, the shelves of supermarkets rarely had much variety and often the plant-based products were buried in amongst the rest of the range - this meant that the time spent shopping often took a lot longer than non-vegan shopping. Nowadays many supermarkets have dedicated sections of frozen, chilled and packet foods, making it much easier to find the products you're looking for.

Each of the main supermarkets even have dedicated vegan and/or vegetarian sections of their websites:

• Asda
• Iceland
• Morrisons
• Sainsbury's
• Tesco
• Waitrose

For the purposes of our analysis we have also included The Vegan Kind website which features hundreds of vegan products with the convenience of online shopping.

Given that there are now thousands of plant-based products available we sought to focus on those that have the highest protein content. But that's not all we looked at.

300+ Sources Of Vegan Protein And Their Calorie Content

Whether you're looking to lose weight, gain muscle or just maintain a healthy bodyweight, calorie consumption is going to be the key factor in determining your success. Naturally, as a health supplements company, we wanted to understand the relationship between vegan products that claim to be high protein and the amount of calories they contain. In the table below you can see that, for each product, we have recorded the amount of calories and grams of protein per 100g/ml, together with the primary source of protein (althought many products contain a mix of proteins). We have also calculated the ratio of calories per gram of protein and ranked the table in ascending order of the number of calories that need to be consumed for each gram of protein.

In our list, the top 10 products with the lowest number of calories per gram of protein are:

1. Biona Organic Seitan Pieces
2. Vivera Veggie Mince
3. Love Seitan - Simply (Plain) Seitan Log
4. Loma Vegan Tuno in Spring Water
5. Good Catch Plant Based Tuna Naked In Water
6. The Unbelievable Alt. Chickenless Strips
7. Biona Organic - Seitan Pieces Marinated in Ginger & Soya Sauce
8. Vegan Supplement Store Protein Powder
9. This Isn't Bacon Plant-Based Rashers
10. Asda No Chick Meat Free Strips

The majority of protein within these products comes from Soya, Wheat Gluten or Pea.

For the full list of over 300 products in our list, enter your email address below:

Top 100 Vegan Foods With High Protein

Per 100g/ml	Calories (Kcal)	Protein (g)	Ratio (Kcal per G of protein)	Primary Protein Basis
Biona Organic Seitan Pieces	92.2	18.3	5.0	Wheat Gluten
Vivera Veggie Mince	109	21	5.2	Soya
Love Seitan - Simply (Plain) Seitan Log	158	28	5.6	Wheat Gluten
Loma Vegan Tuno in Spring Water	70	12.3	5.7	Soya
Good Catch Plant Based Tuna Naked In Water	109	19	5.7	Pea
The Unbelievable Alt. Chickenless Strips	151	26	5.8	Soya
Biona Organic - Seitan Pieces Marinated in Ginger & Soya Sauce	101	17.2	5.9	Wheat Gluten
Vegan Supplement Store Protein Powder	369	62	6.0	Pea
This Isn't Bacon Plant-Based Rashers	152	24.5	6.2	Soya
Asda No Chick Meat Free Strips	124	19.7	6.3	Soya
Like Meat Soya Based Organic Chicken Bites	114	18	6.3	Soya
Vivera Veggie Bacon Pieces	95	15	6.3	Soya
Naked Glory Smoky BBQ Deli Readybites	115	18	6.4	Soya
Good Catch Plant Based Tuna Mediterranean	122	19	6.4	Pea
Quorn 4 Meat Free Vegan Fillets	92	14.2	6.5	Mycoprotein
Naked Glory Tenderstrips Tikka	130	20	6.5	Soya
The Unbelievable Alt. Beefless Strips	156	24	6.5	Soya
The Unbelievable Alt. Beefless Mince	156	24	6.5	Soya
Tesco Meat Free Vegetarian Mince	99	15.1	6.6	Soya
Squeaky Bean Chicken Kebab Style Sandwich Slice	219	32	6.8	Wheat Gluten
Plant Pioneers Meat Free Mince	141	20.1	7.0	Soya
The Unbelievable Alt. Lambless Strips	155	22	7.0	Soya
This Isn't Chicken Plant-Based Sea-Salt & Black Pepper Pieces	160	22.7	7.0	Soya
Squeaky Bean Ready To Eat Deli Pastrami Sandwich Slice	223	31	7.2	Wheat Gluten
Quorn Vegan Smoky Ham Free Slices	101	14	7.2	Mycoprotein
Like Meat Soya Based Organic Kebab	130	18	7.2	Soya
Squeaky Bean Ready To Eat Italian Ham Style Sandwich Slices	224	31	7.2	Wheat Gluten
Linda Mccartney 6 Vegetarian Red Onion & Rosemary Sausages	123	16.5	7.5	Soya
Quorn Meat Free Vegan Pieces	113	15	7.5	Mycoprotein
GranoVita Mock Duck Vegan Seitan in Gravy	111	14.7	7.6	Wheat Gluten
Naked Mince Without The Moo	156	20.5	7.6	Soya
VBites Cheatin Rashers	189	24.8	7.6	Wheat Gluten
Granose Burger Mix	150	19.5	7.7	Soya
Marigold Mo-Du Vegan Braised Seitan Slices	100	13	7.7	Wheat Gluten
Explore Cuisine Organic Edamame Spaghetti	327	42.2	7.7	Soya
Tesco Meat Free Chicken Style Pieces	187	23.7	7.9	Wheat
Squeaky Bean Vegan Roast Chicken Sandwich Slices Ready To Eat	229	29	7.9	Wheat Gluten
ASDA Plant Based Vegan Meat Free Mince	179	22	8.1	Soya
Tesco Meat Free Meat Style Burgers	168	20.6	8.2	Soya
Oumph! Sticky Smokehouse Fillets	123	15	8.2	Soya
Linda McCartney's 6 Vegetarian Sausages	153	18.6	8.2	Soya
Broccoli (generic)	34	4.1	8.3	Broccoli
Linda McCartney's Vegetarian Beef Roast Red Wine Glaze	126	15	8.4	Soya
Bonsan Kofu Fishfree Fillet	203	24	8.5	Soya
Waitrose Vegan 2 Chunky Soya Burgers	160	18.8	8.5	Soya
Quorn Vegan Chicken Free Slices	94	11	8.5	Mycoprotein
Pulled Oumph!	120	14	8.6	Soya
Linda McCartneys Vegemince	171	19.9	8.6	Soya
Linda Mccartney Shredded Hoisin Duck	190	22.1	8.6	Soya
Oumph! Kebab Spiced	129	15	8.6	Soya
Kingfisher Sliced Bamboo Shoot in Water	13	1.5	8.7	Bamboo shoots
Squeaky Bean Ready To Eat Chicken Style Pieces Tikka	192	22	8.7	Wheat
Linda McCartney's Vegetarian Sausages	160	17.9	8.9	Soya
Naked Glory Mince	180	20	9.0	Soya
The Tofoo Co. Smoked Tofu	137	15.2	9.0	Soya
Squeaky Bean Ready To Eat Hot & Spicy Chicken Style Pieces	199	22	9.0	Wheat
Cauldron Original Tofu	118	13	9.1	Soya
Well Well - Soya Sliced Sausage - Salami Flavour	154	16.8	9.2	Soya
Tenderstem Broccoli Tips (generic)	35	3.8	9.2	Broccoli
Squeaky Bean Ready To Eat Chicken Syle Pieces BBQ	194	21	9.2	Wheat
Clearspring Tofu	61	6.5	9.4	Soya
Vivera Plant Chicken Tenders	161	17	9.5	Soya
Linda Mccartney Bbq Pulled Pork Burger	154	16.1	9.6	Soya
Plant Power Original Tempeh	184	19	9.7	Soya
The Tofoo Co. Naked Tofu	123	12.6	9.8	Soya
The Tofoo Co. Tempeh	208	21.3	9.8	Soya
Bonsan Breakfast Scramble	49	5	9.8	Soya
ASDA Plant Based Vegan Meat Free Meatballs	157	16	9.8	Soya
Taifun Smoked Tofu	187	19	9.8	Soya
Good Catch Plant Based Tuna Oil & Herbs	188	19	9.9	Pea
Fry's Artisan Lightly Seasoned Vegan Chicken-Style Strips	188	18.8	10.0	Wheat
Morrisons Sliced Mushrooms In Water	19	1.9	10.0	Mushrooms
The Tofoo Co. Teriyaki	156	15.6	10.0	Soya
Vivera Veggie Shawarma Kebab	150	15	10.0	Soya
Granose Sausage Mix	151	15	10.1	Soya
M&S Edamame and Pea pot	98	9.7	10.1	Soya
Tesco Plant Chef 6 Herby Bangers	171	16.9	10.1	Soya
ASDA Plant Based 8 Vegan Beef Style Burgers	184	18	10.2	Soya
Vegilantes Smoky Bbq Ribs	208	20	10.4	Mushroom
The Meatless Farm Co Meat Free Mince	199	19.1	10.4	Soya
Morrisons Vegan Taste No Meatballs	164	15.7	10.4	Soya
Waitrose Vegan Soya Balls	164	15.7	10.4	Soya
Linda McCartney's Vegetarian Meatballs	185	17.5	10.6	Soya
Loma Linda Fishless Tuna Lemon Pepper	99	9.3	10.6	Soya
Tofurky Italian Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil	267	25	10.7	Soya
Birds Eye Green Cuisine Mexican Fajita Style Mix	93	8.6	10.8	Pea
ASDA Plant Based 2 Vegan Quarter Pounders with Cheddar Alternative & Red Onion	174	16	10.9	Soya
Morrisons V Taste Big Burgers	134	12.3	10.9	Wheat Gluten
VBites VegiDeli Sage and Onion Slices	234	21.3	11.0	Wheat Gluten
Alpro Soya Light	22	2	11.0	Soya
Tesco Plant Chef Meat Free Soya Roast	235	21.3	11.0	Soya
Sainsbury's Edamame Beans	131	11.7	11.2	Soya
Loma Linda Fishless Tuna Chilli	114	10.1	11.3	Soya
Waitrose Vegan Soya Mince	219	19.4	11.3	Soya
Gosh! Great Food Chunky Broad Bean & Quinoa Bites	95	8.4	11.3	Chickpeas
Better Nature - Marinated Tempeh Bites	210	18.5	11.4	Lupin beans
Fry's Vegan Artisan Smoked Hot Dogs	194	16.9	11.5	Soya
No Bull 2 Vegan Steak-Style Burgers	266	23	11.6	Wheat
Linda McCartney's Frozen Vegetarian Chorizo Sausages	147	12.5	11.8	Soya
Linda McCartney Chorizo & Red Pepper Sausages	147	12.5	11.8	Soya
Vegan Supplement Store Meal Replacement	403	34	11.9	Pea
Vivera Veggie Greek Kebab	167	14	11.9	Soya
HECK Meat-Free Magic	95	7.8	12.2	Pea
KTC Mung Beans	297	24	12.4	Mung beans
Naked Glory 2 Vegan Quarter Pounders	186	15	12.4	Soya

In Conclusion

While the majority of the products in our research are heavily processed, we recommend that anyone trying to follow a healthy diet does so using as many whole foods as possible and that they try to minimise processed foods. However, what our research reveals is 3 very important factors:

1. It is very easy for vegans to eat sufficient protein without consuming too many calories.
2. It is easier than ever to find vegan products in most supermarkets and online.
3. Despite this research and the increasing popularity of plant-based lifestyles, people will continue to ask "Where do you get your protein?"

Next time someone asks you where you get your protein from, play them this amusing, but annoying YouTube clip: