A visual guide: what 100 grams of protein looks like for different diets

Although you probably already get enough protein in your diet, you may be curious about what a certain amount of protein looks like when it’s on a plate. This will depend on your type of diet and, more specifically, your body weight Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for proteins is 0.36 grams per pound. (The USDA has a calculator that can help.) If you want to build muscle or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you need more, but maybe not as much as you think.

If you want to learn more about protein or change your protein goals, consult your doctor first. To put things into perspective, we’ve created this visual guide to show what 100 grams of protein looks like for vegans, vegetarians, omnivores, and carnivores.

The grams were calculated by taking the information from the nutrition label on packaged items and weighing them if necessary. The grams listed in this manual are specific to the products used for this experiment. So your numbers may vary if you look at a different brand for the following products.

What 100 grams of protein looks like for omnivores

Eating 100 grams of protein per day should be quite easy if you have no dietary restrictions. Here’s what that would look like:

• Two eggs (12 grams)
• Snack cheese (5 grams)
• Greek yogurt (15 grams)
• Beef sausage (14 grams)
• One can of tuna (27 grams)
• ½ cup oatmeal (5 grams)
• 2 ounces deli ham (10 grams)
• 1 ounce mixed nuts (5 grams)
• Two slices of rye bread (10 grams)

Everything pictured above comes to 103 grams, which brings you to just over 100 grams.

What 100 grams of animal protein looks like for carnivores

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to get 100 grams of protein from animal products:

• Four eggs (24 grams)
• One can of tuna (27 grams)
• Three beef meatballs (15 grams)
• 2 ounces turkey bacon (10 grams)
• 3 ounces turkey fillet (24 grams)

This amounts to a perfect 100 grams of protein. If you ate all of this in one day, plus bread and other non-animal products, you would surpass 100 grams of protein per day.

What 100 grams of protein looks like for vegetarians

For vegetarians, 100 grams of protein might look like this:

• Four eggs (24 grams)
• ½ cup oatmeal (5 grams)
• Two snack cheeses (10 grams)
• ¼ cup protein granola (10 grams)
• A portion of Greek yogurt (15 grams)
• One tablespoon of hemp seeds (4 grams)
• Two tablespoons of peanut butter (7 grams)
• One scoop of vegetable protein powder (20 grams)

This actually amounts to 99 grams of protein, which is pretty close.

What 100 grams of protein looks like for vegans

What you see isn’t quite what you get with the amount of protein here:

• 1 ounce of nuts (5 grams)
• ½ cup oatmeal (5 grams)
• A protein granola bar (8 grams)
• Two slices of rye bread (10 grams)
• ¼ cup protein granola (10 grams)
• One tablespoon of hemp seeds (4 grams)
• Two tablespoons of chia seeds (10 grams)
• Two tablespoons of peanut butter (7 grams)
• One scoop of vegetable protein powder (20 grams)

This amounts to 79 grams of protein. If we double the mixed nuts, chia seeds and hemp seeds, we get 93 grams of protein. You can add an extra tablespoon of peanut butter or eat a full cup of oats, instead of half a cup, to get closer to 100 grams.

This board also excludes protein-rich vegan meat substitutes such as tofu, tempeh, or plant-based meats like the Impossible burger. These food sources can make it easier to get 100 grams of protein for someone who eats a vegan diet.