15 Vegan Protein Sources + Easy Hummus Toast

With the exception of the tofu, all of these are gradients are higher in carbs than protein., making them an unideal snack or main ingredient for a high protein meal. In order for a “high protein meal” it has to be higher in protein than the carbs. This article was grossly misleading. ☹️

wow seedy hummus toast just SOUNDS delicious, I cannot wait to try it!!! Thanks for this awesome recipe, I actually really didnt know seeds had protein in them!

this is an excellent website, thank you Dana

I’d like to say thank you so much for consistently providing such reliable, clear and tasty recipes and nutritional guides such as this. It is hugely appreciated, especially as I am new to veganism, and this is my first port of call for tasty new ingredients! Thank you for all your hard work.

I love hummus on toast!! Though I may love avocado toast more :p I had no idea nutritional yeast had that much protein! Good to know!! I’ve been having a Vega smoothie with banana and coffee most mornings but I’ll have peanut butter banana oatmeal most weekend mornings :)

Dana, thank you so so much for this. I am raising a 1 year old and it’s getting a bit tricky to ensure she is getting adequate protein/other solids now that she cant just survive on breastmilk! It has also made me realize how inadequate my own protein intake is since becoming vegetarian 11 months ago. This is gold & I’m printing it to hang in the kitchen.

My only question is, are the amounts youve listed for the oats, quinoa and lentils referring to cooked or uncooked?

Thanks for serving the plant based community with your master mind recipes. Blessings to you!

Thanks for the list!!! Most items are already part of my daily diet so I guess I’m all good ;) Should try to use tempeh more maybe!
And hummus on toast with some seeds and hemp!!! What didn’t I see this earlier this morning ahhhhh! :o

Hello! I love your website and am debating whether to purchase your 31 month of meals. I’m currently on Weight Watchers and finding out that I was getting way too many carbs and not enough complete protein as a vegan. How much complete protein do your dinner meals contain? I recently learned about hemp seeds as being complete protein, but the fat content is what I will have to watch out for. I also bought some hemp oil to make into salad dressing and thought perhaps that might be a good way to bring my complete protein levels up. If you dinner meals contain ample protein, it may make it easier for me to plan to my breakfast/lunch meals depending on the dinner meal profiles. So, are your dinner meals contain “complete” proteins? I can’t wait to try the hummus on toast. That is a sure winner!

Quick question: Are the figures for cooked or uncooked (when applicable :) )? Thank you for putting this together; I’ve already referred to it several times!

Thank you for this informative list, it’s great! I’ve just made some hummus but I hadn’t even thought about eating it with seeds, thanks for the tip :)
Can I ask you what you use on sandwiches to substitute cheese?

This is fantastic! I’m not vegan, but my husband is vegetarian and I am most days. I’ve been scouring the internet looking for high protein, vegetarian breakfast ideas that aren’t egg based. This will definitely make it into the rotation!

I decided to eat for nutrition and started last November, so I’ve been searching pinterest for vegetarian recipes and keep coming back to your blog! I have now signed up so I can go directly to your website. Thank you for making it easier to transition from bad habits to good! My morning smoothie consists of cinnamon, ginger, chia seeds, flax seeds, kale, blueberry Kifer, coconut almond milk, and banana. I also throw in some blueberries or pineapple too. I’m hoping that gives me what I need to start the day! Since I’ve been eating only nutritious food my skin is clearer ( I had a ruddy completion) and my arthritis pain is less. Your recipes are such a big help. I am stuck on beet Reubens for lunch. A recipe I found on pinterest. I roasted my own for the first time and it is totally yummy! Thanks again for the help.

Hi! I love your blog :) I used on of your photos for my blog posts about healthy food and of course linked to your page under the photo, hope that is alright :) I wanted to ask you how you get enough iron in your diet as vegetarian/vegan? I have been eating vegetarian food for a while now and it is so difficult to get enough iron! Hugs/ Louise

I’m not vegan, but I’m definitely passing this along to my sister and my niece and I may try it too…it looks so good!

Thank you for sharing this! I’ve been looking for a list like this since I started crossfit and noticed that I feel much better with a bit higher of a protein intake.

YUM! I have a question. For that hummus, do you use roasted salted tahini or the raw one like from Artisana? Both flavors are very different and will make a big difference in the final hummus. Just wanted to know before I shell out >$10 for the jar at my co-op lol! Thanks in advance, Dana!

Love this list, thank you! All of these are staples in my diet… yum :) My go-to breakfast is definitely a huge green smoothie, sometimes with a side of oatmeal or oatmeal-banana pancakes or something of that sort. :)

This is a really nice graphic of the protein amounts. I think the protein for the oats is a bit off though. I’m assuming you’re talking about oatmeal, correct? According to Quaker a half cup of Old Fashioned uncooked oatmeal has 5 grams of protein. I’m just pointing this out because I eat oatmeal every morning and I only ever counted it as a couple of grams of protein. Also, as a dietitian I just don’t want people thinking they can get a large amount of protein from oats. http://www.quakeroats.com/Libraries/pdf/Oatmeal_Nutrition_Facts.sflb.ashx

Thank you so much! Just one question: where did you get the information from? I have read a few articules about plant proteins and they all say different values so Im a little confused :)

I definitely need to amp up my protein, but I don’t exactly love meat. Thanks for the tips-I didn’t know my hemp had that much protein in just 1 tsp-wow!

My favorite breakfast lately is sprouted grain bread + raw almond butter. Oh, and half a honey bear on top ;)

Love your protein list, the “where do you get your protein” gets a little redundant for us vegans. Most of your list are staples in our house. Love the hummus toast with hemp and sunflower seeds too, yum!

Holy mother of protein in sunflower seeds. Never woulda thunk!

Loved this post! It’s also important to note that not all of the 19 grams of protein will be absorbed. Depending on the bioavailability of the specific protein sources your body absorbs about 10 grams of protein per hour according to multiple studies.

So what can an allergic to pulses do???… This is my misery… I can’t eat lentils, nor chickpeas nor beans, but I can eat peanuts galore… I’m not vegetarian but I try to increase my meatless days to more than three so I’m out of solutions, when my meals have less protein I get hungry very quickly…though I could eat quinoa guacamole every single day, I’d like a little bit of variety….

Go the plant based foods! Your hummus on toast looks divine!

Lennae
xxx

Totally been monitoring my protein since I took up running over a year ago. This stuff is gold. Thanks, Dana!

I’ve been vegan since 1/1. A whopping 20 days. For me protein is very important because I’m breastfeeding. While I love the challenge of a completely plant based diet it does take effort to maintain a healthy balance. My go to breakfast is a version of thd Oh She Glows 5-minute Power Oatmeal. Soaked almonds, chia and almond butter drizzle take my bowl of yummy oats to 15g, I pair it with a hemp protien coconut milk, 12 g there. In all almost 30 g for breakfast! My 12 week maternity leave ended on 1/5 making quick and easy really important. Hummus toast is what’s up! I’ll have to check out your archives for your favorite Hummus recipe! !

Never thought of hummus on toast with seeds! I’ll have to try it with the buffalo hummus I just made!

Hi there- thanks for the list. I too love peanut butter and your peanut butter mouse is a favourite of my family. However, I was concerned to see nutritional yeast on your list. I can understand its use for the B vitamins lacking in a vegan diet, but it’s status as a neurotoxin would prevent me from using it.

Hi there- thanks for the list. I too love peanut butter and your

This is an AMAZING post! I am a huge fan of using lentils and different nut butters to incorporate some protein into my diet. Lentils are so versatile, and nut butters…they’re my weakness. Thanks for this info!!

great information – thanks. i had know idea that sunflower seeds had that much protein! you wouldn’t happen to have this information as a simple list that could be easily saved for future reference do you? I do a terrible job in terms of getting enough protein and really need to be more mindful of my intake. You wouldn’t perhaps consider doing something similar for protein would you?

Great post! I love the look of this toast! I never thought of hummus on toast for breakfast, it looks amazing :)

Looks great. I calculated the nutrition for your toast and came up with different numbers. Your protein is too high for those calories – without the bread, according to your hummus recipe, the calories are already at 250ish and 9.2g protein. I have no idea where to get bread that’s 30 cal and 5g protein per slice. Can you tell me which bread you used to calculate this?

Love this! People don’t realize how many foods are good sources of protein! I would add tempeh– soo yummy and protein-rich, you should try it if you haven’t! (and I actually prefer tempeh scrambles to tofu scrambles!)

This is a great post for plant based lovers who are struggling to get their protein! Big smoothies or bowls of oatmeal with lots of toppings do it for me!

My go to breakfast is always oatmeal with peanut butter and a banana. That has a pretty good amount of protein, too! I would also live on peanut butter alone if I could.

Your protein infographic is PERFECTION! So is your food :) My little vegan family is loving your food and enjoying new things each week as we plan our meals. Thank you!

Love this – I’m a hummus addict so I know I’ll love this!

Thank you so much for these! I’ve been vegan for a couple of years now and just recently started logging my diet more closely so I can monitor my protein intake. To my surprise, I do better on most days than I thought I would! But this list was a great reminder – I find it’s easy to get into such a routine of eating the same few protein sources with every meal.

And the hummus toast looks delicious!

Kathryn

Hi Dana,
Thank you so much for the 15 recipe detox guide! The photography is stunning. Each photo is detailed to perfection making each recipe look delicious. And they are! I’ve made the detox smoothie, granola bars and black bean burger.

It’s actually more like 8-10% unless you’re an athlete. Have you read The China Study? It’s a really great look at nutrition, with some really astonishing fact and figures!

Tofu, black beans and almond butter are my faves! Spiriluna, edamame and lentils are also great sources of vegan protein :)

Love all the gorgeous photos of nutrient-dense plant protein!
Just a quick question for clarification- did you mean to put 9.5g protein per 1/4 cup sunflower seeds? There’s typically about 7g per 1/4 cup which would be 28 grams/cup. And for buckwheat, would that be buckwheat flour? There’s usually about 4g per 1/4 cup = 16g per cup of flour but for cooked buckwheat groats there is in fact 5.6 grams, the picture just looks like flour. I hope that doesn’t come off a being picky or anything- just wanted to clarify in case anyone else was a bit confused!

Thank you for all you do! :)

Love all the gorgeous photos of nutrient-dense plant protein!
Just a quick question for clarification- did you mean to put 9.5g protein per 1/4 cup sunflower seeds? There’s typically about 7g per 1/4 cup which would be 28 grams/cup. And for buckwheat, would that be buckwheat flour? There’s usually about 4g per 1/4 cup = 16g per cup of flour but for cooked buckwheat groats there is in fact 5.6 grams, the picture just looks like flour. I hope that doesn’t come off a being picky or anything- just wanted to clarify in case anyone else was a bit confused!

Thank you for all you do! :)

Love this post! I’ve been vegetarian for years, and I have yet to try hemp seeds. I need to get on that!

This looks incredibly delish. Thanks for listing all the vegan protein sources :) Super helpful, and wonderful photos (as usual)

I’m so excited to try this recipe. So delicious! So inspirational!

I am trying to lose belly fat by following a plant-based diet and each morning, I drink a smoothie using the new Vega One formula – which has 20 grams of protein and 6 servings of greens!! I usually add about a 1/2 cup of mixed berries and 1/2 an orange with it – I also “chew” my smoothie to get some of the fiber benefits so it doesn’t turn into straight sugar when I drink it.

We need about 0.8 g/kg of body weight of protein if we are inactive to 1.4 g/kg if we are athletes. I use Lifesum app to follow my protein intake and I usually complete it :) Remember that veggies as cauliflower or broccoli have a good amount of protein too ^_^
xo

I think my Avo Toast just flew right out the window…. THIS. LOOKS. AMAZING! =) Pinned!

I drink A LOT of plant fusion protein powder. My brain thinks it’s a milkshake… It’s delicious with frozen banana chunks, frozen dark cherries and some PB2. Yum!

I tend to be in the camp of not worrying much about protein, thinking that eating a fairly balanced diet ensures that I get enough but I’ve been wanting to do the math over the course of a couple of days to see if that’s really true. I do eat a lot of oats, especially for breakfast so it’s good to see that on your list.

While not vegan, or even vegetarian, I strive to eat a mostly plant-based diet. Thanks for sharing this information–I should try to eat a bit more protein! I was surprised by how much protein quinoa has!