The Highest-Protein Grain Isn't Quinoa (Protein Content of Grains Visualized)

In this article, I use standardized USDA-based nutrition data to compare the protein content of common grains in three practical ways: per 100 g of dry grain, per 1 cup of uncooked grain, and per 1 cup of cooked grain. The charts below show how oats, quinoa, rice, barley, teff, sorghum, and several others rank on each of those scales, sorted from highest to lowest protein, so you can see not only which grains are most protein-dense by weight, but also which ones deliver the most protein in the portions that actually land in a bowl or on a plate.

Protein in Common Grains: Per 100 g, Per Cup Dry, Per Cup Cooked

Each grain is shown three ways: protein per 100 g of the dry grain, protein per 1 cup of dry grain, and protein per 1 cup of the cooked grain when a simple cooked measure is available in USDA-based data.

NOTE: Grains with no meaningful “1 cup cooked” measure (for example, flours which are added to recipes, and sorghum grain for which reliable data was not available) appear on the cooked chart with no bar.

You may be surprised to see that although Quinoa has a lot of protein, it actually isn't the grain with the most protein according to official sources and measurements.

Sources

Protein data sources and measurement notes

All values below are taken from USDA FoodData Central data as presented on MyFoodData (tools.myfooddata.com). MyFoodData pages typically show:

• A “Nutrition Facts” panel for a specific serving (for example, 1 cup).

• A macro composition breakdown (for example, “17.2% protein”), which effectively means grams of protein per 100 g.

Where I say “X% protein,” that corresponds to X g protein per 100 g of food.

Oats (uncooked oats; cooked oatmeal)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Uncooked Oats on MyFoodData (USDA FoodData Central entry).

  • The page describes uncooked oats as about 17.2% protein by weight, meaning 17.2 g protein per 100 g, which is the value used in the “per 100 g (uncooked)” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: MyFoodData Nutrition Comparison tool entry for Uncooked Oats, serving size “1 cup (156 g)”.

  • That comparison lists protein = 26.3 g for a 1-cup serving of uncooked oats; this is the value used in the “per 1 cup dry (uncooked)” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Cooked Oatmeal (MyFoodData).

  • For a serving size of 1 cup cooked oatmeal, the page reports 5.9 g protein; this is the value used in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Quinoa (uncooked; cooked)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Quinoa, uncooked (MyFoodData).

  • MyFoodData shows quinoa as roughly 14.1% protein, which we interpret as 14.1 g protein per 100 g and use in the per-100-g uncooked chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: MyFoodData Nutrition Comparison tool for Quinoa, uncooked with serving size “1 cup”.

  • The comparison table lists about 24.0 g protein per 1 cup uncooked quinoa; that 24.0 g figure is what the “per 1 cup dry” chart uses.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Quinoa, cooked (MyFoodData) and the associated recipe calculator.

  • For a serving size of 1 cup (≈185 g) cooked quinoa, the page shows 8.1 g protein; that is the value used in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Amaranth (uncooked grain; cooked grain)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Amaranth grain, uncooked (MyFoodData).

  • The macro breakdown lists amaranth grain at about 14% protein, i.e. 14 g per 100 g, which is used in the per-100-g uncooked chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: The same Amaranth grain, uncooked page on MyFoodData, for serving size “1 cup (≈246 g)”.

  • The Nutrition Facts panel shows 26.2 g protein per 1 cup uncooked; this is the value plotted in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Cooked Amaranth (amaranth grain, cooked).

  • For a serving of 1 cup cooked amaranth (246 g), the page lists 9.3 g protein (≈3.8% protein by weight); this 9.3 g per cup value is used in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Teff (uncooked; cooked)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Teff, uncooked (MyFoodData).

  • The macro composition section describes uncooked teff as about 13.6% protein, so we treat that as 13.6 g protein per 100 g in the uncooked 100-g chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: The same Teff, uncooked page, 1-cup serving.

  • For “1 cup” uncooked teff, the Nutrition Facts panel reports 25.7 g protein; this is used in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Cooked Teff (MyFoodData).

  • For a 1-cup (252 g) cooked serving, the page shows 9.8 g protein (3.9% protein by weight), which is the value in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Barley (hulled, uncooked; pearled, cooked)

• Protein per 100 g, hulled barley (uncooked)

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Barley, hulled (MyFoodData).

  • Macro composition lists about 12.8% protein, interpreted as 12.8 g per 100 g, which is what appears in the per-100-g uncooked chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, hulled barley (uncooked)

  • Source: The same Barley, hulled page, for serving size “1 cup”.

  • The Nutrition Facts panel shows 23.0 g protein per 1 cup uncooked hulled barley; this underlies the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked pearled barley

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Cooked Pearled Barley (barley, pearled, cooked) and MyFoodData comparison entries.

  • For 1 cup cooked pearled barley, MyFoodData reports 3.5 g protein; this is the value used in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Millet (uncooked; cooked)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Millet, raw (MyFoodData).

  • Millet is listed at about 11.4% protein, which we treat as 11.4 g per 100 g in the uncooked 100-g chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: The same Millet, raw page, 1-cup serving.

  • The Nutrition Facts panel reports 22.0 g protein per 1 cup uncooked millet; this is used in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Millet, cooked (MyFoodData).

  • For a 1-cup cooked serving, the page lists 6.1 g protein (about 3.5% by weight), which is the value plotted in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Brown rice (long-grain, uncooked; cooked)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Rice, brown, long-grain, raw / Uncooked Long-Grain Brown Rice (MyFoodData).

  • Macro composition shows about 7.6% protein, interpreted as 7.6 g per 100 g for the uncooked 100-g chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: The same uncooked brown rice page, serving size “1 cup”.

  • The Nutrition Facts panel lists 13.9 g protein per 1 cup uncooked; we use this in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked (MyFoodData).

  • For 1 cup cooked long-grain brown rice, MyFoodData reports 5.5 g protein; this value is used in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Whole wheat flour (whole-grain)

• Protein per 100 g

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Whole Grain Wheat Flour (MyFoodData).

  • The macro nutrient breakdown shows about 11.9–13.4% protein depending on rounding. We treat this as ≈13.4 g protein per 100 g for the per-100-g chart (consistent with whole-wheat flour benchmarks from USDA).

• Protein per 1 cup

  • Source: MyFoodData Nutrition Comparison for Whole Grain Wheat Flour vs Wheat flour, white, bread, enriched, serving size “1 cup (120 g)”.

  • In the comparison table, whole grain wheat flour at 1 cup is shown with 15.9 g protein; this is the value used in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

  • There is no commonly used “1 cup cooked flour” serving, so flour is omitted from the cooked-cup chart.

White wheat flour (bread flour, enriched)

• Protein per 1 cup

  • Source: Same Nutrition Comparison page, Wheat flour, white, bread, enriched column.

  • MyFoodData shows 16.4 g protein per 1 cup (137 g) white bread flour. This 16.4 g value is used in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 100 g (derived)

  • We derive the 100-g value from the 1-cup data:

    • 1 cup white bread flour: 16.4 g protein at 137 g total weight.

    • Per 100 g protein ≈ 16.4 ÷ 137 × 100 ≈ 12.0 g protein per 100 g.

  • That ≈12.0 g/100 g is what appears in the per-100-g chart.

  • As with whole-wheat flour, there is no “1 cup cooked flour” entry, so it is not included in the cooked-cup chart.

Couscous (dry; cooked)

• Protein per 100 g, dry

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Couscous, dry (MyFoodData).

  • Macro composition lists couscous as ≈12.8% protein, interpreted as 12.8 g per 100 g, used in the uncooked 100-g chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, dry

  • Source: Same Couscous, dry page, serving size “1 cup”.

  • The Nutrition Facts panel shows 22.1 g protein per 1 cup dry couscous, which we plot in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Couscous, cooked (MyFoodData).

  • For a serving size of 1 cup cooked couscous (≈157–160 g), MyFoodData lists about 6.0 g protein; this is used in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Corn / cornmeal (uncooked whole-grain yellow cornmeal; cooked yellow corn grits)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Uncooked Yellow Cornmeal (Cornmeal, whole-grain, yellow) (MyFoodData).

  • The macro breakdown section describes this food as 8.2% protein, i.e. 8.2 g protein per 100 g, which is what appears in the uncooked 100-g chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: Same Uncooked Yellow Cornmeal page, serving size “1 cup (122 g)”.

  • The Nutrition Facts table lists 9.9 g protein per 1 cup uncooked yellow cornmeal; this is the value used in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, cooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Cereals, corn grits, yellow, regular and quick, enriched, cooked with water, without salt (MyFoodData).

  • In that entry, a 1-cup cooked serving is reported to contain ≈2.9 g protein (about 1.4% protein by weight); this 2.9 g per cup is the corn entry in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.

Sorghum (uncooked grain)

• Protein per 100 g, uncooked

  • Source: Nutrition Facts for Sorghum grain (MyFoodData).

  • Macro composition shows sorghum grain as about 10.8% protein, which we interpret as 10.8 g protein per 100 g and use in the uncooked 100-g chart.

• Protein per 1 cup, uncooked

  • Source: MyFoodData Nutrition Comparison / ranking entries for sorghum grain with serving size “1 cup”.

  • These entries list 20.4 g protein per 1 cup sorghum grain; that is the value used in the “per 1 cup dry” chart.

  • A standard “1 cup cooked sorghum grain” entry was not used in your charts, so there is currently no sorghum bar in the “per 1 cup cooked” chart.