25+ High Protein Crops to Grow in Your Garden

Last Updated on May 7, 2024

Want your garden to help you live more self-sufficiently? Here’s what to know about growing protein in the garden. Adding some of these 25 high protein vegetables, seeds, grains, and other crops can help you get more of your family’s food directly from the garden.

While many of us grow food sheerly for the pleasure of homegrown flavor, others enjoy using their gardens as a means to increase their self-sufficiency.

While juicy tomatoes and cucumbers get much of the summer glory, if you want to source more of your meals from the garden, try growing some of these protein-rich plants.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT GROWING HIGH PROTEIN VEGETABLES

By now you’ve probably come across lots of information on vegan protein sources, but let’s take a moment to review the basics.

Unlike protein from animal products, proteins from plants do not contain all the amino acids needed to make what are called “complete proteins,” but according to the American Dietetic Association, our bodies can assimilate the different acids from plant sources over the course of the day.

Soaking and sprouting beans, grains, and seeds can help maximize the nutrition you can get from them. Most importantly, nutritionists advise, we should eat a wide variety of foods to ensure we’re not getting too much of some nutrients and not enough of others. 

How Much Protein Do You Really Need?

The recommended daily allowance is only .36 grams per pound of body weight, which works out to about fifty grams of protein for a 140-pound adult. Many nutritionists find this number on the low side, and it’s important to note that protein requirements vary according to age and activity level.

Joanne Slavin, professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, cautions that during growth and development, protein needs rise considerably, and babies, children, and pregnant women need to make sure they’re getting enough.

The USDA has a useful online calculator that can help you determine the right amount of protein for someone your age, height, weight, and activity level.

TOP HIGH PROTEIN VEGETABLES TO GROW IN THE GARDEN

It’s important to remember that pretty much everything you grow has small amounts of protein that will add up over the course of your day, even your salad. Cucumbers, radishes, cabbage and tomatoes all contain small amounts of protein.

Not that you’ll rely on these for all your protein needs, but these smaller amounts do add up.

Some green garden favorites also have surprising amounts of protein, most notably broccoli and spinach. The steamed broccoli you serve with dinner has 4 grams per cup, and one cup of cooked spinach has more than 5 grams.

Pro tip: Broccoli leaves are edible and contain protein as well.

Other sources of homegrown protein worth mentioning:

• Brussels sprouts (3 grams per cup)
• Asparagus (4 grams per cup)
• Summer and winter squashes (2-3 grams per cup cooked)
• Kale & chard (more than 3 grams per cup cooked)

Even the luscious summer watermelon and cantaloupe you have for dessert have about a gram per cup, and who eats only a cup?

Seedy fruits like mulberries, blackberries, and raspberries have more protein than their less seedy counterparts, around two grams per cup.

Potatoes are one of the most protein-rich root vegetables you can grow, with nearly 8 grams per large baked spud, while sweet potatoes contain 4 grams per cup.

Among the many wonderful perennial vegetables to consider growing in your garden, sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes) provide 2 grams per cup

You can look up how much protein other garden crops have in the USDA database if you’re curious.

But if you really want to focus on getting more protein from your garden, add some protein heavy-hitters, namely high protein crops like legumes, seeds, grains, and nuts.

Read on to learn about the most practical high protein veggie options to consider working into your garden plan.

TOP PROTEIN CROP: LEGUMES

If you’ve ever browsed vegan recipes, you probably noticed that they tend to feature legumes, a top source of vegetable-based protein.

Some popular legumes require a pretty long growing season, like lentils (18 grams per cup cooked) and chickpeas (14 grams per cup cooked), making them more challenging — though not impossible — for short-season gardeners.

Those of you in southern climates, though, should have no difficulty with these high-protein garden crops.

Natalie Hoidal, an educator with the University of Minnesota Extension, cautions that these crops generally prefer drier climates, so if you live in a region that gets less than thirty inches of rain annually, you’ll likely have more success.

Hoidal recommends focusing on tried and true crops that thrive in your climate. While northern gardeners can do well with things like peas and beans, lentils might not work as well.

She also reminds us, “Dry beans are really diverse. You can find beans that are beautiful and colorful and exciting that grow really well in our climate.” 

High Mowing Seeds, Botanical Interests, and True Leaf Market carry seeds for many of the cool bean varieties listed below.

Some beautiful and delicious beans to try growing:

• Calypso beans
• Turtle beans
• Speckled cranberry beans
• Black eye peas
• Lima beans
• Jacob’s cattle
• Scarlet runner beans

There are SO many beans to choose from. Grow a few different kinds and use them together in a gorgeous and memorable home-grown bean stew.

You might be surprised how versatile beans can be. Check out this collection of more than 50 creative bean recipes to put your harvest to delicious use.

Edamame

Edamame (over 18 grams of protein per cup cooked) is an easy crop to grow that can do well in many climates, including colder ones.

Edamame can be boiled and eaten straight from the pod, or added to salads and stir fries. Try them in a wild rice salad with some homegrown carrots, bell peppers, and chives, or whatever you can harvest from your garden or find in your refrigerator.

Shelling Peas

Shelling peas are another protein rich options, with 16 grams per cup cooked. Drying peas from the garden means you can enjoy homegrown protein long after you’ve put the garden to bed for the season. And a protein-rich split pea soup on a cold winter day is so satisfying!

Garden staples green beans and snap peas are other tasty options, with just under 2 grams of protein per cup raw.

Peanuts

Though they have ‘nut’ in their name, peanuts are actually legumes that you can plant in the garden. Unlike nut trees, which take years to produce, you can plant and harvest peanuts in one season.

Here’s more on growing peanuts if you want to give it a go.

If you garden in northern latitude, consider some of the shorter-season peanuts like the northern hardy Valencia peanut.

SEEDS, STELLAR HOMEGROWN PROTEIN

An often-overlooked source of protein from the garden is seeds, both large and small. 

Pumpkin Seeds

Also called pepitas, pumpkin seeds pack 5 grams of protein per ounce. Note that you need to plant pumpkins grown for their seeds, called Styrian or oilseed pumpkins, to get the hull-less pepitas you find in the grocery store.

The seeds from your pie pumpkins and jack o’ lanterns will also have some protein, but you’ll have to either eat the hulls or go through the laborious process of shelling them.

Note that seeds from many squashes can be roasted and eaten as well. Roasted acorn and spaghetti squash seeds are especially tender and tasty.

Sunflower Seeds

Those gorgeous summer sunflowers are not just beautiful, they’re packed with protein-rich seeds. Shelled sunflower seeds contain 7 grams of protein per ounce and can be ground into butter, used in baking, or roasted for snacks. Find out more about the many other nutritional benefits of sunflower seeds as well.

Buckwheat

A relative of rhubarb, buckwheat isn’t actually a type of wheat and is naturally gluten-free. It contains 5 grams of protein per cup cooked.

Buckwheat is another protein-rich seed that can be used whole in stews and dishes like kasha or ground into flour for home-grown pancakes.

Often grown as a cover crop, your buckwheat can also help with soil health.

Amaranth

Providing 9 grams of protein per cup cooked, amaranth tolerates a variety of growing conditions and does well even in northern climates.

Amy Stross, author of The Suburban Micro-Farm (one of the best gardening books out there, IMO) recommends amaranth, which she describes as “Super easy and beautiful.”

Stross harvests the tiny seeds by clipping off flowerheads once dry and hanging them upside down in a paper bag, which also helps prevent self-seeding.  

You can also use amaranth’s leaves in much the way you use spinach. Here are some amaranth’s leaves recipes to explore.

Quinoa & Chia

Protein-rich quinoa and chia are worth considering if you don’t mind some work harvesting. Delicious in so many dishes, from chia pudding to quinoa bowls, these tiny seeds are wonderful ingredients to have on hand.

They’re more challenging to grow in northern climates, though some determined home gardeners have harvested small amounts.

GROWING HIGH PROTEIN GRAINS

Though not everyone has space, a small patch or garden row of high-protein grains can add considerably to your protein harvest.

Grains highest in protein:

• Spelt (11 grams)
• Kamut (10 grams)
• Teff (10 grams)
• Sorghum (9 grams).

Additional options include millet and oats, each with six grams per cup.

Another source of vegetable protein to consider: Corn. An ear of sweet corn contains about 3 grams of protein, or you can dry corn and make cornmeal, which has around 10 grams per cup uncooked.

BEYOND THE VEGGIE PATCH: NUTS

In addition to protein-rich legumes, grains, and seeds you can add to your vegetable garden, consider growing nuts. If you’re lucky enough to have a butternut or walnut tree, gather them before the squirrels do and you’ll harvest about 5 grams of protein per ounce.

Since most nut trees grow quite large, Stross recommends hazelnuts (4 grams of protein per ounce) as the most practical for the home garden since they grow in shrub form. “You can prune them to a manageable size and still get a nut harvest,” she says.

However, she cautions, “Squirrels really love hazelnuts!” If you choose to grow them she advises putting up temporary cages to protect your crop as harvest time approaches. Note that you will need more than one hazelnut shrub for pollination.

Ready to grow some nutritious food in your garden? What high protein vegetables will you be planting this season?

Incorporating protein-rich veggies as well as seeds, beans, nuts, or grains into your garden plan means you can harvest more complete meals from your garden next season.

Here are some great books on growing more of your own food to check out:

Save this info on growing high protein vegetables, seeds, and grains for later!

A version of this article appeared in the November/December 2019 issue of Northern Gardener magazine.

Photo credits in cover and pin: gyro, wilaiwanphoto, y-studio, lenakorzh