The 30 Best High Protein Foods For Weight Loss [Tier List]

These are the 30 best high protein foods for weight loss, rated on the tier list. Includes plant and animal-based proteins.

low carb wrap with meat, cheese, tomato and pesto

Not all proteins are created equal. Some are amazing at helping the body hold onto muscle mass and burn fat as fuel while others can have the reverse effect.

Today I’m sharing my tier list with 30 common high protein foods ranked.

Let’s dive into it.

Protein Criteria

While ranking each high protein food, I followed the below criteria:

1. How much protein

Just because a food has protein in it, it doesn’t mean it’s a lot of protein. So when assessing each food, I factored in the protein density of the food, meaning how much protein is in a typical serving.

2. The quality of the protein

When we eat protein it needs to be absorbed from the GI tract and into the blood supply. If we can’t absorb it, then we can’t use it. How well this is done is measured by something called the DIAAS score.

3. The nutrient density

When we’re looking to achieve a weight loss goal that lasts, we need to make sure that we’re getting enough micronutrients as well. These include things like zinc, iron, vitamin A, folate and calcium. These are crucial for growth, development, organ function and bone health. Without these nutrients the weight loss that is achieved can be more accurately described as “wasting away”. So on top of quality and protein density, each food is also ranked on their nutrient density.

High Protein Tier List

Tier lists are best when viewed with a video. I filmed a full breakdown of the top 30 most common protein rich foods and how I would rank them with the video above.

You can find the final tier list pictured below, however I have one small change after filming the video: Nutritionally, turkey and chicken are pretty similar, so I would actually place turkey on par with chicken.