High protein high fiber foods, with both numbers per serving

Very few high protein high fiber foods exist: legumes, soy foods, and a handful of seeds and grains. Lentils, split peas, black beans, edamame, tempeh and chickpea pasta all clear at least 13 g protein and 4 g fiber per serving. Almost nothing else does both.

Why most foods hit one target or the other

Fiber is a plant carbohydrate. Animals don't store it, so every protein-dense animal food — chicken breast, eggs, cottage cheese, whey, salmon — comes in at 0 g fiber regardless of portion. The far side has the mirror problem: a cup of raspberries carries about 8 g fiber and 1.5 g protein, a medium avocado roughly 10 g fiber and 3 g protein.

Legumes are the exception. A bean stores protein for the seedling and structural carbohydrate in its seed coat and cell walls at once, so both numbers land in one serving. Soy foods sit at the protein-heavy end of that family, peas and common beans at the fiber-heavy end. A workable screen is 10 g protein and 5 g fiber per realistic serving; about a dozen foods pass it.

High protein high fiber foods, with both numbers side by side

Values are for cooked servings unless noted, rounded to the nearest gram.

Food	Serving	Protein	Fiber
Lentils	1 cup (198 g)	18 g	16 g
Split peas	1 cup (196 g)	16 g	16 g
Navy beans	1 cup (182 g)	15 g	19 g
Black beans	1 cup (172 g)	15 g	15 g
Chickpeas	1 cup (164 g)	15 g	12 g
Edamame, shelled	1 cup (155 g)	18 g	8 g
Tempeh	3 oz (85 g)	17 g	~4 g
Chickpea pasta	2 oz dry (57 g)	13 g	5 g
Green peas	1 cup (160 g)	8 g	9 g
Chia seeds	2 tbsp (24 g)	4 g	8 g
Quinoa	1 cup (185 g)	8 g	5 g
Rolled oats	½ cup dry (40 g)	5 g	4 g

Two caveats. Tempeh's fiber varies widely by brand and database — some labels list about 4 g per 3 oz, others closer to 7 — so check the package, not a generic entry. Legume pasta varies by brand too, generally 11–14 g protein and 4–6 g fiber per 2 oz dry.

Most of what gets filed under foods high in protein and fiber is really a partial: almonds (1 oz — 6 g protein, 3.5 g fiber), pumpkin seeds (1 oz — 9 g protein, 2 g fiber), whole wheat pasta (2 oz dry — 7 g protein, 5 g fiber). Useful inside a meal, not as its anchor. For fiber alone, the full list of high-fiber foods runs much longer.

High fiber high protein breakfast combinations

Breakfast is where the double target usually breaks, since the standard high-protein options — eggs, Greek yogurt, whey — are all zero-fiber. Three assemblies that land near 25 g protein and 10 g fiber:

• Yogurt bowl. 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp chia, ½ cup raspberries — about 29 g protein and 12 g fiber. Give the chia ten minutes or the texture stays gritty.
• Black bean scramble. 2 eggs, ½ cup black beans, ¼ avocado, two corn tortillas — about 24 g protein and 13 g fiber.
• Built-up oats. ½ cup dry rolled oats cooked in 1 cup soy milk, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed, one scoop of protein powder — about 30 g protein and 7 g fiber. Use ground flax; whole seeds mostly pass through intact.

More morning options sit in high-fiber snacks and breakfasts.

High fiber lunch ideas with the protein already built in

• Lentil bowl. 1 cup cooked lentils, roasted vegetables, 1 oz feta, lemon and olive oil — about 22 g protein and 17 g fiber.
• Burrito bowl. 1 cup black beans, ½ cup brown rice, ½ cup corn, salsa and 2 oz grilled chicken — about 34 g protein and 19 g fiber.
• Chickpea pasta salad. 2 oz dry legume pasta, ½ cup shelled edamame, cherry tomatoes — about 22 g protein and 10 g fiber.

Most high fiber lunch ideas fail the protein half by treating beans as a garnish — two tablespoons over a salad is about 1 g of protein. The full cup is what moves both numbers.

Dinner: high protein high fiber meals with little assembly

• Tempeh stir-fry. 3 oz tempeh, 1 cup broccoli, ½ cup shelled edamame, ¾ cup quinoa — about 36 g protein and 17 g fiber.
• Salmon over lentils. 4 oz salmon, ¾ cup cooked lentils, wilted greens — about 38 g protein and 13 g fiber.
• Split pea soup. Built on 1 cup cooked split peas with carrot and onion, served with a slice of whole grain bread — about 20 g protein and 19 g fiber.

The shape behind all three high protein high fiber meals is identical: one legume at a full-cup portion, one concentrated protein, vegetables for the rest of the plate.

High protein high fiber snacks

Snacking is where the ratio slips hardest — nearly every packaged protein snack is fiber-free. Most high protein high fiber snacks are just legumes in another shape:

• Roasted chickpeas, ½ cup — 7 g protein, 6 g fiber
• Shelled edamame, ½ cup — 9 g protein, 4 g fiber
• Cottage cheese, ½ cup, with ½ cup raspberries — 13 g protein, 4 g fiber
• Hummus, ¼ cup, with raw vegetables — 5 g protein, 5 g fiber
• Almonds, 1 oz, with a medium apple — 7 g protein, 8 g fiber

Bars marketed on both numbers usually source fiber from isolates like chicory root inulin or soluble corn fiber — it counts on the label, though readers sensitive to fermentable fibers often report more gas from isolates than from the same fiber in beans.

Hitting both numbers across a day

A few reference points before engineering meals around them. The FDA Daily Value for fiber is 28 g on a 2,000-calorie diet; the Dietary Guidelines express the same idea as 14 g per 1,000 calories. The National Academies set an Adequate Intake of 25 g a day for adult women and 38 g for adult men under 51, dropping to 21 g and 30 g above that age. Protein's RDA is 0.8 g per kg of body weight — a floor set to prevent deficiency, not an optimum, and sports-nutrition position papers work from ranges above it.

Three meals at 25 g protein and 10 g fiber reaches 75 g and 30 g before snacks, clearing the fiber Daily Value outright. How much fiber per day covers how that target shifts with calories and age. Guidelines also advise raising fiber gradually and with enough fluid, since going from 12 g to 35 g inside a week explains most of the symptoms people blame on the beans.

Holding a fiber target without derailing a protein one is a per-meal accounting problem more than a per-day one — reconstructing yesterday at bedtime rarely reveals which lunch came in at 2 g. Fiber Tracker, a fiber tracking app for iPhone, covers the fiber side of that.

FAQ

What foods are highest in both protein and fiber?

Cooked lentils and split peas, at roughly 16–18 g protein and 16 g fiber per cup. Navy, black and pinto beans sit close behind at about 15 g protein and 15–19 g fiber. Shelled edamame trades fiber for protein: 18 g and 8 g per cup.

How much protein and fiber does a day need?

The FDA Daily Value for fiber is 28 g on a 2,000-calorie diet, and the National Academies' Adequate Intake is 25 g for adult women and 38 g for adult men under 51. The protein RDA is 0.8 g per kg of body weight, a minimum rather than a target. Both are population reference values; individual needs vary.

Can one meal reach 25 g protein and 10 g fiber without meat?

Yes, and legumes do nearly all the work. A cup of lentils with feta, legume pasta with edamame, or tempeh with quinoa and broccoli each land in that range. Full-cup servings of pulses and soy foods are what make the math work.

Does canning or cooking change the protein and fiber?

Not meaningfully. Canned beans track home-cooked ones gram for gram, and rinsing mainly removes sodium. The bigger variable is chilling: cooked-then-cooled beans, pasta and potatoes form more resistant starch, which behaves like fiber in the gut but isn't always counted as fiber on a label.