Protein is necessary for the proper growth, development, and repair of all tissues in the human body.

Proteins are made up of amino acids. There are nine amino acids that are considered essential, meaning that you must eat them because your body cannot synthesize them on its own. A protein is considered "complete" if it contains all nine of these amino acids. (1)

Vegetarian foods can be a great source of protein. In general, animal foods contain all nine essential amino acids in relatively high quantities. Plant foods also contain all nine, but they often have lower amounts of particular amino acids. For example, grains contain lower amounts of lysine, while legumes contain lower amounts of methionine and cystine. Because of this, plant foods are sometimes considered to be "incomplete" sources of protein. However, combining multiple different plant foods can give you adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids. (2) Examples include combining lentils with rice, or hummus with whole wheat bread. Use the complete protein calculator to make sure your foods contain 100% of the recommended daily intake for amino acids.

This list provides the top 10 complete vegetarian protein foods. For the purposes of this list, we assume that "vegetarian" refers to a person who does not eat meat or fish, but does eat dairy and eggs.

Vegetarian foods high in protein include tofu, beans, lentils, yogurt, milk, cheese, green peas, nuts, seeds, whole grains, peanut butter, eggs, and white button mushrooms. The current daily value (DV) for protein is 50 grams per day. (3) This is considered to be a healthy target amount for most people.

However, a specific person's protein needs depend on many factors, including their body size and how physically active they are. The USDA recommends a more specific target of 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. Multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36 to get your personalized protein target. If you're an athlete or are very physically active, then you may need more protein than this. You can use this online calculator to provide a personalized estimate of your protein needs.

Below is a list of vegetarian protein foods ranked by common serving size, for more vegetarian protein food ideas see the articles on high protein beans, high protein nuts, and protein rich vegan foods.