High Protein Cheese: Protein in 14 Common Cheeses

If you want a high protein cheese, pick hard Parmesan: it has 10.1 g of protein in 1 oz (28.35 g). Nonfat mozzarella gives the most protein per calorie, and Swiss brings the least sodium of the aged cheeses. Every food number here comes from a USDA record, and the tables show the grams and the math.

Is there protein in cheese, and which cheese has the most?

Yes. Every cheese in the USDA tables has protein, and the harder the cheese, the more it holds in each gram. I pulled 14 cheeses and ranked them by the protein in 1 oz (28.35 g). Energy comes from the record’s own Atwater factors where it lists them.

Cheese (USDA record)	Protein per 100 g (g)	Protein per 1 oz, 28.35 g (g)	Energy per 1 oz (kcal)	Protein per 100 kcal (g)
Parmesan, hard	35.8	10.1	111	9.1
Romano	31.8	9.0	110	8.2
Mozzarella, nonfat	31.7	9.0	40	22.5
Swiss	27.0	7.7	111	6.9
Edam	25.0	7.1	101	7.0
Gouda	24.9	7.1	101	7.0
Mozzarella, part skim	24.3	6.9	72	9.6
Provolone	23.5	6.6	101	6.6
Cheddar	23.3	6.6	116	5.7
Brie	20.8	5.9	95	6.2
Feta, whole milk, crumbled	19.7	5.6	78	7.2
Ricotta, part skim	11.4	3.2	39	8.3
Cottage cheese, 2% milkfat	11.0	3.1	24	13.1
Cream cheese, full fat	5.8	1.6	95	1.7

Water explains why Parmesan sits at the top and cottage cheese near the bottom. Hard Parmesan is 30 g water per 100 g in its record, and 2% cottage cheese is 81.1 g per 100 g in its record. Less water means more cheese solids in the same weight, and protein is part of the solids. That’s why 1 oz of cottage cheese gives 3.1 g and 1 oz of Parmesan gives 10.1 g.

Energy tells a second story. One ounce costs 24 kcal as 2% cottage cheese, 72 kcal as part-skim mozzarella and 116 kcal as cheddar. Fat-free cheddar, mozzarella and Swiss sit at 36–45 kcal in the same ounce, with 8.1–9.1 g of protein. That is more protein per ounce than the full-fat versions hold, and no fat.

Watch the product name. The USDA record for mozzarella-style cheese substitute shows 11.5 g protein per 100 g, against 24.3 g for part-skim mozzarella. When the package says “substitute” or “product,” it isn’t the cheese number.

Which cheese has the most protein per calorie?

Fat-free and fresh cheeses do. Nonfat mozzarella gives 22.5 g of protein per 100 kcal, and 2% cottage cheese gives 13.1 g. Among the cheeses you would slice or grate, part-skim mozzarella leads with 9.6 g, just ahead of hard Parmesan at 9.1 g. Cheddar sits at 5.7 g.

The next table turns that into a portion: how much of each cheese it takes to reach 25 g of protein. That sits inside the 20–40 g per-serving range the International Society of Sports Nutrition gives for people who train.

Cheese (USDA record)	Grams of cheese for 25 g protein (g)	Energy in that amount (kcal)
Mozzarella, nonfat	79	111
Cottage cheese, 2% milkfat	227	191
Mozzarella, part skim	103	262
Parmesan, hard	70	274
Ricotta, part skim	219	303
Swiss	93	364
Cheddar	107	438
Cream cheese, full fat	432	1,454

Two winners, depending on the unit: Parmesan by the ounce, cottage cheese by the calorie. For plain protein I’d keep cottage cheese or nonfat mozzarella in the fridge, because 25 g costs 191 or 111 kcal. Cheddar needs 438 kcal for the same 25 g. Cream cheese is far worse, at 1,454 kcal, so a baked dessert needs a different base. High protein cheesecake counts a slice in grams.

How much protein is in a slice, a cup or a tablespoon?

A slice gives about 4–6 g. Even the cheddar slice weighs only 17 g. A tablespoon of grated Parmesan gives about 2 g, and a cup of cottage cheese gives about 24 g. These are the servings people actually log, with the weight each record gives.

Serving (USDA record)	Weight in the record (g)	Protein (g)	Energy (kcal)
1 slice of cheddar	17.0	4.0	69
1 slice of Swiss	21.9	5.9	86
1 slice of processed American	20.6	3.7	75
1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan	7.6	2.2	32
1 cup of shredded cheddar	105.0	24.5	428
½ cup of part-skim ricotta	124.0	14.1	171
1 cup of 2% cottage cheese	220.0	24.2	185

Cups are the weak spot. A cup of shredded cheddar is 105 g in its record, so it holds 24.5 g of protein and 428 kcal. The colby record lists a cup of shredded cheese at 113 g, 8% more. Cheeses shred differently, so a cup isn’t one number. Weigh the cheese instead. Brands add their own spread. The two USDA feta records disagree, with 14.2 g protein per 100 g in the older entry and 19.7 g in the newer crumbled one. A package label beats either record for the cheese in your fridge. Shredded cheese is also where a cup turns up in recipes, and high protein mac and cheese counts a serving by recipe.

Does high-protein cheese come with a lot of sodium?

Often, but not always. Sodium runs from 99 mg per 100 g in part-skim ricotta to 1,433 mg in Romano. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans say people aged 14 and over should eat less than 2,300 mg of sodium a day. One ounce of hard Parmesan brings 333 mg, about 14% of that.

Cheese (USDA record)	Sodium in 1 oz (mg)	Sodium per 10 g of protein (mg)
Swiss	52	69
Ricotta, part skim	28	87
Mozzarella, nonfat	211	234
Mozzarella, part skim	175	255
Cheddar	185	281
Parmesan, hard	333	329
Feta, whole milk, crumbled	293	525
Romano	406	451

Swiss and part-skim ricotta bring the least sodium with each 10 g of protein. Feta and Romano bring the most. Parmesan is usually grated, so your real portion carries less sodium than the last column suggests. If a doctor has told you to keep salt low, follow that number and not these tables.

How do I fit cheese into a daily protein target?

Count cheese as one source among several. The protein calculator turns your own height and weight into a range. For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult the same Dietary Guidelines give 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg a day, which is 84–112 g (how much protein you should eat a day walks through it). A cup of 2% cottage cheese (24.2 g) plus 1 oz of hard Parmesan (10.1 g) comes to 34.3 g for 296 kcal. That covers 31–41% of the range.

Cheese can’t be the whole plan. To reach 84 g from cheddar alone you’d eat 361 g of it, which is 1,471 kcal. Let eggs, fish, poultry, beans or tofu do the rest. Eggs and cheese already work together in high protein egg bites.

Try this for three days: weigh each cheese you eat, in grams, and write the grams next to the name. Then compare your real portions with the servings table above. In my own diary the surprise sat in the grated and shredded cheese, never the slices.

Kidney disease and pregnancy both put your protein figure in your doctor’s hands, and a cheese table can’t stand in for that. I wrote this for adults.

For the three-day check, Calsa can scan a barcode or search with grams, and each entry shows the source and the “per 100 g × grams” math behind its protein number.