High Protein Fruits: Grams per Cup From USDA Data

Of the high protein fruits, guava is the best fresh pick: one cup (165 g) has 4.2 g of protein. Dried zante currants, figs and apricots reach 4.4–4.9 g per cup, but at 313–418 kcal. No fruit is a protein food, since one large egg has 6.2 g. Count fruit for the gram or two it adds and get the bulk of your protein from other foods.

Which high protein fruits have the most protein?

Passion fruit, guava and the dried fruits lead, with 4.2–5.2 g per cup. Among raw fruits in the USDA SR Legacy fruit group, guava has 2.55 g of protein per 100 g. Only tamarind is higher, at 2.8 g, and it comes with 239 kcal per 100 g against guava’s 68 kcal. I took 11 USDA records and kept each record’s own portion weight, since a cup of dried currants and a cup of guava aren’t the same amount of food. The last column gives protein per 100 kcal.

Fruit (USDA record)	Portion	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal
Guava, raw	165 g (1 cup)	4.2 g	112 kcal	3.8 g
Mulberries, raw	140 g (1 cup)	2.0 g	60 kcal	3.3 g
Blackberries, raw	144 g (1 cup)	2.0 g	62 kcal	3.2 g
Passion fruit, purple, raw	236 g (1 cup)	5.2 g	229 kcal	2.3 g
Orange, navel, raw	140 g (1 fruit)	1.3 g	66 kcal	1.9 g
Jackfruit, raw	165 g (1 cup, sliced)	2.8 g	157 kcal	1.8 g
Apricots, dried	130 g (1 cup, halves)	4.4 g	313 kcal	1.4 g
Figs, dried	149 g (1 cup)	4.9 g	371 kcal	1.3 g
Banana, raw	118 g (1 medium)	1.3 g	105 kcal	1.2 g
Currants, zante, dried	144 g (1 cup)	4.9 g	418 kcal	1.2 g
Avocado, California, raw	136 g (1 fruit)	2.7 g	227 kcal	1.2 g

By the cup, passion fruit beats guava, but that cup is 236 g of pulp and seeds and costs 229 kcal, twice the guava. Per calorie, guava wins and the berries follow. Jackfruit is the surprise on the list, with 2.8 g per cup of sliced fruit but 157 kcal. The guava record also shows 5.4 g of fiber per 100 g, which is 8.9 g in a cup.

Bananas and oranges are in the table for comparison. A medium banana gives 1.3 g, so don’t eat one for the protein.

Fruit protein lists disagree mostly because they use different portions. The guava record gives 1.4 g for one whole fruit of 55 g and 4.2 g for a cup of cut fruit. A list that says “1 guava” and one that says “1 cup” can both be right. Check the portion first.

Is dried fruit higher in protein than fresh fruit?

Per gram, yes, because drying removes water. Per calorie, no. Dried apricots have 3.39 g of protein per 100 g against 1.4 g for raw apricots, but per 100 kcal the dried ones give 1.4 g and the raw ones give 2.9 g.

A 30 g handful of dried apricots has 1.0 g of protein and 72 kcal. That’s a fine snack and a poor protein plan. A cup of zante currants is 418 kcal for 4.9 g, so I’d measure those by the spoonful.

How much fruit does it take to match a protein food?

About 1.5 cups of guava for one egg and nearly 4 cups for one container of Greek yogurt. I divided each food’s protein by the 4.2 g in a cup of guava and multiplied by its 112 kcal.

Protein food (USDA record)	Protein	Energy	Cups of guava for the same protein	Guava energy
Egg, large, 1 egg	6.2 g	74 kcal	1.5	166 kcal
Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat, 156 g	16.1 g	95 kcal	3.8	428 kcal
Chicken breast, braised, 120 g	38.5 g	199 kcal	9.2	1,027 kcal

Twenty cups of guava would reach 84 g. That’s about 2,240 kcal of fruit before you’ve eaten anything else. So I call fruit a side: the guava record has 5.4 g of fiber per 100 g, and fiber is what fruit does well. Some vegetables do better on protein per cup, and high protein vegetables ranks them.

How do I add protein to fruit?

Put the fruit on top of a protein food, not the other way round. Three snacks, summed from the USDA records:

Snack (USDA records)	Protein	Energy	Protein from the fruit
Greek yogurt, nonfat 156 g + blackberries 144 g	18.1 g	157 kcal	11%
Cottage cheese, 2% 110 g + guava 165 g	16.3 g	205 kcal	26%
2 hard-boiled eggs (100 g) + orange 140 g	13.9 g	221 kcal	9%

In the yogurt bowl the berries supply about a ninth of the protein. Guava in the cottage cheese bowl supplies a quarter. Either way the bowl is mostly dairy. Pick the protein food first, then the fruit you like. A handful of nuts is the other usual partner, and high protein nuts compares them per 28 g.

For a packaged snack that lists its own protein, use the label’s grams and serving weight. The table above covers plain fruit.

Does the protein in fruit count toward my daily target?

It counts gram for gram, but the grams are few. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans give 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day (how much protein you should eat a day explains it). For a 70 kg adult that’s 84–112 g, so a cup of guava covers 5% of the low end. Your own weight in the protein calculator gives your personal 1.2–1.6 g per kg band.

None of this pushes fruit off the plate. The same Guidelines list fruit among the nutrient-dense foods to prioritize, next to protein and dairy. This guide stops at healthy adults. For kidney disease, pregnancy or breastfeeding, your doctor or midwife gives you the number.

Calsa lets you type a line like “Greek yogurt 156 g, blackberries 144 g”. It shows the source and the math behind each entry, so you can see how much of the protein came from the yogurt and how much from the fruit.