Iron-rich plant foods: a complete table

Plant foods can deliver more iron per calorie than most people expect. The barrier is not quantity — legumes and seeds can rival or beat many animal sources on a per-weight basis — it is knowing which foods to prioritise and how to eat them. This reference table gives you both.

The table

Values are per 100 g as commonly consumed (cooked where applicable, raw for nuts and seeds). Iron content from USDA FoodData Central (2024); per-serving figures from NIH ODS (2023).

Per 100 g

Food	Iron (mg/100 g)	Notes
Sesame seeds (whole, dried)	14.6	Raw; tahini similar
Pumpkin seed kernels (raw)	8.8	Kernels only, not whole seeds
Hemp seeds (hulled)	8.0	FDC 170148, Foundation Foods
Cashews (raw)	6.7
Tofu (firm, raw)	5.4	Calcium-sulfate type
Soybeans (mature, cooked)	5.1	FDC 174271
Almonds (raw)	3.7
Lentils (cooked)	3.3	Green or brown
Chickpeas (cooked)	2.9
Kidney beans (cooked)	2.9
Black beans (cooked)	2.9	FDC 175187
Tempeh	2.7	Fermentation may reduce phytates
Spinach (boiled)	2.7	⚠ high oxalate; absorption ~2–5%
Swiss chard (boiled)	2.3
Amaranth (cooked)	2.1
Quinoa (cooked)	1.5

Per serving — practical eating portions

RDA reference: women 19–50 need 18 mg/day; men 19+ and women 51+ need 8 mg/day. Vegetarians are advised to target 1.8× these figures due to lower non-heme bioavailability on unadapted mixed diets (NIH ODS, 2023).

Food	Serving	Iron (mg)	% RDA (women 19–50)
White beans, canned	1 cup (262 g)	8.0	44%
Lentils, boiled	½ cup (99 g)	3.0	17%
Tofu, firm	½ cup (126 g)	3.0	17%
Spinach, boiled	½ cup (90 g)	3.0	17% ⚠
Chickpeas, boiled	½ cup (82 g)	2.0	11%
Green peas, boiled	½ cup (80 g)	1.0	6%

⚠ Spinach’s serving-size iron looks competitive. It isn’t. Oxalic acid in spinach binds iron tightly; actual absorbed iron from that serving is closer to 0.06–0.15 mg. White beans, lentils, and tofu deliver far more usable iron per serving.

Why the raw number doesn’t tell the whole story

The figures in the table above are total iron. How much the body absorbs depends on three things the table cannot show.

Inhibitors in the food itself. Spinach contains oxalic acid; wholegrains and legumes contain phytic acid (phytates). Both bind iron in the gut and block absorption. Phytates are the bigger practical concern — they can reduce non-heme absorption by 50–90% when concentrated (Hurrell & Egli, 2010). Soaking, sprouting, or fermenting legumes meaningfully reduces phytate load, which is part of why tempeh and sourdough are easier iron sources than their total figures suggest (Saunders et al., 2013).

Enhancers in the same meal. Vitamin C reduces Fe³⁺ to the more absorbable Fe²⁺ form. A single 100 mg portion of vitamin C (roughly one medium bell pepper or a squeeze of lemon) can increase non-heme iron absorption by up to fivefold when eaten in the same meal (Saunders et al., 2013). See iron absorption and vitamin C for the full pairing guide. Conversely, tea consumed with an iron-rich meal can suppress non-heme absorption by roughly 56–72%, and up to ~85% with some iron compounds; polyphenol effects vary widely by source and dose (Piskin et al., 2022).

Form of iron. Non-heme iron (the only form in plants) is absorbed less efficiently than heme iron (found in animal muscle). The textbook absorption range for non-heme is 5–12% on a mixed diet, vs. roughly 25% for heme iron (NIH ODS, 2023). The comparison is explored in detail in heme vs. non-heme iron.

What the body does when it eats plants for a living

The 5–12% absorption figure is a population average, not a fixed ceiling. The body regulates iron uptake through hepcidin, a hormone that suppresses intestinal iron absorption when stores are adequate. When iron stores are low — or when the gut is routinely presented with non-heme iron — hepcidin drops and uptake increases.

A 2025 controlled trial (n=27) found that habitual vegans had significantly lower fasting hepcidin than omnivores (13.6 vs. 24.3 ng/mL, p=0.02) and a higher serum iron area-under-the-curve after a standardised non-heme iron meal (1002.8 vs. 853 µmol/L/h, p=0.04), meaning they absorbed more iron from the same meal (López-Moreno et al., 2025). The trial was small and short-term; it does not establish causality, but it supports the broader observation that habitual plant-eaters adapt.

Consistent with this, large cohort studies — including UK Biobank data and the RBVD German cohort — find no significantly higher prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia in vegans vs. omnivores despite the lower bioavailability of non-heme iron, partly because vegans typically consume more total dietary iron (22 mg/day vs. 14 mg/day in the RBVD German cohort) (Godos et al., 2025 — observational evidence). The adaptation does not make monitoring unnecessary, particularly for high-risk groups.

How to get more from every bite

• Lead with legumes. White beans, lentils, and chickpeas combine high iron density with reasonable phytate loads and practical serving sizes. A cup of canned white beans provides 8 mg — nearly half the RDA for a premenopausal woman in one dish.
• Add vitamin C to every iron-rich meal. Lemon juice on lentils, bell pepper in a bean stew, tomatoes with tofu. This single habit does more for iron absorption than any other dietary tweak.
• Time tea and coffee away from meals. Tea polyphenols can suppress non-heme absorption by 56–72% (Piskin et al., 2022); coffee has a similar inhibiting effect (Morck et al., 1983). Drink them between meals, not with them.
• Soak and cook legumes from dry. Soaking overnight, discarding the water, and cooking reduces phytate content and improves bioavailability compared to eating legumes raw.
• Use seeds liberally. Sesame (as tahini in hummus or sauces), pumpkin seeds, and hemp seeds add concentrated iron to meals that might otherwise be iron-light. A two-tablespoon serve of tahini contributes roughly 2.6 mg iron.

Common misconceptions

• “Spinach is the best plant source — Popeye was right.” Spinach is high in total iron but also high in oxalic acid, which binds iron tightly and limits absorption to roughly 2–5%. Pumpkin seeds, lentils, and white beans deliver far more bioavailable iron per serving.
• “Plant iron doesn’t really count.” The body adapts to a plant-based diet by downregulating hepcidin and increasing intestinal uptake. The 5–12% absorption figure applies to unadapted omnivores eating isolated non-heme sources; habitual plant-eaters absorb measurably more (López-Moreno et al., 2025).
• “Fortified cereals are the most reliable vegan iron source.” Fortified cereals are highly variable (3.5–18+ mg per serving) and the isolated iron compounds used can have lower bioavailability than iron from whole legumes paired with absorption enhancers. Useful as a safety net; not a primary strategy.
• “The 1.8× multiplier means vegans can’t meet iron needs from plants alone.” The multiplier is a conservative planning estimate for populations not yet adapted. Large cohort studies show no higher anaemia prevalence in vegans — adaptive mechanisms close much of the apparent gap (Godos et al., 2025 — observational evidence). Individual monitoring still matters.
• “More iron-rich food always means better iron status.” Meal composition matters as much as food choice. A bowl of lentils eaten with tea and no vitamin C may deliver less absorbed iron than a smaller portion of chickpeas eaten with a squeeze of lemon and a side of peppers.

The punchline

The foods that deliver the most usable plant iron are not the ones most people name first. Seeds and legumes — pumpkin, hemp, sesame, lentils, white beans, tofu — beat spinach and most grains on both total iron and practical bioavailability. Pair them with vitamin C and keep tea away from the meal, and the body takes care of the rest.

The broader picture — how hepcidin works, why the heme/non-heme distinction matters less over time for habitual plant-eaters, and what high-risk groups need to know — is in the iron and plant-based diets pillar.