Beans & Legumes Nutrition Guide & Calorie Comparison
Calories, protein, carbs and fat for 20 beans & legumes, all per 100 g so you can compare them directly.
Foods listed
20
Median kcal / 100 g
132
mean 244
Calorie range
39–632
per 100 g
Avg protein / 100 g
15.1 g
🥬 Lowest calorie
Soy milk
39 kcal / 100 g
💪 Most protein
Flour
51.1 g / 100 g
⚖️ Best protein per calorie
Flour
14 g / 100 kcal
Beans & Legumes nutrition table (per 100 g)
The table lists every beans & legume entry in the CalorieInsight database with its calories, macronutrients, net carbs, fibre, sodium and energy density per 100 g. Tap any name for full nutrition facts, ounce and pound conversions, and a serving calculator.
Data: USDA FoodData Central (public domain, CC0). Net carbs are total carbohydrate minus fibre. Values are for raw or as-described foods and are general information, not medical or dietary advice.
Energy density: why the same 300 calories look so different
Energy density is calories per gram, and it is the number that decides how much food you actually get for your calorie budget. Across this category it runs from 0.39 kcal/g (soy milk, unsweetened, plain, shelf stable, very low) to 6.32 kcal/g (peanut butter, creamy, high). That means 300 calories buys you 769 g of soy milk but only 47 g of peanut butter — the same calories, a 16× difference in the amount on your plate.
You can eat a large volume of this for very few calories, which makes it useful for filling out a meal in a deficit. Neither end is "good" or "bad": lower-density foods win when you want volume and fullness, higher-density foods win when you are trying to eat more calories than your appetite comfortably allows.
Best beans & legumes for your goal
Every pick below is just the table above sorted a different way — no editorial ranking, no sponsorship. Open a food to scale it to your real portion.
Eating in a calorie deficit
The lightest options here are Soy milk (39 kcal/100 g), Soy milk (41 kcal/100 g) and Beans (115 kcal/100 g). Build the bulk of a meal from these and spend the rest of your budget on protein. The full cross-category list lives at low-calorie foods.
Protein per calorie
When calories are capped, protein per calorie matters more than protein per 100 g. The leaders here are Flour (14 g protein per 100 kcal), Soy milk (9.2 g protein per 100 kcal) and Flour (8.5 g protein per 100 kcal). Compare them against every other food in the high-protein foods list.
Low carb and keto
By net carbs (total carbohydrate minus fibre), the lowest are Soy milk (1.3 g net carbs/100 g), Soy milk (3 g net carbs/100 g) and Hummus (9.5 g net carbs/100 g). 2 of the 20 entries in this category come in at or under 5 g net carbs per 100 g. See also low-carb foods.
Gaining weight or bulking
The most calorie-dense entries — Peanut butter (632 kcal/100 g), Peanuts (588 kcal/100 g) and Flour (452 kcal/100 g) — are the easiest way to add calories without adding bulk to a meal. More at high-calorie foods.
How many beans & legumes pass each nutrition screen
These thresholds follow the FDA's per-100 g nutrient-content conventions and are applied to the raw USDA values, so you can see at a glance what this category is good for.
- 1 of 20 — Low calorie (≤ 40 kcal/100 g) · see the full list
- 8 of 20 — High protein (≥ 10 g/100 g) · see the full list
- 2 of 20 — High fibre (≥ 5.6 g/100 g) · see the full list
- 9 of 20 — Low sodium (≤ 140 mg/100 g) · see the full list
- 2 of 20 — Keto-friendly (≤ 5 g net carbs/100 g) · see the full list
How to use these numbers
Per-100 g values are the fair way to compare foods, because serving sizes differ wildly between them. Once you have picked a food, open its page and set your real portion in grams, cups or pieces — the serving calculator scales every nutrient for you.
To turn this into a plan: work out your daily target with the calorie calculator, split it into protein, carbs and fat with the macro calculator, then log what you eat in the free calorie tracker. Nothing here costs anything and no account is required.
Where these numbers come from
Every value on this page is derived from USDA FoodData Central, the reference database maintained by the US Department of Agriculture and released into the public domain (CC0). Each food page names the exact FDC record behind it so you can check the source yourself. Averages, medians, net carbs, energy density and protein-per-calorie figures are calculated from those values at build time — nothing on this page is estimated or hand-written.
Two things worth knowing when you compare rows: cooking changes the numbers (water loss concentrates calories per 100 g, added fat raises them), and USDA entries describe unseasoned foods, so anything you add in the pan is extra. Weigh food raw when you can, and use the food page's serving calculator for your actual portion.
Ranked food lists
- 💪 High-Protein Foods — ranked by grams of protein per 100 g.
- 🥬 Low-Calorie Foods — ranked by calories per 100 g, lowest first.
- 🌾 High-Fibre Foods — ranked by grams of dietary fibre per 100 g.
- 🥚 Low-Carb Foods — ranked by grams of carbohydrate per 100 g, lowest first.
- 🍚 Low-Fat Foods — ranked by grams of fat per 100 g, lowest first.
- 🥑 High-Calorie Foods — ranked by calories per 100 g, highest first.
- 🚫 Low-Sugar Foods — ranked by grams of total sugars per 100 g, lowest first.
- 🧂 Low-Sodium Foods — ranked by milligrams of sodium per 100 g, lowest first.
Browse other food categories
- 🥦 Vegetables calories — 80 foods, median 33 kcal/100 g
- 🍎 Fruits calories — 44 foods, median 61 kcal/100 g
- 🌾 Grains & Pasta calories — 41 foods, median 367 kcal/100 g
- 🥛 Dairy & Eggs calories — 40 foods, median 297 kcal/100 g
- 🐟 Fish & Seafood calories — 23 foods, median 81 kcal/100 g
- 🥜 Nuts & Seeds calories — 19 foods, median 622 kcal/100 g
- 🥩 Beef calories — 15 foods, median 164 kcal/100 g
- 🍗 Poultry calories — 11 foods, median 153 kcal/100 g
- 🥓 Pork calories — 7 foods, median 168 kcal/100 g
- 🌭 Deli & Sausages calories — 6 foods, median 318 kcal/100 g
Or search the whole database of 321 foods on the foods index, and log anything you find in the free calorie tracker.
Beans & Legumes nutrition FAQ
How many calories are in beans & legumes?
Across the 20 beans & legumes in this database the average is 244 calories per 100 g. The range runs from 39 kcal (soy milk, unsweetened, plain, shelf stable) up to 632 kcal (peanut butter, creamy) per 100 g.
Which beans & legumes are lowest in calories?
Soy milk, unsweetened, plain, shelf stable (39 kcal per 100 g), Soy milk, sweetened, plain, refrigerated (41 kcal per 100 g), Beans, cannellini, canned, sodium added, drained and rinsed (115 kcal per 100 g) are the lowest-calorie options in this category. See the full low-calorie foods list.
Which beans & legumes have the most protein?
Flour, soy, defatted leads this category with 51.1 g of protein per 100 g. Browse the full high-protein foods list to compare across every category.
Where does this nutrition data come from?
Every value comes from USDA FoodData Central, which is public domain (CC0). Viewing and logging it here is 100% free with no sign-up.
Which beans & legumes give the most protein per calorie?
Flour, soy, defatted has the best protein-to-calorie ratio in this category at 14 g of protein per 100 calories (51.1 g protein and 366 kcal per 100 g). Protein per calorie matters more than protein per 100 g when you are eating in a deficit.
What is the calorie range across beans & legumes?
From 39 kcal per 100 g (soy milk, unsweetened, plain, shelf stable, 0.39 kcal/g — very low energy density) up to 632 kcal per 100 g (peanut butter, creamy, 6.32 kcal/g — high). The median is 132 kcal and the mean is 244 kcal per 100 g.
Which beans & legumes have the most fibre?
Peanuts, raw leads this category with 8 g of dietary fibre per 100 g — 29% of the FDA Daily Value. 2 of the 20 entries here qualify as high fibre (≥ 5.6 g per 100 g).
Are these beans & legumes calories raw or cooked?
Each entry states its own preparation in the food name — "raw", "cooked", "canned", "pan-broiled" and so on — because cooking changes weight and therefore calories per 100 g. Water loss concentrates calories; added fat raises them. Open any food to see exactly which USDA record it maps to.