Fish & Seafood
Protein in Albacore Tuna: Protein, Calories, and Meal Ideas
Albacore tuna is a high-protein pescatarian seafood option with about 23.6 g complete protein per 100 g, commonly eaten canned or cooked.
Protein per serving
23.6g
100 g albacore tuna / about 3.5 oz
Calories per serving
128
100 g serving
Protein per 100g
23.6g
128 calories per 100 g
Protein density
18.4g
protein per 100 calories
Albacore Tuna Nutrition Snapshot
| Measure | Amount | Protein | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical serving | 100 g albacore tuna / about 3.5 oz | 23.6g | 128 |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 23.6g | 128 |
| Protein density | 100 calories | 18.4g | 100 |
Representative source entry: Fish, tuna, white, canned in water, drained solids. Use drained weight for canned albacore tuna and cooked edible weight for cooked tuna. Water-packed, oil-packed, salted, and tuna-salad preparations can have different calories and sodium.
Good for weight loss? Excellent
Water-packed albacore tuna is high in complete protein for relatively few calories, but portions, oil, mayonnaise, bread, crackers, rice, and pasta still need to be counted.
Good for muscle gain? Good
Albacore tuna supplies complete protein for muscle-gain meals, but it is lean enough that most bulking meals need added carbohydrates or fats.
Meal Ideas with Albacore Tuna
Albacore tuna rice bowl with cucumber and avocado
Albacore tuna salad made with Greek yogurt
Albacore tuna toast with lemon and herbs
Albacore tuna pasta with tomato sauce and spinach
How to Use Albacore Tuna
Quick Answer
Albacore tuna has about 23.6 g protein per 100 g. A 100 g portion, roughly 3.5 oz, also gives about 23.6 g protein, so it is a high-protein pescatarian seafood option and a complete animal protein.
- Protein class: high by weight because it falls in the 15-24.9 g per 100 g range.
- Protein quality: complete, meaning albacore tuna provides all essential amino acids.
- Best format: canned or cooked tuna, tracked by drained weight or cooked edible weight.
Albacore vs Regular Canned Tuna
Albacore is often sold as white tuna. It is usually milder, firmer, and lighter in color than canned light tuna, while still working as a convenient high-protein pantry food.
- Use albacore when you want a mild tuna salad, rice bowl, wrap, pasta, or toast topping.
- Use canned light tuna when you want a similar protein food that is often lower in mercury.
- Check whether the can is packed in water or oil because oil-packed tuna can add calories quickly.
Mercury and Portion Awareness
Albacore tuna is useful for protein, but it deserves portion awareness because it generally has more mercury than canned light tuna. Pregnant people, people who may become pregnant, breastfeeding parents, and young children should follow current FDA/EPA fish advice and rotate seafood choices.
- Choose variety rather than using albacore tuna as the only seafood protein.
- For mercury-sensitive groups, follow official serving guidance and choose lower-mercury seafood more often.
- If you eat tuna frequently, alternate albacore with salmon, sardines, shrimp, cod, tilapia, or other lower-mercury options.
Canned, Drained, Cooked, and Oil-Packed
The most common tracking error is mixing canned drained tuna, oil-packed tuna, raw tuna steak, and cooked tuna steak entries. The protein number is close across many lean tuna products, but calories and serving weights can change.
- Use drained weight for canned albacore tuna.
- Use cooked weight for a cooked albacore tuna steak or fillet.
- Track mayonnaise, olive oil, dressing, cheese, bread, crackers, rice, and pasta separately.
How Albacore Tuna Compares for Protein Density
Albacore Tuna works as a seafood protein with about 23.6 g protein and 128 calories per 100 g. That equals 18.4 g protein per 100 calories, or about 5.4 calories per gram of protein. This density number is useful because two foods can both look high protein while one needs far more calories to deliver the same protein target.
Albacore Tuna sits close to the related-food average for protein density, so the best choice usually comes down to calories, preparation, taste, and how easy it is to repeat. Fish and seafood pages should be read with cooking method in mind. Plain baked, grilled, steamed, or dry-heat seafood is usually very different from breaded, fried, butter-poached, or restaurant seafood. Use the comparison table as a planning shortcut: choose the higher-density option when calories are limited, and choose the more calorie-dense option when appetite is low or muscle-gain meals need to be easier to finish.
| Food | Serving protein | Protein / 100g | Protein / 100 cal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuna | 33g | 25g | 21.6g |
| Cod | 31g | 21g | 20g |
| Albacore Tuna | 23.6g | 23.6g | 18.4g |
| Atlantic Salmon | 20.4g | 20.4g | 9.8g |
Best Uses for Albacore Tuna
For Weight Loss or Calorie Control
Albacore Tuna is especially useful in a calorie deficit because the protein serving is strong relative to calories. Build the plate around the protein first, then add vegetables, fruit, potatoes, beans, or grains based on hunger and training needs. For this page's representative serving, 100 g albacore tuna / about 3.5 oz gives about 23.6 g protein. If your meal target is 30 g protein, that is roughly 1.3 typical servings, or about 127.1 g by weight. This is why weighing the first few servings is useful: it turns a vague protein food into a repeatable meal component.
For Muscle Gain or Higher-Calorie Meals
Albacore tuna supplies complete protein for muscle-gain meals, but it is lean enough that most bulking meals need added carbohydrates or fats. When using albacore tuna for muscle gain, the question is not only whether it contains protein; it is whether the whole meal has enough total protein, carbohydrates, and calories to support training. If you need more calories, pair it with rice, potatoes, pasta, avocado, or olive oil. If you need fewer calories, keep the cooking method dry and use vegetables or salad for volume. A practical muscle-gain plate is to keep the albacore tuna portion consistent, then adjust rice, pasta, oats, potatoes, bread, beans, oil, nuts, or dairy up or down depending on your calorie target.
For Meal Prep and Repeatable Tracking
Albacore Tuna is easiest to track when the serving method stays the same from week to week. Choose one default serving, log it with the matching raw, cooked, dry, drained, or label-based entry, and then build meals around that known number. Good repeatable options include Albacore tuna rice bowl with cucumber and avocado, Albacore tuna salad made with Greek yogurt, Albacore tuna toast with lemon and herbs, and similar meals where the protein portion is measured before sauces and toppings are added.
Exact Serving Conversions
Serving conversions help when your food scale, recipe, or tracking app uses a different unit than this page. For Albacore Tuna, 1 oz is about 28.35 g and provides roughly 6.7 g protein and 36.3 calories based on the representative per-100-g values. Half of the typical serving gives about 11.8 g protein and 64 calories, while a double serving gives about 47.2 g protein and 256 calories.
Use gram targets when precision matters. To get 25 g protein from albacore tuna, you need about 105.9 g, which is roughly 135.6 calories. To get 30 g protein, use about 127.1 g and 162.7 calories. To get 40 g protein, use about 169.5 g and 216.9 calories. These estimates are based on the USDA or representative source entry listed below, so the label on your exact product should win when there is a difference.
| Target | Approx. amount | Calories | Typical servings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25g protein | 105.9g | 135.6 | 1.1x |
| 30g protein | 127.1g | 162.7 | 1.3x |
| 40g protein | 169.5g | 216.9 | 1.7x |
Raw, Cooked, Dry, or Label Weight?
The best tracking rule for Albacore Tuna is simple: match the database entry to the state of the food when you weighed it. This page uses Fish, tuna, white, canned in water, drained solids as the representative source entry, with the serving shown as 100 g albacore tuna / about 3.5 oz. Use drained weight for canned albacore tuna and cooked edible weight for cooked tuna. Water-packed, oil-packed, salted, and tuna-salad preparations can have different calories and sodium.
For seafood, the most common tracking mismatch is using a plain cooked fillet entry for a fried, sauced, or battered serving. If you batch cook, portion after cooking only when your tracker entry is also cooked. If you weigh before cooking, use a raw or dry entry and divide the finished batch into servings after cooking. If you are eating a packaged product, the label is normally the most specific source because brands can change water, sodium, sugar, fat, fortification, and serving size.
The most reliable workflow is to choose one method and repeat it: weigh the food, choose the matching raw, cooked, dry, drained, or packaged entry, then log oils, sauces, toppings, sides, and drinks separately. This avoids the most common protein tracking error, which is accidentally counting a prepared meal as if it were a plain serving of albacore tuna.
Common Mistakes with Albacore Tuna
Most mistakes with Albacore Tuna are not about the protein number itself; they are about matching the wrong food form, ignoring preparation, or forgetting the extra ingredients that travel with the serving. Avoid these issues before comparing your intake against a daily target from the protein calculator.
- Using a generic albacore tuna entry when the actual food is cooked, raw, flavored, breaded, sweetened, packed in oil, or from a specific brand.
- Counting Albacore Tuna as the entire meal even when the real calorie load comes from oil, dressing, sauce, bread, rice, tortillas, cheese, nuts, or toppings.
- Estimating by eye instead of weighing the first few times. A small portion change can move the meal by 5-15 g of protein or by a few hundred calories for calorie-dense foods.
- For seafood, the most common tracking mismatch is using a plain cooked fillet entry for a fried, sauced, or battered serving.
- Track canned albacore tuna by drained weight when possible.
- Choose water-packed tuna for the leanest calorie profile.
- Track oil, mayonnaise, dressing, bread, crackers, rice, pasta, and cheese separately.
- Rotate seafood choices and follow FDA/EPA advice for mercury-sensitive groups.
Building a High-Protein Meal with Albacore Tuna
Start with the protein target, not the recipe name. A light snack might only need 10-20 g protein, while a main meal often works better at 30-45 g protein depending on body size, meal frequency, and training. With Albacore Tuna, a 30 g protein meal is approximately 127.1 g of the representative food before sides and toppings. If that portion feels too large, combine a smaller amount of albacore tuna with another protein from the related-food list.
A balanced plate usually needs more than protein. Pair albacore tuna with a fiber source, a carbohydrate source if you train or need energy, and enough fat to make the meal satisfying. For lower-calorie meals, keep sauces light and increase vegetables. For higher-calorie meals, add rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, oats, beans, dairy, nuts, seeds, avocado, or oil depending on the type of food and your goal.
If the meal is meant to be repeated, write down the exact version that worked: the grams of albacore tuna, the cooking method, the sides, and the sauce. That gives you a reusable meal template instead of a one-time estimate, and it makes future protein targets easier to hit without redoing the math every day.
Tracking Tips
- Track canned albacore tuna by drained weight when possible.
- Choose water-packed tuna for the leanest calorie profile.
- Track oil, mayonnaise, dressing, bread, crackers, rice, pasta, and cheese separately.
- Rotate seafood choices and follow FDA/EPA advice for mercury-sensitive groups.
Compare Similar Protein Foods
Common Questions
How much protein is in albacore tuna?
Albacore tuna has about 23.6 g protein per 100 g. A 100 g serving, or about 3.5 oz, provides about 23.6 g protein.
Is albacore tuna a complete protein?
Yes. Albacore tuna is a complete animal protein and provides all essential amino acids.
Is albacore tuna good for weight loss?
Yes, especially when packed in water and measured by drained weight. It is high in protein for relatively few calories, but mayonnaise, oil, crackers, bread, and pasta can change the meal total.
Should I limit albacore tuna because of mercury?
Many people can include albacore tuna as part of a varied seafood pattern, but mercury-sensitive groups should follow current FDA/EPA advice and choose lower-mercury fish more often.
Is albacore tuna better than canned light tuna for protein?
Both are high-protein tuna options. Albacore is often sold as white tuna and has a mild, firm texture, while canned light tuna is often a better frequent-choice option for mercury awareness.
Sources reviewed
- USDA FoodData Central: Fish, tuna, white, canned in water, drained solids - U.S. Department of Agriculture
- FDA/EPA Advice About Eating Fish - U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition