Plant-Based Proteins
Protein in Artichoke Hearts: Protein, Calories, and Meal Ideas
Artichoke hearts are a vegan vegetable with about 4.0 g protein per 120 g serving and 3.3 g per 100 g, plus fiber that makes them more substantial than many low-protein vegetables.
Protein per serving
4g
120 g cooked or canned artichoke hearts / drained if canned
Calories per serving
64
120 g serving
Protein per 100g
3.3g
53 calories per 100 g
Protein density
6.2g
protein per 100 calories
Artichoke Hearts Nutrition Snapshot
| Measure | Amount | Protein | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical serving | 120 g cooked or canned artichoke hearts / drained if canned | 4g | 64 |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 3.3g | 53 |
| Protein density | 100 calories | 6.2g | 100 |
Representative source entry: Artichoke hearts, cooked or canned. Use cooked or drained canned artichoke hearts for these values. Marinated oil-packed hearts, creamy dips, cheese, and added oil can change calories quickly.
Good for weight loss? Good
Plain cooked or canned artichoke hearts can help weight-loss meals because they add fiber and volume, but they still need a separate protein anchor.
Good for muscle gain? Supportive
Artichoke hearts support muscle-gain meals as a vegetable side, but they do not provide enough protein to replace tofu, legumes, eggs, dairy, meat, or fish.
Meal Ideas with Artichoke Hearts
Artichoke heart salad with chickpeas and tofu
Artichoke hearts with eggs and cottage cheese
Artichoke tuna or salmon grain bowl
Artichoke hearts with white beans and whole-grain toast
How to Use Artichoke Hearts
Quick Answer
Artichoke hearts have about 3.3 g protein per 100 g. A practical 120 g cooked or canned serving gives about 4.0 g protein, so artichoke hearts are still a low-protein vegetable, but they provide more protein than many watery vegetables and add useful fiber.
- Protein class: low because artichoke hearts provide less than 5 g protein per 100 g.
- Protein quality: partial plant protein, so artichoke hearts should support a meal rather than anchor it.
- Best format: cooked or canned hearts, drained and weighed when accuracy matters.
Why Artichoke Hearts Help High-Protein Meals
Artichoke hearts are not a concentrated protein food, but they are useful in high-protein eating because they add fiber, texture, and meal volume without taking over the plate.
- Use them in salads, grain bowls, pasta, wraps, omelets, tofu scrambles, and Mediterranean-style plates.
- Pair with chickpeas, white beans, tofu, tempeh, lentils, seitan, eggs, fish, chicken, Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese when the meal needs more protein.
- Choose artichoke hearts when you want a vegetable that feels more substantial than leafy greens or cucumber.
Cooked, Canned, Marinated, and Drained
The biggest tracking difference is preparation. Plain cooked artichoke hearts, canned hearts in water or brine, and marinated artichoke hearts in oil can have very different sodium and calories.
- Use drained weight for canned artichoke hearts.
- Track oil-packed or marinated artichoke hearts separately because the oil can raise calories quickly.
- Rinse brined canned hearts if sodium matters, but still use the label when available.
How to Make Artichoke Hearts More Protein-Friendly
The best strategy is to use artichoke hearts as a high-fiber vegetable and let another food carry the protein target.
- For vegan meals, pair them with tofu, tempeh, seitan, chickpeas, lentils, beans, edamame, or pea protein.
- For vegetarian meals, combine them with eggs, Greek yogurt dressing, cottage cheese, paneer, or measured cheese.
- For pescatarian or omnivore meals, use them beside tuna, salmon, shrimp, cod, chicken breast, turkey, or lean beef.
How Artichoke Hearts Compares for Protein Density
Artichoke Hearts works as a plant-based protein source with about 3.3 g protein and 53 calories per 100 g. That equals 6.2 g protein per 100 calories, or about 16.1 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.
Artichoke Hearts is less protein-dense than the related foods shown below, so portions, add-ins, and the rest of the meal matter more. Plant protein foods often bring fiber, carbohydrates, fats, or all three along with protein. That makes them useful, but it also means protein density can be very different from lean meat, fish, egg whites, or protein powder. 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.
Best Uses for Artichoke Hearts
For Weight Loss or Calorie Control
Artichoke Hearts can work for weight loss or maintenance when the serving is measured and the rest of the plate is planned. The easiest approach is to decide the protein target first, then add carbs, fats, and sauces around that target. For this page's representative serving, 120 g cooked or canned artichoke hearts / drained if canned gives about 4 g protein. If your meal target is 30 g protein, that is roughly 7.5 typical servings, or about 909.1 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
Artichoke hearts support muscle-gain meals as a vegetable side, but they do not provide enough protein to replace tofu, legumes, eggs, dairy, meat, or fish. When using artichoke hearts 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 a leaner plant option, compare against tofu, seitan, tempeh, edamame, or pea protein powder. If you need more energy, nuts, seeds, peanut butter, pasta, oats, and quinoa can help. A practical muscle-gain plate is to keep the artichoke hearts 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
Artichoke Hearts 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 Artichoke heart salad with chickpeas and tofu, Artichoke hearts with eggs and cottage cheese, Artichoke tuna or salmon grain bowl, 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 Artichoke Hearts, 1 oz is about 28.35 g and provides roughly 0.9 g protein and 15.0 calories based on the representative per-100-g values. Half of the typical serving gives about 2 g protein and 32 calories, while a double serving gives about 8 g protein and 128 calories.
Use gram targets when precision matters. To get 25 g protein from artichoke hearts, you need about 757.6 g, which is roughly 401.5 calories. To get 30 g protein, use about 909.1 g and 481.8 calories. To get 40 g protein, use about 1212.1 g and 642.4 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 | 757.6g | 401.5 | 6.3x |
| 30g protein | 909.1g | 481.8 | 7.5x |
| 40g protein | 1212.1g | 642.4 | 10x |
Raw, Cooked, Dry, or Label Weight?
The best tracking rule for Artichoke Hearts is simple: match the database entry to the state of the food when you weighed it. This page uses Artichoke hearts, cooked or canned as the representative source entry, with the serving shown as 120 g cooked or canned artichoke hearts / drained if canned. Use cooked or drained canned artichoke hearts for these values. Marinated oil-packed hearts, creamy dips, cheese, and added oil can change calories quickly.
For plant foods, dry versus cooked weight and brand formulation matter. Beans, grains, pasta, seeds, butters, and powders should be tracked using the form you actually weighed. 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 artichoke hearts.
Common Mistakes with Artichoke Hearts
Most mistakes with Artichoke Hearts 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 artichoke hearts entry when the actual food is cooked, raw, flavored, breaded, sweetened, packed in oil, or from a specific brand.
- Counting Artichoke Hearts 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 plant foods, dry versus cooked weight and brand formulation matter. Beans, grains, pasta, seeds, butters, and powders should be tracked using the form you actually weighed.
- Use drained weight for canned artichoke hearts.
- Track marinated oil-packed artichokes separately from plain canned hearts.
- Track oil, creamy dips, cheese, pasta, toast, and dressings separately.
- Pair with a higher-protein food if the meal needs 25-40 g protein.
Building a High-Protein Meal with Artichoke Hearts
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 Artichoke Hearts, a 30 g protein meal is approximately 909.1 g of the representative food before sides and toppings. If that portion feels too large, combine a smaller amount of artichoke hearts with another protein from the related-food list.
A balanced plate usually needs more than protein. Pair artichoke hearts 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 artichoke hearts, 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
- Use drained weight for canned artichoke hearts.
- Track marinated oil-packed artichokes separately from plain canned hearts.
- Track oil, creamy dips, cheese, pasta, toast, and dressings separately.
- Pair with a higher-protein food if the meal needs 25-40 g protein.
Compare Similar Protein Foods
Common Questions
How much protein is in 120 g of artichoke hearts?
A 120 g serving of cooked or canned artichoke hearts has about 4.0 g protein. That is useful for a vegetable, but still low compared with legumes, soy foods, dairy, eggs, meat, or fish.
How much protein is in 100 g of artichoke hearts?
Artichoke hearts have about 3.3 g protein per 100 g, which puts them in the low-protein category by weight.
Are artichoke hearts a complete protein?
No. Artichoke hearts are best treated as a partial plant protein. Pair them with higher-protein foods across the day to meet protein and amino-acid needs.
Are canned artichoke hearts good for protein tracking?
Yes, if you use drained weight and check the label. Canned hearts in brine, water-packed hearts, and marinated oil-packed hearts can differ in sodium and calories.
Are artichoke hearts good for weight loss?
They can be. Plain cooked or canned artichoke hearts add fiber and volume for relatively few calories, but marinated oil-packed versions and creamy dips need separate tracking.
Sources reviewed
- USDA FoodData Central: artichoke hearts, cooked or canned - U.S. Department of Agriculture
- International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition