The Saltiest (and Least Salty) High-Protein Foods
A "high-protein" label says nothing about how much salt rides along with that protein. So we measured the sodium in every product we grade and divided it by its protein — milligrams of sodium per gram of protein — across 238 branded high-protein foods, using the USDA nutrition panels behind every Labelgrade.
The short answer
The average protein food on our shelf carries about 25 mg of sodium per gram of protein. But the spread is enormous: the saltiest deliver about 155 mg per gram of protein — roughly 15× the cleanest options. The salt bombs are predictable — jerky and meat sticks, deli and cured meats, canned soups, and sauced frozen meals — while the cleanest proteins are the plain whole foods: eggs, unflavored dairy, and no-salt-added canned fish. And 21% of products pack 400 mg or more of sodium in a single serving, with the worst single serving at 1,550 mg — about 67% of the FDA's entire daily limit before you've eaten anything else.
The saltiest protein foods (per gram of protein)
Ranked by milligrams of sodium per gram of protein — how much salt you swallow for the protein you're actually after.
| Product | Sodium / g protein | Sodium / serving | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Progresso Vegetable Classics Minestrone Soup | 155 mg/g | 1550 mg | C+ |
| Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger Soup | 132 mg/g | 790 mg | C+ |
| Chef Boyardee Beefaroni | 128 mg/g | 1280 mg | C+ |
| Spam Classic | 113 mg/g | 790 mg | F |
| Dinty Moore Beef Stew | 102 mg/g | 1120 mg | D |
| Hebrew National Beef Franks | 100 mg/g | 500 mg | F |
| Nathan's Famous Beef Cocktail Franks | 97 mg/g | 680 mg | F |
| Banquet Classic Salisbury Steak Meal | 95 mg/g | 1040 mg | C+ |
| Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup | 94 mg/g | 660 mg | C+ |
| Bush's Best Original Baked Beans | 92 mg/g | 550 mg | D |
| Slim Jim Original Snack Sticks | 88 mg/g | 530 mg | F |
| Totino's Pepperoni Party Pizza | 82 mg/g | 740 mg | D |
The most sodium in one serving
Highest absolute sodium per labeled serving — the single-sitting salt load.
| Product | Sodium / serving | % of daily limit | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Progresso Vegetable Classics Minestrone Soup | 1,550 mg | 67% | C+ |
| Chef Boyardee Beefaroni | 1,280 mg | 56% | C+ |
| Velveeta Shells & Cheese Original | 1,220 mg | 53% | F |
| Dinty Moore Beef Stew | 1,120 mg | 49% | D |
| Banquet Classic Salisbury Steak Meal | 1,040 mg | 45% | C+ |
| DiGiorno Pepperoni Rising Crust Pizza | 951 mg | 41% | F |
| Kikkoman Soy Sauce | 920 mg | 40% | F |
| Red Baron Rising Crust Pepperoni Pizza | 890 mg | 39% | F |
| Campbell's Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup | 870 mg | 38% | F |
| Ball Park Beef Franks | 842 mg | 37% | F |
The cleanest protein foods (least sodium per gram)
Protein with little or no salt riding along.
| Product | Sodium / g protein | Sodium / serving | Sodium grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 365 Everyday Value Organic Creamy Peanut Butter | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Crazy Richard's Creamy Natural Peanut Butter | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| House Foods Organic Tofu | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Justin's Classic Almond Butter | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Kite Hill Artisan Almond Milk Yogurt, Peach | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Quaker Instant Oatmeal, 11.6 oz | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Quaker Old Fashioned Oats | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Wonderful Pistachios (No Salt / In-Shell) | 0 mg/g | 0 mg | A+ |
| Nasoya Organic Tofu Cubed Super Firm | 1 mg/g | 5.1 mg | A+ |
| Lightlife, Organic Three Grains Tempeh | 1 mg/g | 10.1 mg | A+ |
Sodium per gram of protein, by category
| Category | Avg sodium / g protein | Products |
|---|---|---|
| Soups & Broths | 110 mg/g | 4 |
| Canned Meat & Entrees | 105 mg/g | 4 |
| Macaroni & Cheese | 73 mg/g | 3 |
| Pizza | 59 mg/g | 6 |
| Pepperoni, Salami & Cold Cuts | 55 mg/g | 4 |
| Frozen Dinners & Entrees | 54 mg/g | 5 |
| Sausages, Hot Dogs & Brats | 54 mg/g | 3 |
| Meat Sticks / Jerky | 52 mg/g | 3 |
| Canned & Bottled Beans | 49 mg/g | 7 |
| Frozen Meals | 46 mg/g | 5 |
| Other Snacks | 42 mg/g | 7 |
| Frozen Appetizers & Hors D'oeuvres | 34 mg/g | 5 |
| Breads & Buns | 34 mg/g | 4 |
| Cheese | 27 mg/g | 10 |
| Cottage Cheese | 24 mg/g | 5 |
| Plant-Based Meat | 22 mg/g | 4 |
| Canned Seafood | 18 mg/g | 7 |
| Cereal | 18 mg/g | 10 |
| Canned Tuna | 15 mg/g | 3 |
| Nuts & Seeds | 14 mg/g | 6 |
| Other Meats | 13 mg/g | 4 |
| Processed Cereal Products | 12 mg/g | 5 |
| Energy, Protein & Muscle Recovery Drinks | 11 mg/g | 5 |
| Protein Shakes (Ready-to-Drink) | 11 mg/g | 10 |
| Milk/Milk Substitutes | 11 mg/g | 20 |
| Canned Fish | 11 mg/g | 5 |
| Snack, Energy & Granola Bars | 9 mg/g | 21 |
| Nut & Seed Butters | 6 mg/g | 7 |
| Yogurt | 6 mg/g | 4 |
| Protein Powder | 5 mg/g | 7 |
| Greek Yogurt | 4 mg/g | 8 |
Cured, canned, and sauced categories top the table; plain dairy, eggs, and no-salt-added fish sit at the bottom. The pattern mirrors the grades: the more a protein is processed, seasoned, or shelf-stabilized, the more sodium it tends to carry per gram of the thing you bought it for.
How we measured it
"Sodium per gram of protein" is the labeled sodium (mg) divided by the labeled protein (g) for one serving, from the USDA nutrition panel behind each Labelgrade. Ratio rankings cover products with at least 5 g of protein per serving so condiments and broths don't distort the board. Sodium is one of the six dimensions in the overall grade (15% of the weighting). High sodium isn't automatically unhealthy — but it's a real trade-off most labels don't help you see. Full method: labelgrade.com/methodology. Pairs with our processing report and added-sugar report.
Cite this analysis
Free to cite with attribution to Labelgrade (labelgrade.com). Writers covering sodium, blood pressure, or packaged food are welcome to use the figures above — please link to this page. For a custom cut, reach us via the contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which high-protein foods have the most sodium?
Across the 238 branded high-protein foods we graded, jerky and meat sticks, deli and cured meats, canned soups, and sauced frozen meals carry the most sodium per gram of protein — the saltiest run about 155 mg of sodium for every gram of protein, roughly 15× the cleanest options (plain dairy, eggs, unsalted canned fish).
How much sodium per gram of protein is reasonable?
The average across our catalog is about 25 mg of sodium per gram of protein. Whole-food proteins (eggs, plain Greek yogurt, milk, unsalted tuna) sit in the low single digits to ~20 mg/g; processed and cured products climb to 50–100+ mg/g. The FDA daily limit is 2,300 mg, so a single 1550-mg serving can be 67% of your day's sodium before anything else.
Is high sodium in protein foods actually bad?
Sodium is an essential electrolyte, and active people lose more of it — so it is not automatically "bad." But most people already exceed the daily limit, and high sodium is linked to elevated blood pressure. The point of this report is simply to make the trade-off visible: some protein sources deliver their protein with a fraction of the salt.
What are the lowest-sodium high-protein foods?
Plain, unsalted whole foods: eggs, plain Greek yogurt and cottage cheese, unflavored milk, and no-salt-added canned fish. They top the sodium dimension because the protein arrives with little or no added salt.
Can I cite this analysis?
Yes — free to cite with attribution to Labelgrade (labelgrade.com). Every product links to a full fact sheet with the nutrition panel and the six-dimension grade.