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by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Vegans looking to boost their iron intake have lots of options. Here are some higher-iron foods, all with more than 3 milligrams per serving,  some of which may be surprising sources of iron. When product names are mentioned, it’s because a brand I happened to look at had the specified amount of iron. To put this in perspective, the RDA for iron is 8 milligrams for adult males and for postmenopausal women and 18 milligrams for women prior to menopause.

1. Look for an iron-fortified breakfast cereal. While many fortified cereals contain vitamin D from lanolin, Quaker instant oats (8 milligrams of iron per packet), Trader Joe’s O’s (8.1 milligrams of iron per 1-3/4 cup serving), and Grape Nuts (16.2 milligrams of iron per ½ cup serving) are some of the cereals that are fortified with iron and not with vitamin D.
2. Eat more beans, a powerhouse food when it comes to iron. Lentils (6 milligrams of iron per cup), kidney beans (5.3 milligrams of iron per cup), chickpeas (5.2 milligrams of iron per cup), and black beans (5 milligrams of iron per cup) are among the beans highest in iron.
3. Drink a cup of hot cocoa. If you follow the instructions on the cocoa package and combine 2 Tablespoons of cocoa with a cup of (plant) milk, and 2 Tablespoons of sugar, you’ll get 4 milligrams of iron from the cocoa alone.
4. Add spinach to soups, pasta sauce, and stir-fries. A cup of cooked spinach has 4.2 milligrams of iron.
5. Choose an iron-rich canned soup. For example, Amy’s Lentil Soup has 3.8 milligrams of iron in a can, Amy’s Black Bean Vegetable Soup has 3.9 milligrams of iron per can, a can of Amy’s Lentil Vegetable Soup has 4.3 milligrams of iron, and a can of Amy’s Indian Golden Lentil Soup has 4.7 milligrams of iron.
6. Toast a bagel for breakfast or a snack. A medium bagel made with iron-enriched flour has 3.75 milligrams of iron.
7. Snack on pumpkin seeds. A quarter cup of hulled pumpkin seeds supplies 4 milligrams of iron.
8. Heat up a bowl of vegetarian chili. For convenience, use a canned product like Amy’s 3 Bean Vegetable Chili with 5 milligrams of iron in a cup.
9. Add shelled edamame to salads, soups, stir-fries, and other dishes. A cup of shelled edamame has about 4 milligrams of iron.
10. Mix barbecue sauce or peanut sauce with cubed tempeh and bake until heated through. A cup of tempeh cubes has 4.5 milligrams of iron.

You can promote iron absorption from plant foods by including a source of vitamin C at the meal or snack with high iron foods. Citrus fruit and juices, tomatoes and tomato products, cantaloupe, guava, mangos, strawberries, broccoli, cabbage, and bell peppers are all good sources of vitamin C.

To read more about iron in the vegan diet see:

Iron in the Vegan Diet

Vegan Iron Sources in the Grocery Store

Latin American Vegan Foods High in Iron

Sources of information for the iron content of foods was package labels and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center. FoodData Central.

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.