How Much Calcium Is in Tofu?

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

A friend recently asked me for some ideas for getting more calcium in her diet. Among the foods I suggested, was tofu, with the caveat that she should check product labels to find a product that had at least 100 milligrams of calcium per serving. To put that into perspective, 100 milligrams of calcium is 10% of the RDA for calcium for adults age 19-50 years and men 51-70 years and 8% of the RDA for women over 51 years and for men over 70 is 1200.

I started wondering how easy it would be to find tofu with at least 100 milligrams of calcium in a 3-ounce serving. After spending time on product websites, I was pleased to see that tofu with that much or more calcium should be widely available.

Here’s what I found, listed from highest to lowest calcium in a serving:

Products with 200 milligrams or more of calcium per 3-ounce serving:

• O Organics (Albertsons) Extra Firm Tofu, Cubed 250 milligrams
• Hodo Organic Extra Firm tofu 200 milligrams

Products with 150-199 milligrams of calcium per 3-ounce serving:

• 365 (Whole Foods) Pressed Extra Firm Tofu 170 milligrams
• Kirkland Signature (Costco) Organic Extra Firm Tofu 160 milligrams
• Franklin Farms Soft Tofu 150 milligrams
• House Food Organic Super Firm Tofu, vacuum-packed 150 milligrams

Products with 100-149 milligrams of calcium per 3-ounce serving:

• SoyBoy Organic Extra Firm Tofu 130 milligrams
• Wo Chong Organic Firm Tofu 121 milligrams
• Nature’s Promise Organic Extra Firm Tofu 120 milligrams
• Nature’s Promise Organic Firm Tofu 120 milligrams
• O Organics (Albertsons) Extra Firm Tofu 120 milligrams
• O Organics (Albertsons) Firm Tofu 120 milligrams
• Simple Truth (Kroger) Organic Extra Firm Tofu 120 milligrams
• Simple Truth (Kroger) Organic Firm Tofu 120 milligrams
• SoyBoy Organic Firm Tofu 115 milligrams
• Franklin Farms Extra Firm Tofu or Organic Extra Firm Tofu 110 milligrams
• GreenWise (Publix) Organic Firm Tofu 110 milligrams
• O Organics (Albertsons) Super Firm Tofu 110 milligrams
• Sprouts Firm Tofu 110 milligrams
• 365 (Whole Foods) Organic Firm Tofu 110 milligrams
• Azumaya Extra Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Azumaya Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Franklin Farms Firm Tofu or Organic Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Earth Grown (Aldi) Extra Firm Organic Tofu 100 milligrams
• Good & Gather (Target) Organic Extra Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• House Foods Organic Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• House Foods Organic Extra Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• House Foods Organic Super Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• House Foods Organic Cubed Super Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• House Foods DHA Omega-3 Extra Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Nasoya Organic Extra Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Nasoya Organic Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Sprouts Extra Firm Tofu or Organic Extra Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Sprouts Organic Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Trader Joe’s Organic Firm Tofu 100 milligrams
• Trader Joe’s Organic Sprouted Tofu 100 milligrams
• Wegman’s Organic Firm Tofu 100 milligrams

Products with 50-99 milligrams of calcium per 3-ounce serving:

• Nasoya High Protein Super Firm Tofu 90 milligrams
• Sprouts Organic High Protein Super Firm Tofu 90 milligrams
• Wildwood Organic High Protein Super Firm Tofu 90 milligrams
• Wo Chong Firm Tofu 84 milligrams
• Wo Chong Extra Firm Tofu 82 milligrams
• House Foods Organic Medium Firm Tofu 80 milligrams
• O Organics (Albertsons) Silken Tofu 80 milligrams
• Trader Joe’s Organic Tofu 80 milligrams
• Wildwood Organic Extra Firm Tofu 80 milligrams
• Wildwood Organic Firm Tofu 80 milligrams
• Woodstock Organic Firm Tofu 80 milligrams
• 365 (Whole Foods) Organic Extra Firm Tofu 80 milligrams
• GreenWise (Publix) Organic Silken Tofu 76 milligrams
• Wegman’s Organic Extra Firm Tofu 75 milligrams
• Good & Gather (Target) Organic Super Firm Tofu 70 milligrams
• Simple Truth (Kroger) Organic Soft Silken Tofu 70 milligrams
• 365 (Whole Foods) Organic Silken Tofu 70 milligrams
• Azumaya Silken Tofu 60 milligrams
• GreenWise (Publix) Organic Extra Firm Tofu 60 milligrams
• Nasoya Organic Cubed Tofu Extra Firm 60 milligrams
• Nasoya Organic Silken Tofu 60 milligrams
• Sprouts Organic Silken Tofu 60 milligrams
• Trader Joe’s High Protein Organic Super Firm Tofu 60 milligrams
• Wegman’s Organic Super Firm Tofu 60 milligrams
• Wildwood Organic Silken Tofu 60 milligrams

Products with less than 50 milligrams of calcium per 3-ounce serving:

• Wo Chong Organic Soft Tofu 49 milligrams
• Wo Chong Silken Tofu 45 milligrams
• House Foods Organic Soft Tofu 40 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Extra Firm Tofu 40 milligrams
• Wo Chong Soft Tofu 40 milligrams
• Woodstock Organic Extra Firm Tofu 40 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Soft Tofu 30 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Firm Tofu 30 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Organic Tofu 30 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Nigari Firm Tofu 20 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Super Soft Tofu 20 milligrams
• Mori Nu Shelf Stable Silken Asian Dessert Tofu 20 milligrams

If you’re trying to boost the calcium in your diet, choosing a higher-calcium tofu could help. Availability, cost, the amount of other nutrients, and the texture of tofu that you want will also affect your decision.

If your favorite tofu isn’t on the list and the package doesn’t say how many milligrams of calcium are in the product, you can calculate it yourself. Calcium content will be listed on the Nutrition Facts label as percent of the Daily Value. Since the current Daily Value for calcium is 1,000 milligrams, multiply the percent Daily Value by 10 to get the amount of calcium (in milligrams) in one serving. For example, tofu with 10% Daily Value for calcium would have 100 milligrams of calcium in one serving.

Calcium is added to tofu as a part of the process of making tofu from soymilk. A coagulating agent is added to the soymilk so that it thickens and forms curds. This is similar to the way that dairy cheese is produced from cow’s milk. There are a number of coagulating agents including calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and glucono delta-lactone. If calcium sulfate or calcium chloride is used to make tofu, the tofu will have more calcium in it than if other coagulating agents are used. Soybeans also contain some calcium; thus, the soymilk used to make tofu will also provide some calcium. The variability in calcium in tofu is due to factors including the amount of the calcium salt used as a coagulant, the calcium content of the soymilk used to make the tofu, and the moisture content of the tofu.

To read more about tofu see:

Magnesium Chloride and Nigari are Vegan

Terrific Tofu

To read more about calcium for vegans see:

Calcium in the Vegan Diet

Latin American Foods High in Calcium

Calcium Content of Popular Indian Vegetarian Dishes and Ingredients

Calcium Supplements

Lower Risk of Hip Fractures in Vegan Women Using Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements

The contents of this website and our other publications, including The 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.