Iron: Daily Value and top food sources

Daily Value: 18 mg (FDA, adults and children 4+)

Ranked by how much Iron a typical portion provides, rather than per 100 g. Lists built per 100 g fill up with dried herbs and fortified bars, and nobody eats 100 g of thyme. Portions are the primary household measure USDA records for each food. From the 1000 foods in Bioma Learn. 170 foods are excluded from this ranking: USDA records no household measure for them (we will not call 100 g a portion), or it reports a value so high for one portion that we treat it as a data error, or the food is a dry uncooked staple measured before cooking.

Before you use this number

This number is not what your body gets. Plant foods contain only non-heme iron, which is absorbed far less readily than the heme iron in meat, seafood and poultry. Absorption runs about 14–18% from mixed diets that include meat, seafood and vitamin C, and 5–12% from vegetarian diets. Vitamin C and meat eaten in the same meal raise it. Phytate in grains and beans, and polyphenols in foods such as spinach, lower it. Calcium is unusual in lowering absorption of both forms. Evidence: iron-18 · iron-04 · iron-05 · iron-06 · iron-19

Top sources of Iron, per typical portion

Share of the Daily Value (18 mg) in one portion. Full amounts in the table below.

Food	Portion	Amount	% DV
Sesame seeds, whole, dried	1 cup (144 g)	21 mg	116%
Oats, instant, fortified, plain, cooked	1 cup, cooked (234 g)	13.9 mg	77%
Sesame seed kernels, toasted	1 cup (128 g)	9.96 mg	55%
Chicken, liver, all classes, cooked	3 oz (85 g)	9.89 mg	55%
Corn flour, masa, white	1 cup (114 g)	9.69 mg	54%
Sesame seed kernels, dried	1 cup (150 g)	9.54 mg	53%
Pumpkin and squash seed kernels, roasted	1 cup (118 g)	9.52 mg	53%
Chili with beans, canned	1 cup (256 g)	8.78 mg	49%
Cashew nuts, dry roasted	1 cup, halves and whole (137 g)	8.22 mg	46%
Beans, baked, canned, with pork and tomato sauce	1 cup (246 g)	7.97 mg	44%
Cashew nuts, oil roasted	1 cup, whole (129 g)	7.8 mg	43%
Cornmeal, degermed, white	1 cup (157 g)	6.85 mg	38%
Cornmeal, degermed, yellow	1 cup (157 g)	6.85 mg	38%
Beans, white, mature seeds, cooked	1 cup (179 g)	6.62 mg	37%
Sunflower seed kernels, dry roasted	1.0 cup (127 g)	6.62 mg	37%
Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled	1 cup (198 g)	6.59 mg	37%
Blood sausage	4 slices (100 g)	6.4 mg	36%
Rye flour, dark	1 cup (128 g)	6.36 mg	35%
Chicken, giblets, cooked, simmered	3 oz (85 g)	5.98 mg	33%
Sunflower seed kernels, oil roasted	1 cup (135 g)	5.78 mg	32%
Almonds, oil roasted	1 cup whole kernels (157 g)	5.78 mg	32%
Mussel, blue, cooked	3 oz (85 g)	5.71 mg	32%
Pretzels, soft	1 large (143 g)	5.61 mg	31%
Pretzels, soft, unsalted	1 large (143 g)	5.61 mg	31%
Chicken, meatless	1 cup (168 g)	5.49 mg	31%

What Iron does, how much you need, and what the evidence shows: Iron: why the number on the label is not the number your body gets →

Related on Bioma

Pages that use this data.

Which foods are highest in iron? — question
How much iron do you need per day? — question
What are the signs of iron deficiency? — question