How much protein is in pesto?

One tablespoon of pesto (16 g) has 1.5 g of protein (66 kcal); 100 g has 9.8 g.

Feast Factsper 100 g

PER 100 GProtein

9.8g

Calories418

Carbohydrate10.1g

Fiber1.8g

Sugars6.3g

Fat37.6g

Saturated7.1g

Sodium603 mg

2.3 g protein per 100 kcal · USDA FoodData Central

Protein verdictLow in protein

2.3 g of protein per 100 kcal (9% of its calories): under 2.5 g is low on our scale.

25 g of protein from pesto alone takes 255 g (about 16 tbsp) and 1066 kcal.

How we rate protein →

Protein per portion

Protein, calories, carbs and fat in pesto per portion
Portion	Protein	kcal	Carbs	Fat
100 g	9.8 g	418	10.1 g	37.6 g
1 oz (28 g)	2.8 g	119	2.9 g	11 g
1 cup (252 g)	25 g	1053	25 g	95 g
1 tbsp (16 g)	1.5 g	66	1.6 g	5.9 g

One tablespoon of pesto (16 g) is 1% of a 120 g daily target, what our protein calculator gives a 165 lb person building muscle.

Most of its calories come from fat: about 81%.

How it compares

The 4 foods from the same and related aisles closest in calories per 100 g, ranked by protein per calorie. Per calorie, it has more protein than taco shells and tostada shells and less than soy sauce and mustard.

pesto compared with similar foods, per 100 g
Food	Protein	kcal	Protein per 100 kcal
Soy sauce	8.1 g	53	15.3 g
Mustard	3.7 g	60	6.2 g
Pesto	9.8 g	418	2.3 g
Taco shells	6.4 g	476	1.3 g
Tostada shells	6.2 g	474	1.3 g

All 200 foods →

Recipes with pesto

2 recipes in the Feast Mode library use pesto, macros computed the same way.

Across the 2 library recipes that use it, a serving has 14 g of pesto on average, which brings 1.3 g of protein: 2% of the dish’s protein. It carries the most in Pesto Chicken Pasta, at 3% of the protein.

54G
PROTEIN

Pesto Chicken Pasta

35 min · 592 kcal

53G
PROTEIN

Chicken Pesto Panini

40 min · 651 kcal

Questions

How much protein is in a tablespoon of pesto?

One tablespoon of pesto (16 g) has 1.5 g of protein and 66 kcal, with 1.6 g of carbohydrate and 5.9 g of fat.

How much protein is in 100 g of pesto?

100 g of pesto has 9.8 g of protein, 418 kcal, 10.1 g of carbohydrate and 37.6 g of fat (USDA FoodData Central 171579).

Is pesto a good source of protein?

Low in protein: 2.3 g of protein per 100 kcal (9% of its calories): under 2.5 g is low on our scale. Getting 25 g of protein from pesto alone takes 255 g (about 16 tbsp) and 1066 kcal.

Which has more protein, pesto or mustard?

Pesto, with 9.8 g of protein per 100 g against 3.7 g for mustard. Per 100 kcal: pesto 2.3 g, mustard 6.2 g.

Source: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 171579: “Sauce, pesto, ready-to-serve, refrigerated”, per 100 g. Portion numbers multiply those values by the portion weight. Estimates for information, not medical advice. How we calculate

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