Iron rich foods chart: top sources per serving

Iron is one of the few nutrients where the chart genuinely changes behavior. Once you see the milligrams lined up per serving, you stop guessing and start picking. The Daily Value for iron is 18 mg, and the gap between foods is enormous: a cup of raw spinach moves you less than 1 mg, while a serving of chicken liver covers more than half the day. This guide charts the top iron sources in the NutriVerdict index, grouped the way your body actually processes them: heme iron from animal foods and non-heme iron from plants. Every figure below comes from USDA FoodData Central values for the exact foods linked, and you can browse the full live list on our iron-rich rankings page.

Heme iron: the animal sources, per serving

Heme iron comes packaged inside hemoglobin and myoglobin in animal tissue, and the body absorbs it far more readily than plant iron. The chart of top heme sources in our index, per common serving:

• Chicken liver, raw: 8.99 mg per 100 g, so a 113 g serving carries about 10.2 mg, roughly 56% DV. It also holds a Nutrient Density Score of 96, near the top of the entire database.
• Beef liver, braised: 6.54 mg per 100 g. A standard 3 oz (85 g) serving delivers about 5.6 mg, around 31% DV, at a density score of 94.
• Blue mussels, raw: 3.95 mg per 100 g. A 150 g cup measures out to roughly 5.9 mg, about 33% DV, with a density score of 86. Among seafood in our index, mussels are the standout iron pick.

Notice the pattern: organ meats dominate. Liver concentrates iron the way leaves concentrate vitamin K, and it does so at very reasonable calorie cost, which is why both livers above score in the mid 90s on our per-calorie scale. The practical caveat is frequency, not quality. Liver is also extremely concentrated in vitamin A, so most people treat it as a once-a-week food rather than a daily staple.

Non-heme iron: the plant sources, per serving

Plant foods carry non-heme iron, which is absorbed less efficiently but arrives with fiber and minerals that animal sources lack. The per-serving chart looks stronger than most people expect:

• Lentils, raw: 6.51 mg per 100 g. A dry cup (192 g) holds about 12.5 mg, roughly 69% DV. That dry cup cooks into several bowls, so a single cooked portion contributes a meaningful fraction of that total. Density score: 70.
• Pumpkin seed kernels, dried: 8.82 mg per 100 g. A full cup (129 g) charts at about 11.4 mg, around 63% DV. Even a quarter-cup snack contributes close to 3 mg. Density score: 72.
• Firm tofu: 2.66 mg per 100 g. A 126 g serving supplies about 3.4 mg, close to 19% DV, and tofu scores an impressive 88 on nutrient density because it pairs that iron with complete protein and calcium.
• Spinach, raw: 2.71 mg per 100 g, and a perfect density score of 100. The honest reading: a 30 g cup of raw leaves carries only about 0.8 mg, near 5% DV. Spinach is dense per calorie, not per salad bowl, so treat it as a contributor rather than a primary source.

Reading the chart honestly: concentration versus serving

Two numbers can mislead you here. The per-100-gram figure flatters light foods like raw spinach, because nobody eats 100 grams of loose leaves in one sitting. The per-serving figure flatters dense foods measured in big cups, like dry lentils and pumpkin seeds, because a full cup of either is a lot of food. The chart above shows both so you can anchor to what you actually eat. As a rule of thumb, the reliable single-serving iron moves come from liver, mussels, a bowl of cooked lentils, or a generous handful of pumpkin seeds. Everything else stacks on top.

The vitamin C pairing

Non-heme iron absorption improves when vitamin C is present in the same meal, which makes pairing a cheap upgrade. Our index makes the pairings easy to spot: broccoli, raw carries 89.2 mg of vitamin C per 100 g and strawberries, raw carry 58.8 mg per 100 g, both against a Daily Value of 90 mg. Spinach even brings some of its own, at 28.1 mg per 100 g. In practice: squeeze citrus over lentils, add broccoli to a tofu stir-fry, or finish a spinach salad with strawberries. The iron on the chart stays the same; how much of it you absorb goes up.

Building a high-iron day from the chart

Against the 18 mg Daily Value, the math assembles quickly. A bowl of lentils with a vitamin C partner, a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds, and a serving of tofu covers substantial ground for a plant-based eater. Add a weekly serving of braised beef liver or a cup of mussels and the heme side does heavy lifting with high absorption. For the complete, always-current list ordered by our Nutrient Density Score, see the iron-rich rankings.

Individual iron needs vary widely by age, sex, and circumstance. These figures describe what is in the food, not what any one person should eat.