Grains, bread and pasta

How much protein is in white bread?

A slice of white bread has about 2.6 g of protein.

That's 8.9 g of protein per 100 g, or 3.3 g for every 100 calories.

Protein per serving

Protein and calories in common servings of white bread, from USDA data.
ServingWeightProteinCalories
1 slice29 g2.6 g77
2 slices58 g5.1 g154
100 g100 g8.9 g266

How white bread compares

Other grains, bread and pasta, ranked by how much protein you get per 100 calories.

FoodProtein per 100 gProtein per 100 calories
Whole wheat breadstore-bought 12 g 4.9 g
Whole wheat pastacooked 6 g 4 g
Bagelplain 11 g 4 g
Quinoacooked 4.4 g 3.7 g
Pastacooked 5.8 g 3.7 g
Buckwheatroasted groats, cooked 3.4 g 3.7 g
Oatsrolled, dry 13 g 3.5 g
Couscouscooked 3.8 g 3.4 g
Popcornair-popped 13 g 3.3 g
English muffinplain 7.7 g 3.3 g
Flour tortillastore-bought 8.7 g 2.7 g
Corn tortillastore-bought 5.7 g 2.6 g
Brown ricelong-grain, cooked 2.7 g 2.2 g
White ricelong-grain, cooked 2.7 g 2.1 g
Barleypearled, cooked 2.3 g 1.8 g

How it fits into a meal

For building muscle, Schoenfeld and Aragon's 2018 review of the research suggests about 0.4 g of protein per kilogram of body weight at each meal, spread over at least four meals a day. At 170 lb (77 kg), that's about 31 g a meal. A slice of white bread covers about 8% of that.

Work out your own daily and per-meal target with the protein calculator.

Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central ("Bread, white, commercially prepared (includes soft bread crumbs)", FDC ID 174924). Actual values vary by brand, recipe and cooking method, so treat these numbers as close estimates.