This page sets out what is in cooked beans, lentils, peas and soybeans, using figures from the US Department of Agriculture. It describes foods, not diets. It does not say how much of anything a person should eat, and it makes no claims about health or weight. If you want advice about your own diet, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian.
Where the numbers come from
FoodData Central is the USDA's public food-composition database. It holds several sets of data, and the figures below come from the set called SR Legacy. Each food has an identifier, called an FDC ID, so anyone can look up the same entry.
Every legume here is the entry for mature seeds, cooked by boiling, without salt. The values were taken from FoodData Central on 2026-10-26 and are shown exactly as listed, per 100 grams of cooked food. The FDC ID is printed in each row of the table.
Eight cooked legumes side by side
| Legume (FDC ID) | Energy, kcal | Protein, g | Fiber, g | Carbohydrate, g | Fat, g | Folate, µg | Iron, mg | Potassium, mg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black beans (173735) | 132 | 8.86 | 8.7 | 23.7 | 0.54 | 149 | 2.1 | 355 |
| Red kidney beans (175194) | 127 | 8.67 | 7.4 | 22.8 | 0.5 | 130 | 2.94 | 403 |
| Pinto beans (175200) | 143 | 9.01 | 9 | 26.2 | 0.65 | 172 | 2.09 | 436 |
| Chickpeas (173757) | 164 | 8.86 | 7.6 | 27.4 | 2.59 | 172 | 2.89 | 291 |
| Lentils (172421) | 116 | 9.02 | 7.9 | 20.1 | 0.38 | 181 | 3.33 | 369 |
| Split peas (172429) | 118 | 8.34 | 8.3 | 21.1 | 0.39 | 65 | 1.29 | 362 |
| Black-eyed peas (cowpeas) (173759) | 116 | 7.73 | 6.5 | 20.8 | 0.53 | 208 | 2.51 | 278 |
| Soybeans (174271) | 172 | 18.2 | 6 | 8.36 | 8.97 | 54 | 5.14 | 515 |
Fiber is FoodData Central's "fiber, total dietary". Carbohydrate is "carbohydrate, by difference", which includes the fiber. Folate is "folate, total". Black-eyed peas appear in the database as "cowpeas, common (blackeyes, crowder, southern)", and chickpeas as "chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram)".
How to read the table
- Per 100 grams of cooked food. The figures are for beans weighed after cooking, when they have taken up water. Figures for dry beans, weighed before cooking, are a different measure, so compare like with like.
- Boiled without salt. FoodData Central lists separate entries for many of these legumes boiled with salt, and canned beans are separate entries again. If you use canned or salted beans, the sodium in particular will differ from a home-cooked pot without salt.
- Averages, not guarantees. A database entry describes the samples behind it, not every bag of beans, so treat each figure as a fair description of the food rather than an exact measurement of what is in your bowl.
- Not a daily target. The table says nothing about how much a person needs. Needs differ from person to person, which is why this guide leaves that question to health professionals.
Example: reading one row
The lentils row reads 9.02 g of protein and 7.9 g of fiber per 100 g. That means a 100 g portion of plain boiled lentils, weighed after cooking, contains about that much of each, on FoodData Central's figures. A portion of 200 g would contain about twice as much. This is arithmetic on the database values, not a serving suggestion.
What stands out
A few patterns are visible straight from the table.
- The pulses are alike. The seven pulses all fall between 7.73 and 9.02 g of protein, 6.5 and 9 g of fiber and 20.1 and 27.4 g of carbohydrate per 100 g. In broad composition, swapping one pulse for another in a recipe changes little.
- Pulses are low in fat. Six of the seven have less than 1 g of fat per 100 g. Chickpeas have more, at 2.59 g.
- Soybeans are the outlier. Cooked soybeans list 18.2 g of protein and 8.97 g of fat, about twice the protein of the pulses and several times the fat, with less carbohydrate (8.36 g). This matches the FAO's treatment of soybeans as an oil crop rather than a pulse, described in the kinds guide.
- Folate varies widely. The folate values run from 54 µg for soybeans to 208 µg for black-eyed peas per 100 g.
What the Dietary Guidelines say
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, published by the US Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services, mention legumes in a few places. They list beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds and soy among the plant-sourced protein foods, alongside animal sources. They describe legumes as folate-rich. In their section for people who eat vegetarian or vegan diets, they name beans, peas, lentils, legumes, tofu and tempeh among protein-rich foods.
The Guidelines also give numeric targets and advice for particular groups, such as pregnant women, older adults and people with chronic diseases. This site does not repeat them, because applying them depends on the person. The Guidelines themselves say that people with a chronic disease should talk with their health care professional about whether they need to adapt the advice, and the same goes for anyone with specific dietary needs.
Cooking choices that change the numbers
A few kitchen choices affect what ends up in the bowl, and the sources used on this site mention them.
- Baking soda. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln advises against adding baking soda to soaking or cooking water, because it destroys thiamin, a B vitamin.
- Salt. The table uses entries for beans boiled without salt; FoodData Central lists beans boiled with salt as separate entries. How much salt goes into the finished dish is up to the cook.
- Soaking water. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln says soaking and then discarding the soaking water helps remove some of the substances in beans that cause gas.
Soy and allergies
The US Food and Drug Administration lists nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Soybeans are on that list, so dishes made with soybeans or soy foods such as tofu, tempeh or miso can cause reactions in people with a soy allergy. The FDA says allergy symptoms usually appear within minutes to a few hours after eating, and advises seeing a healthcare provider for proper care and diagnosis. Anyone cooking for other people should say when a dish contains soy.
What this page does not say
It does not say that beans, or any one kind of bean, will prevent or treat any condition, help anyone lose or gain weight, or should replace any other food. It does not recommend amounts, servings or diet plans, and it does not compare legumes with supplements or with any branded product. Those are questions for a doctor, registered dietitian or other qualified health professional who knows the person asking.
Next from the pantry: Beans and lentils in cooking around the world