Potassium-Rich Foods

This page ranks common potassium-rich whole foods by their potassium density, expressed as milligrams of potassium per 100 g of edible food, alongside calorie density. The ranking deliberately excludes leafy vegetables, edamame, and baked white potato — foods that either skew per-100-g comparisons (raw leaves wilt down dramatically; baked potato density would dominate the list) or are not daily staples in most Western diets. The result is a practical shortlist for everyday meal planning, dominated by beans, root vegetables, fruits, and common produce, with rice rounded in at the bottom for context.

Adults should aim for a potassium intake of at least 3,400 mg/day (men) or 2,600 mg/day (women), per the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine adequate-intake guidelines. Most Americans fall well short of these targets. Reaching them through whole foods, rather than supplements, is preferable for most people because dietary potassium arrives bundled with magnesium, fiber, polyphenols, and alkaline precursors that all contribute independently to blood-pressure, kidney, and bone health.

Ranked Table: Potassium per 100 g
How to Read This Table
Why Some Foods Were Excluded
Meeting the Daily Target
Cooking and Storage Effects
Cautions and Special Populations
Research Papers and References
Connections

Ranked Table: Potassium per 100 g

Potassium per 100 g, excluding leafy vegetables
Rank	Food	Potassium / 100 g	Calories / 100 g
1	Yam, boiled	~670 mg	~116 kcal
2	White beans, cooked	~561 mg	~139 kcal
3	Avocado, raw	~485 mg	~160 kcal
4	Plantain, cooked	~465 mg	~116 kcal
5	Pinto beans, cooked	~436 mg	~143 kcal
6	Pork loin, cooked (lean)	~423 mg	~198 kcal
7	White potato, boiled with skin	~379 mg	~87 kcal
8	Lentils, cooked	~369 mg	~116 kcal
9	Salmon, sockeye, cooked	~363 mg	~156 kcal
10	Banana	~358 mg	~89 kcal
11	Acorn squash, cooked	~347 mg	~56 kcal
12	Sweet potato, baked with skin	~337 mg	~90 kcal
13	White mushrooms	~318 mg	~22 kcal
14	Beef, ground (85% lean), cooked	~315 mg	~218 kcal
15	Broccoli, cooked	~293 mg	~35 kcal
16	Cantaloupe	~267 mg	~34 kcal
17	Zucchini	~261 mg	~17 kcal
18	Celery	~260 mg	~16 kcal
19	Tomato	~237 mg	~18 kcal
20	Asparagus	~202 mg	~20 kcal
21	Orange	~181 mg	~47 kcal
22	Brown rice, long-grain, cooked	~79 mg	~123 kcal
23	White rice, long-grain, cooked (enriched)	~35 mg	~130 kcal

A note on rice. Both varieties sit at the bottom of the ranking. Rice is a starchy staple, not a potassium source — cooked white rice delivers only ~35 mg per 100 g, and brown rice roughly twice that at ~79 mg per 100 g. Brown rice retains more potassium because it keeps its bran and germ layers, where most of the mineral content lives; the milling that produces white rice strips those layers along with most of the magnesium, fiber, and B vitamins (enrichment restores some B vitamins and iron but not potassium). For perspective, a typical 1-cup cooked serving (~158 g of long-grain) yields ~125 mg of potassium from brown rice and ~55 mg from white rice — less than a quarter of a banana. Pair rice with beans, lentils, or vegetables higher up this list rather than relying on it as a potassium source.

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How to Read This Table

Per-100-g density is the most honest way to compare foods, because it strips out portion-size noise. A medium banana (~118 g) provides roughly 422 mg of potassium — not because bananas are unusually concentrated, but because the portion is larger than 100 g. White beans are denser per gram than bananas, but you typically eat them in similar 1-cup portions (~180 g cooked), so a single serving of white beans delivers around 1,000 mg of potassium versus a banana's ~420 mg.

Density vs. portion – A high mg/100 g number means each bite is rich in potassium. To translate to a real-world serving, multiply by the typical portion in grams divided by 100. A 200 g portion of cooked white beans yields roughly 1,120 mg of potassium.
Calorie cost – Foods with low kcal/100 g (mushrooms, zucchini, celery, tomato, cucumber) let you accumulate potassium with minimal calorie intake. Useful for anyone managing weight while raising potassium intake.
The values are approximate – The tilde symbol (~) reflects natural variation in the USDA FoodData Central database between cultivars, growing conditions, and preparation methods. Treat these as representative ballpark figures, not laboratory measurements of a specific food item in your kitchen.

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Why Some Foods Were Excluded

The exclusions in this ranking are deliberate, not oversights. Each excluded category is worth understanding on its own terms.

Leafy vegetables (spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens) – These pack 558–909 mg of potassium per 100 g raw, but raw leaves wilt down dramatically when cooked, so a "cup" of cooked spinach actually represents ~180 g of raw leaves. The per-100-g number is misleading without that context. Greens are still excellent potassium sources — they are just hard to compare apples-to-apples with denser whole foods.
Edamame – Fresh shelled edamame supplies ~436 mg per 100 g, but is not a daily staple in most Western diets and would distort the practical-foods focus of this ranking.
Baked white potato – A baked potato with skin delivers ~535 mg per 100 g, considerably more than the boiled version. It was excluded because it would otherwise dominate the top of the list and overshadow the diversity of other high-potassium choices. The boiled-with-skin entry (rank 7) preserves the potato's place without making the table monotone.

A note on avocado. Avocado was originally excluded from this list, but it has been added back at rank 3 because it is one of the few high-density potassium sources (~485 mg per 100 g) that is realistic for daily intake in a Western diet. Worth noting: at ~160 kcal per 100 g, avocado is roughly 7× the energy density of zucchini, so each 100 g of potassium from avocado costs more calories than from a low-energy vegetable. That trade is fine for most people — the calories are mostly monounsaturated fat with attached fiber, magnesium, and folate — but it matters for anyone tracking energy intake closely.

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Meeting the Daily Target

Reaching 3,400 mg/day from these foods is straightforward when you stack two or three of them in a single day. Some illustrative combinations:

Bean-forward day – 1.5 cups cooked white beans (~270 g, ~1,515 mg) + 1 medium baked sweet potato (~150 g, ~505 mg) + 1 banana (~120 g, ~430 mg) + 1 cup cooked broccoli (~150 g, ~440 mg) = ~2,890 mg, with the rest easily covered by tomato sauce, dairy, or fish.
Lentil-forward day – 1.5 cups cooked lentils (~300 g, ~1,107 mg) + 1 cup boiled potatoes with skin (~150 g, ~570 mg) + 1 cup cantaloupe cubes (~160 g, ~427 mg) + 1 large orange (~180 g, ~325 mg) = ~2,430 mg, supplemented by zucchini, mushrooms, or celery in cooked dishes.
Low-calorie pattern – A salad of celery, cucumber, tomato, and white mushrooms, plus a side of asparagus, can deliver 700–900 mg of potassium for under 200 kcal, leaving room for higher-density foods elsewhere.

Practically, two cups of legumes + one starchy vegetable + a piece of fruit reaches ~80% of the daily target without effort.

Cooking and Storage Effects

Potassium is water-soluble, so preparation method matters more than for many other minerals.

Boiling leaches potassium – Boiling potatoes without the skin in a large volume of water can reduce potassium content by 30–50%. Boiling with skin, steaming, or microwaving preserves more potassium. The "boiled with skin" entry in the table reflects the better-retention version.
Roasting and baking concentrate potassium – Because water evaporates rather than carrying potassium away, dry-heat methods preserve mineral content per gram of finished food. This is why baked sweet potato density (~337 mg/100 g) is similar to the raw root.
Skins matter – The skin of potatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini contains more potassium per gram than the flesh. Eating with the skin (well washed) materially increases intake.
Canning losses – Canned vegetables in brine lose potassium to the liquid. Draining and rinsing further reduces sodium but also strips some potassium. Frozen, then briefly cooked, preserves mineral content best.

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Cautions and Special Populations

For most healthy adults, increasing potassium from whole foods is unambiguously beneficial. There are, however, populations for whom rapid increases require medical guidance.

Chronic kidney disease (eGFR below 45 mL/min) – Impaired renal excretion can cause dangerous serum-potassium accumulation. CKD patients should follow individualized renal-diet guidance and not self-prescribe high-potassium menus.
RAAS-blocking medications – ACE inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), and potassium-sparing diuretics (spironolactone, eplerenone, amiloride) all reduce urinary potassium excretion. Most patients tolerate dietary potassium fine, but monitoring is appropriate.
Type 2 diabetes – Insulin resistance can blunt cellular potassium uptake. Patients should not interpret this as a reason to avoid potassium-rich foods — the opposite, generally — but should be aware that lab values may behave differently than expected.
Salt substitutes – Potassium chloride (sold as a salt substitute) delivers 500–650 mg of potassium per ¼ teaspoon. Adding it on top of a whole-foods potassium-rich diet can push intake to therapeutic levels appropriate for hypertensive patients but problematic for those with CKD or on RAAS-blocking medications.
Acute hyperkalemia symptoms – Muscle weakness, paresthesias, palpitations, or unexpected fatigue after a high-potassium meal warrant a serum-potassium check. These are uncommon outside the populations listed above.

This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Individuals with chronic kidney disease, those taking ACE inhibitors, ARBs, or potassium-sparing diuretics, and anyone with a history of hyperkalemia should consult a physician before making major changes to potassium intake.

Potassium-Rich Foods

Table of Contents

Ranked Table: Potassium per 100 g

How to Read This Table

Why Some Foods Were Excluded

Meeting the Daily Target

Cooking and Storage Effects

Cautions and Special Populations

Research Papers and References

Primary Data Sources

Clinical and Population Evidence

PubMed Topic Searches

External Authoritative Resources

Connections