How Much Protein In a Banana? | Protein By Size

A medium banana has about 1.3 g of protein, with a little more in larger bananas and a little less in smaller ones.

Bananas get labeled as a “carb food,” so people are often surprised that they have any protein at all. They do. It’s just a modest amount, and it shifts with the size of the fruit and how you measure the serving.

This guide breaks it down in plain numbers, shows how to estimate protein from weight, and explains what a banana can and can’t do for a higher-protein day.

What Counts As “A Banana” When You Track Protein

Protein in fruit is tied to grams of edible banana. Bigger banana, more grams, more protein. That’s where most confusion starts.

If you log “1 banana” in an app, you might be picking from several defaults: small, medium, large, extra large, sliced cups, mashed cups, or grams. Those options are not interchangeable.

Size Beats Ripeness For Protein

Ripeness changes taste and texture. It can nudge the sugar and starch mix. Protein stays low either way, and the main driver is still serving weight.

Peeled Weight Is What Nutrient Data Uses

Nutrient databases measure the edible portion. The peel is not part of the serving. If you weigh a whole banana with the peel, you’ll overshoot the protein unless you correct for the peel.

What A Banana Can And Can’t Do For Protein

If your goal is “hit my protein target,” a banana is a helper, not the main event. A medium banana lands near 1.3 g of protein. That’s a real number, yet it’s small next to the foods people lean on for protein.

That doesn’t make bananas a bad pick. It just tells you what job they do well: quick carbs, some fiber, and an easy texture that works with other foods.

When Banana Protein Matters

It matters most when you’re tracking closely and trying to close small gaps. If you’re short by two or three grams late in the day, fruit won’t fix that by itself. Still, the banana can be part of the snack that does.

When Banana Protein Doesn’t Change Much

People sometimes worry that ripeness “kills” the protein. In regular eating, ripeness is not the driver. Size and edible grams are the driver. If you switch from a small banana to an extra large one, your protein goes up. If you switch from yellow to spotted, the protein stays in the same ballpark for the same weight.

Better Ways To Think About It

• Think in combos: banana + a protein food.
• Think in texture: banana thickens smoothies and makes bowls feel fuller.
• Think in timing: banana works well before a workout, then add protein after if post-workout fuel is the aim.

Protein In A Banana Versus Common Snack Swaps

Here’s the trap: you swap a cookie for a banana and assume you also fixed protein. You probably improved the snack, but protein still stays low unless you add a protein source.

If you want a snack that feels like a treat and still pushes protein up, pair banana with one of these:

• Yogurt or skyr
• Milk, soy milk, or kefir
• Nut butter, plus a sprinkle of chopped nuts
• Chia or hemp seeds stirred into yogurt

That’s the sweet spot for most people: banana brings flavor and carbs, the add-on brings protein.

How Much Protein In a Banana? Size Breakdown

You might see slightly varied values across apps and sites. That usually comes from one of three things: the serving weight they picked, rounding, or the database version behind the scenes.

• Serving weight: one “medium” entry may use 118 g, another may use 120 g.
• Rounding: some tools round to one decimal, others show two.
• Data source: some listings pull from older legacy tables, others pull from newer updates.

If you stick to one method—size from the table or grams from a scale—your day-to-day tracking will stay consistent.

How Store Sizes Line Up With The Labels

Bananas sold as “small” or “large” in a store bin don’t always match the inch ranges in databases. The easiest workaround is to eyeball length, then adjust by weight when you can. If you buy a bunch and they’re all close in size, pick one banana, peel it, weigh it, and use that as your default for the week. Then your log matches what you actually eat, not a generic entry.

Use this as your quick reference when you want a clean number without guessing. Values below come from standard nutrient data for raw banana servings.

Serving Size	Protein (g)	Notes
100 g peeled banana	1.09	Best base for math
1 small (about 6″), 101 g	1.10	Often logged as “small”
1 medium (about 7″), 118 g	1.29	Common default in apps
1 large (about 8″), 136 g	1.48	Nice fit for smoothies
1 extra large (9″ or longer), 152 g	1.66	Biggest standard listing
1 cup sliced, 150 g	1.64	Handy for bowls
1 cup mashed, 225 g	2.45	Common in baking

How To Estimate Banana Protein From Any Weight

If you have a kitchen scale, you can get a tight estimate in under ten seconds. The math is simple because the protein per 100 g is steady for raw banana in nutrient databases.

Fast Math You Can Do In Your Head

• Rule of thumb: 100 g banana ≈ 1.1 g protein.
• Per gram: 1.09 ÷ 100 = 0.0109 g protein per gram banana.
• So: 150 g sliced banana ≈ 150 × 0.0109 ≈ 1.6 g protein.

If you want to double-check the base value, the USDA FoodData Central entry for raw banana lists protein per 100 g and common serving sizes.

What If You Don’t Have A Scale

Use the size ranges in the table and pick the closest match. If you’re between two sizes, split the difference. The swing is small: the gap between a medium and a large banana is under a quarter gram of protein.

How Banana Protein Fits Into A Real Meal

A banana can help round out a snack, but it won’t carry the protein load by itself. Think of it as a carb-plus-fiber base that pairs well with higher-protein foods.

Simple Pairings That Lift Protein Fast

• Banana + Greek yogurt
• Banana + cottage cheese
• Banana + milk or soy milk in a smoothie
• Banana + peanut butter on toast

Those combos work because the add-on brings most of the protein, while banana adds sweetness, thickness, and easy calories for energy.

Why The Protein Number Looks Small

Fruit is mostly water and carbohydrate. Bananas do have amino acids and a bit of protein, yet the concentration is low. You’d need several bananas to match the protein in a single serving of yogurt or eggs, and that would bring a lot of extra calories and carbs along with it.

Protein Percent Daily Value And Labels

If you’re used to scanning labels, you may notice protein is listed in grams, yet a percent value is often missing. That’s normal on many labels.

The FDA explains how percent Daily Value works on Nutrition Facts panels and why some nutrients, including protein, are treated differently on many labels. See FDA’s Daily Value guidance if you want the official wording and the current reference numbers.

Banana Protein Across Common Use Cases

Most people aren’t eating a plain banana in isolation. Here’s how the protein shifts when bananas show up in the ways we actually eat them.

In Smoothies

A single large banana adds under 1.5 g of protein, yet it makes a smoothie feel thicker and more filling. If you want the drink to land in the “high protein” lane, rely on your base: milk, soy milk, yogurt, kefir, or protein powder.

In Oatmeal Or Cereal

Sliced banana makes a bowl taste sweeter without added sugar. Protein still comes from the oats, milk, or yogurt you use. If you cook oats with water, the bowl may end up light on protein unless you add milk, seeds, or yogurt.

In Baking

Mashed banana is common in banana bread, muffins, and pancakes. The protein in the finished food depends far more on flour, eggs, dairy, and any added nuts than on the banana itself. Still, the “1 cup mashed” row in the table is handy when you want to estimate the banana portion in a batch.

Frozen Bananas And Banana “Nice Cream”

Freezing doesn’t add protein. It just changes texture. If you blend frozen bananas into a soft-serve style dessert, the protein stays close to what you’d get from the same weight of raw banana. Add-ins like milk, yogurt, or nut butter change the number.

Common Tracking Mistakes That Throw Off The Protein Count

Protein is low enough in bananas that small logging errors can make the number look jumpy. These are the misses I see most often.

Logging “One Banana” Without A Size

If your app defaults to medium, and you ate an extra large banana, you’ll undercount by about a third of a gram. It’s not huge, but it adds up if you track closely.

Using “Sliced Cup” When You Ate A Whole Banana

A cup of sliced banana is a bigger serving than one medium banana. If you logged 1 cup but ate a medium banana, your protein total will be a bit high.

Weighing With The Peel

The peel can be a big chunk of the weight. If you weigh whole and log that as edible grams, your estimate will be off. If you want a clean method, peel it, then weigh the edible part.

How To Get More Protein Without Losing The Banana

If banana is your go-to snack and you want more protein, you don’t need to ditch it. You just need to build around it.

Add Protein First, Then Add Banana For Taste

• Start with yogurt, milk, or tofu in a blender.
• Add banana for sweetness and body.
• Toss in a spoon of nut butter or a handful of nuts if you want more staying power.

Use Banana As A Carb Side For Protein Foods

If you lift, run, or just want an easy breakfast, banana pairs well with eggs, a protein shake, or a bowl of yogurt. You get quick carbs and a smoother protein hit in the same sitting.

Quick Takeaways For Protein In Bananas

This table is the fast “what should I log?” helper. Pick the row that matches your goal, and you’ll be close without overthinking it.

What You’re Doing	What To Log	Protein Ballpark
Eating a typical banana	1 medium (about 7″)	~1.3 g
Eating a smaller snack banana	1 small (about 6″)	~1.1 g
Eating a big banana	1 extra large (9″ or longer)	~1.7 g
Building a smoothie bowl	1 cup sliced	~1.6 g
Baking with banana	1 cup mashed	~2.5 g
Weighing for accuracy	Log peeled grams	100 g ≈ 1.1 g
Trying to raise snack protein	Add yogurt or milk	Banana stays the same

If you want one number to remember, stick with the medium banana estimate and adjust up or down based on size. The protein is real, it’s just modest. Pair it with a higher-protein food when protein is the goal.