Grow Your Own Protein: 5 Muscle-Boosting Plants You Need

Protein usually means meat, eggs or dairy, but there are actually crops you can grow at home that pack a serious protein punch too. I’m going to share five of the most protein-rich crops to grow, from reliable staples like peas and beans to a lesser-known weed you could use to replace expensive protein powders. I’m pumped to get started – let’s go!

Muscle-Boosting Beans

Some of the easiest crops you can grow just happen to be packed with protein. Better still, many will improve your soil as they grow, fixing nitrogen from the air to feed future crops, and that includes our first protein powerhouse: beans!

Fava beans can be started in autumn or at the end of winter. They’re devastatingly easy to grow – just push the plump seeds into the soil and let them do their thing, and at 8g of protein per 100g, these really are protein powerhouses.

Fava beans are fab because they’re such a doddle to grow, but so are the many warm-season beans, including soybeans, otherwise known as edamame. Soybeans are crazy-high in protein, with the fresh, raw beans coming in at around 36g of protein per 100g, which is really very, very high!

They’re not an obvious choice in my temperate climate, but if I give them a sunny spot and sow them in the warmth of late spring, they’ll quickly grow away and should give a hearty crop of tasty green pods by late summer.

For cooler areas like mine, sow an early-maturing, short season variety. You can sow direct into the soil, about 2in (5cm) deep and around 6in (15cm) apart. To be on the safe side, plant two seeds per hole. Set additional rows 2ft (60cm) from the first.

The trick is to keep picking pods once the beans inside feel nice and plump, usually around three months after sowing. These beans don’t need any supports, just regular watering to keep them growing smoothly. Other than that, we can pretty much let them do their thing!

Climbing beans are good for protein too, and worth growing for their sheer abundance. Just set them out against canes, trellis, strings, arches or anything else they can latch onto in order to scramble upwards. Climbing beans are one of the most generous crops you can grow – they’re like vertical protein factories! Although not as protein-packed as soybeans or broad beans, coming in at around 1.5 to 2g of protein per 100g, they still make the list for their outrageous abundance, all summer long.

Pump Up With Peas

Peas are another brilliant source of protein, and they’re wonderfully quick to crop. They love having something to grab onto; bush varieties will do just fine on sticks or twiggy branches, while climbing peas will appreciate something a little more vertiginous, such as netting or string mesh. They can create a focal point and provide a stunning, leafy backdrop to the vegetable garden.

I start my peas off by sowing them to about my first knuckle’s depth into pots of potting mix, or you could sow them directly into the soil. Keep them moist and the seedlings will pop up in next to no time. Before long you’ll be picking fresh peas straight from the garden.

Mangetout, sugar snaps, shelling peas – take your pick. They’re all delicious, all protein-rich, and all wonderfully easy to grow. Plant climbing peas about 4in (10cm) apart in a single row to ensure more than enough space between these rapidly skywards-thrusting vines.

Peas are very straightforward to grow, and you can be harvesting in just a couple of months. The main jobs are watering regularly in dry weather, and keeping picking those pods! At 5g of protein per 100g, they have the potential to produce a lot of this essential nutrient.

Or if you’d like to try something a little different, how about chickpeas or lentils? These sunshine-loving crops from the Mediterranean and Near East appreciate a well-drained soil, and while yields may not be quite as hearty as those provided by peas or beans, they stand up well in terms of the amount of protein per 100g – 20g for chickpeas and 25g for lentils.

Easy-to-Grow Amaranth

Now here’s where things start to get really interesting! Did you know that some of the most protein-rich crops you can grow aren’t legumes like peas or beans but, rather, grains?

You’ll possibly have heard of quinoa, but how about amaranth? It’s very similar to quinoa but quite a bit easier to start off and grow. As a bonus you can eat the leaves too, which can be enjoyed a bit like spinach.

My favorite thing about amaranth, however, has to be the mind-blowingly long list of alternative names for it, including arowo jeja, bayam, callaloo, cararu, doogi, laal shak, noteshak and vlita – to name a few!

The seeds are tiny, so just scatter them thinly over the surface of prepared soil, raked to give a lovely fine and crumbly texture or tilth. Very lightly rake them in so they’re in contact with the soil, but not buried deeply. Water them gently, and that’s it.

Keep your amaranth bed warm and moist, and they should germinate surprisingly quickly. They really do like it warm, with soil temperatures of at least 60°F (15°C) giving the best results. In my part of the world that can mean waiting till early summer to sow amaranth. To speed things up a bit, cover up the sown seeds to help raise the soil temperature (I use old windowpanes) and keep things snug until the seedlings start to appear. Thin the seedlings in stages until the young plants are left about 18in (45cm) apart.

Alternatively, you could sow amaranth into plug trays to get an even earlier start. They can then be planted out into a sunny spot once the weather has warmed up.

Amaranth grows into a tall, striking plant, and if you can offer them a really warm, sunny – almost baking – spot, they’ll really respond well to that. They’re pretty tolerant of drought, but there’s no harm in watering when it’s dry to keep plants growing at a good pace. And if they start to get a bit top-heavy and flop over, you can always stake them to keep them upright.

Enjoy some of the leaves in salads for sure, but it’s the seeds that will offer those protein-rich grains. Two harvests, one plant – and plenty of protein along the way, which comes in at a stonking 14g per 100g.

Protein-Packed Peanuts  

Now for the truly unexpected, at least in my temperate climate: peanuts! Yes, it’s possible to grow peanuts even in a less-than-hot climate, so long as you can offer enough warmth, which in my garden means keeping them in the greenhouse. Peanuts love warmth, so planting them into pots on a sun-soaked patio or terrace or into greenhouse beds gives them the best chance of success.

Soak peanut seeds in lukewarm water overnight to plump up, then plant into a free-draining potting mix. Keep them warm and watered, and they should be up within about two weeks.

Things get really fascinating after flowering. Once the blooms fade, the plants produce little stems, called pegs, that push down into the soil. And that’s where the peanuts actually form – below ground – so you can see why they’re also called ‘groundnuts’. Yes, peanuts actually grow underground – the gardening equivalent of an ostrich burying its head in the sand, I guess! And this means that, technically, they’re not nuts at all, but legumes – the same family as peas and beans.

You’ll know they’re ready to harvest when the foliage starts yellowing and dying back, usually in early autumn. All that’s left to do then is simply lift the whole plant up to reveal the clusters of peanuts attached to the roots.

This is certainly one of the quirkier harvests out there, that’s for sure! They’re also one of the most protein-dense things you can grow, at more than 25g per 100g.

The Wild Card: Watermeal

And now for my wildcard: watermeal, Latin name Wolffia globosa. It’s pretty tiny, and looks very far from glamorous! But I’ll let you in on a little secret – this stuff is the new superfood. You heard it here first!

While it may not look like much, watermeal is rather special. In fact, it’s the smallest flowering plant on Earth! But even more incredible is the speed this stuff grows at. It’s one of the fastest-growing plants, and in the right conditions can double in area in just a few days. Which means this tiny plant has surprisingly big potential!

It’s a floating plant, so growing it in a broad, shallow container will enable it to spread out. Fill it with either clean rainwater or dechlorinated mains water. Removing chlorine isn’t difficult – simply leave the water to stand for 24 hours so the chlorine evaporates off.

Next, add some nutrients for your watermeal to, well, make a meal of! I add a very dilute balanced liquid fertilizer at about one fifth of the recommended strength. Give it a good stir, and then pour in your watermeal. If the weather’s still a bit cool keep it indoors at around room temperature until things warm up, somewhere bright but, crucially, out of direct sunshine to avoid unwanted algae forming.

Please, please be very careful never to release watermeal into natural waterways, as it can very quickly this could become a big problem! In some regions this is considered an invasive species with regulations prohibiting growing it, so check the situation in your local area.

Once the watermeal has fully covered the surface of the water, carefully scoop it all out, leaving some behind to grow the next batch. It can be enjoyed fresh or dried to a vibrant green powder. It’s perfect for adding to smoothies for a natural protein boost. And, would you believe it, this stuff has anywhere from 20g up to 50g of protein per 100g of its dry weight – wow!

Plants Related to this Article

Amaranth (Grain) Grow Guide

Beans (Fava) Grow Guide

Beans (Pole) Grow Guide