Which Dal Has the Most Protein in India?

Last updated: 1 September 2026

Masoor dal carries the most, at 24.35 g of protein per 100 g on India's own food composition tables. Moong dal follows at 23.88 g and urad dal at 23.06 g. The spread across every common Indian pulse is narrower than the question implies: from 18.77 g to 24.35 g, a gap of about five and a half grams.

The more useful finding sits underneath the ranking. Pulse protein is short of one essential amino acid and cereal protein is short of a different one, so the dal on its own is not the unit that matters. The roti beside it changes the answer more than swapping one dal for another does.

Why does a split dal always beat its whole grain?

Because the husk holds almost no protein. Take it off and what remains is concentrated, so the same grain reads higher per 100 g in split form.

The pattern holds without exception across the Indian Food Composition Tables. Chana dal measures 21.55 g against 18.77 g for whole kala chana. Moong dal is 23.88 g against 22.53 g whole. Urad dal is 23.06 g against 21.97 g whole.

That is a concentration effect, not extra protein. A kilogram of dal started as more than a kilogram of whole grain, and the husk that left carried the fibre rather than the protein.

How do the common Indian pulses rank?

All values below are per 100 g of dry grain, measured across six regions of India by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition.

Pulse	Protein per 100 g	Total dietary fibre
Masoor dal	24.35 g	10.43 g
Moong dal	23.88 g	9.37 g
Urad dal	23.06 g	11.93 g
Moong, whole	22.53 g	17.04 g
Urad, whole	21.97 g	20.41 g
Horse gram, whole	21.73 g	7.88 g
Toor dal	21.70 g	not published
Chana dal	21.55 g	15.15 g
Rajmah, red	19.91 g	not published
Kala chana, whole	18.77 g	25.22 g

Soybean sits outside this table at 35.58 g, but it is an oilseed rather than a dal and behaves differently in a kitchen.

Note the last row. Whole kala chana is the lowest-protein pulse in the list and carries the highest dietary fibre of any of them, at 25.22 g. Ranking pulses by protein alone would put the most fibre-dense grain on the table at the bottom.

Why is the figure on a cooked plate so much lower?

Because the published number is for dry grain and cooked dal is mostly water. The protein does not change; the weight it is spread across roughly triples.

The practical consequence is that a serving is best counted in dry weight. Around 30 g of dry masoor dal, a generous quarter-cup before cooking, carries roughly 7 g of protein whichever way it is later cooked and however much water it absorbs.

We have not published a per-katori figure here, because the composition tables carry no cooked entries for pulses and the number would depend entirely on how thin the dal was made.

Does the highest number make it the best dal?

No. It is at that point when the ranking ceases to be of any use because protein quality depends on the balance of essential amino acids and not their total number.

ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians put it directly: cereals carry lower levels of lysine and higher levels of the sulphur-containing amino acids, methionine and cysteine, while in pulses the reverse is true.

The composition tables give that shape in numbers. Per 100 g of protein, wheat atta carries 2.42 g of lysine while whole kala chana carries 6.59 g and whole moong 6.60 g, roughly two and a half times as much. Run it the other way and wheat atta carries 1.77 g of methionine against 1.16 g in kala chana.

Neither food is complete on its own. Each is strong exactly where the other is short.

Processing shifts quality too. A 2025 study in Food Science and Nutrition measured in-vitro protein digestibility in germinated pulses rising about 4% after 48 hours, while phytic acid fell around 40%. The grain makes little new protein; it becomes easier to use.

Why does roti with dal beat either alone?

Because the two proteins fill each other's gaps, and the national guidance puts a ratio on it. ICMR-NIN states that an appropriate combination of cereals with pulses in the ratio of 3:1 by raw food weight can meet the requirements of all essential amino acids.

Three parts cereal to one part pulse, weighed dry, is close to what a plate of roti and dal already looks like. The combination long predates the measurement. The measurement supports it.

The same guidance states that the addition of 250 ml of milk further increases the intake of necessary amino acids and that vegetarian dishes typically fall between the range of 70% and 85% in terms of protein digestibility.

What does a "rich in protein" label legally require?

India sets the threshold as a share of the recommended dietary allowance rather than as a flat gram figure. Under Schedule I of the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, a solid food may be called a "source" of protein at 10% of the RDA per 100 g, and "rich" or "high" in protein at 20% of the RDA per 100 g.

ICMR-NIN puts the adult RDA at 0.83 g per kg of body weight per day, which is 54 g a day for a person weighing 65 kg. So the two thresholds work out at roughly 5.4 g and 10.8 g per 100 g.

Every pulse in the table above clears both comfortably. Even the lowest, whole kala chana at 18.77 g, is about a third of a day's RDA in 100 g of dry grain. A "rich in protein" claim on a bag of any Indian dal is not marketing licence; it is a threshold the grain passes with room to spare.

How much dal does a day's protein actually take?

More than most people picture. At an RDA of 54 g for a 65 kg adult, and masoor dal at 24.35 g per 100 g, covering the whole requirement from dal alone would take around 220 g of dry grain a day.

Nobody eats that, and nobody needs to. Cereals supply a large share of protein in an Indian diet precisely because they are eaten in quantity, which is what makes the 3:1 combination above the practical route rather than a nutritional curiosity.

SatRas sells whole green moong and desi black chana in its dal and chana range, both whole rather than split, and the SatRas FAQ page covers pack sizes and delivery.

What these numbers do not settle

They describe dry grain as sold, and what may legally be in that bag is set separately by the FSSAI standard for pulses, which covers whole, dehusked and split forms alike. The tables describe composition, not what a body absorbs. ICMR-NIN's own 70% to 85% digestibility range for vegetarian foods means the protein on a label and the protein used are different quantities, and the tables do not bridge that gap.

Two further cautions belong here. The guidance is explicit that dietary protein is not used efficiently without adequate energy from carbohydrate and fat in the same diet, and that without physical activity protein will not be used for building muscle regardless of how much is eaten. A higher gram figure on a packet does not survive either condition on its own.

This article is educational and is not medical advice. If you are managing a health condition or setting protein targets on medical guidance, speak to a qualified doctor or registered dietitian.

Frequently asked questions

Is paneer higher in protein than dal?

Per 100 g of the food as eaten, paneer is higher, but the comparison is unfair because dal figures are published for dry grain and paneer is not. A more useful difference is quality: dairy protein carries all nine essential amino acids, while pulse protein is short of methionine and completes against a cereal.

Does pressure cooking reduce the protein in dal?

Pressure cooking does not meaningfully reduce protein, and national dietary guidance recommends it. What it does is destroy the enzyme inhibitors that block digestion and lower phytic acid, which makes minerals more available. Prolonged overcooking is the thing to avoid, because it costs lysine and lowers protein quality.

Does dal lose protein if the soaking water is thrown away?

Very little protein leaves with the soak water, because pulse protein is largely insoluble. What does leach out are some of the oligosaccharides linked to wind. National dietary guidance is more concerned with the cooking water, advising that pulses be boiled in just enough water and that it not be drained, because folate is lost that way.

Is soybean counted as a dal?

Soybean is a legume but is treated as an oilseed rather than a dal in Indian food composition tables, and it sits far above every pulse at around 35 g of protein per 100 g. It also behaves differently in cooking, carries much more fat, and is rarely used the way a dal is used.

Does mixing different dals raise the protein?

Mixing dals changes the total very little, because every common pulse sits within about five grams of the others. What genuinely improves the protein on a plate is combining a pulse with a cereal, since the two carry opposite amino acid strengths and national guidance puts the useful ratio at three parts cereal to one part pulse.

Is rajma higher in protein than dal?

Red rajma measures 19.91 g per 100 g, which places it below every common split dal and below whole moong and whole urad. It sits near the bottom of the range alongside dry peas and cowpea. The gap is small in absolute terms, roughly four grams against the highest entry.