How much protein is in an egg? The exact numbers

One large whole egg contains about 6.3 grams of protein. That number comes straight from the USDA FoodData Central values behind our food pages: Egg, whole, raw, fresh carries 12.6 grams of protein per 100 grams, and the USDA standard weight for a large egg is 50 grams, so a single large egg delivers half of that, or roughly 6.3 grams. It also brings about 72 calories along for the ride. Everything else in this guide is a variation on those two numbers.

Protein per gram and per calorie

Per gram, a whole raw egg is 12.6 percent protein. That is a useful figure because eggs vary in size, and per-gram math scales cleanly: weigh any amount of whole egg, multiply the grams by 0.126, and you have the protein.

Per calorie, the picture is just as clear. At 143 calories and 12.6 grams of protein per 100 grams, a raw whole egg delivers about 8.8 grams of protein for every 100 calories. Put another way, roughly 35 percent of an egg's calories come from protein, with most of the rest coming from the 9.5 grams of fat in that same 100 grams. An egg is a genuinely protein-rich food, but it is not a lean one, and that distinction matters when you compare it to other protein sources later in this guide.

Protein by egg size

Egg cartons are sold by weight class, and protein tracks weight almost exactly. Using the 12.6 grams per 100 grams figure from our USDA data and the standard US weight classes, here is what each size delivers:

• Medium egg (44 g): about 5.5 g protein
• Large egg (50 g): about 6.3 g protein
• Extra-large egg (56 g): about 7.1 g protein
• Jumbo egg (63 g): about 7.9 g protein

The practical takeaway: the jump from medium to jumbo is worth about 2.4 grams of protein per egg. If a recipe or a protein target assumes large eggs and you are using a different size, the difference across two or three eggs is real but small, on the order of a few grams either way.

Does cooking change the protein?

Barely, and the change you see in the data is about water, not protein. Compare the raw egg to Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled in our database: both list 12.6 grams of protein per 100 grams. The hard-boiled entry shows 155 calories per 100 grams versus 143 for raw, a difference that reflects slight moisture loss concentrating the remaining nutrients. A large hard-boiled egg still delivers about 6.3 grams of protein at roughly 78 calories.

Frying or scrambling in butter or oil does not change the egg's own protein either. It changes the calories. A tablespoon of butter or oil can add 100 or more calories to the pan, which cuts the protein-per-calorie efficiency of the finished dish roughly in half without adding a single gram of protein. If you are eating eggs specifically for protein, boiling and poaching keep the numbers closest to the raw values above.

How eggs compare to Greek yogurt and chicken breast

Eggs have a reputation as the gold standard protein food, and on quality grounds that reputation is fair. On quantity per calorie, though, two everyday foods in our database beat them clearly.

Yogurt, Greek, plain, nonfat delivers 10.2 grams of protein in just 59 calories per 100 grams. That works out to about 17.3 grams of protein per 100 calories, roughly double the egg's 8.8. It also earns a Nutrient Density Score of 70 in our system, ahead of the raw whole egg's 62, largely because it carries so little fat.

Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted is the heavyweight: 31 grams of protein per 100 grams at 165 calories, or about 18.8 grams of protein per 100 calories, with a density score of 71. A modest 100-gram portion of roasted chicken breast carries the protein of nearly five large eggs.

You can run these matchups yourself on our compare tool, which puts any two foods in the database head to head on protein, calories, and nine other nutrients per 100 grams.

Where eggs still win

None of this makes eggs a weak choice. A large egg is a complete, self-contained 6.3-gram protein unit that costs little, keeps for weeks, and cooks in minutes. It also carries nutrients the leaner options above do not match gram for gram, including 160 micrograms of vitamin A, 1.75 milligrams of iron, and 1.05 milligrams of vitamin E per 100 grams in the raw whole egg. Chicken breast and nonfat Greek yogurt win on protein per calorie; the egg wins on convenience and on the breadth of what rides along with its protein.

The clean summary: count 6 grams of protein per large egg for quick mental math, 6.3 if you want the exact USDA figure, and reach for eggs when you want a complete protein with a full micronutrient package rather than the absolute leanest protein per calorie.