Vegetables and everything else
Nutritional yeast on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 50 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), flakes, dry, for around 330 calories. Two tablespoons of flakes, about 10 g (0.4 oz), give roughly 5 g of protein for 33 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from nutritional yeast alone you would need about 60 g (2.1 oz). On a small appetite that is often more than one sitting allows, which is why we pair it rather than chase the whole target from one food.
How nutritional yeast sits on a GLP-1
Nutritional yeast is deactivated yeast sold as yellow flakes that taste cheesy and savoury, and by weight it is about 50 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), complete, with most brands fortified with B vitamins including B12. Nobody eats it by weight: two tablespoons, about 10 g (0.35 oz), is 5 g. Its use on a GLP-1 is the same as parmesan's, which is to make bland food taste savoury when the medication has flattened your palate, and it does that without dairy.
When your appetite is small
Keep the tub next to the salt and use it like parmesan. A tablespoon over scrambled eggs, into mashed potato, over popcorn or stirred into a soup adds a cheesy savouriness and a couple of grams, and a dish that tasted of nothing becomes one you finish. It is the protein of the eggs and the soup that counts; the flakes are the reason they get eaten.
Three ways to prepare it
Over scrambled eggs or tofu scramble
A tablespoon stirred through as the eggs set. Cheesy without the cheese, and about 2 g extra.
Stirred into mashed potato or cauliflower mash
Two tablespoons through a small bowl of mash with butter. Savoury, golden, and 5 g the mash did not have.
As a cheesy sauce for pasta or vegetables
Blended with soaked cashews, lemon and water into a sauce for high protein pasta. Dairy free, savoury, and it carries a plant protein meal.
What to eat it with
Eggs, tofu, potato, pasta, popcorn, soup. Nutritional yeast is a seasoning that makes protein appealing; it is not the protein.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nutritional yeast | about 50 g | 330 kcal | this page |
| Parmesan | about 35 g | 400 kcal | See the page |
| Firm tofu | about 14 g | 130 kcal | See the page |
| Eggs | about 13 g | 150 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, flakes, dry, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Nutritional yeast in the US and Australia, nooch in slang, and savoury yeast flakes on some Australian labels. In the UK it is sold as Engevita or Marigold yeast flakes and as nutritional yeast. Check whether the brand is fortified with B12, since some are and some are not.
Questions people ask
Is nutritional yeast a complete protein?
Yes, and about 50 g per 100 g (3.5 oz), but two tablespoons is 5 g, so it is a flavour with a bonus rather than a protein source. Fortified brands are a reliable source of B12 for anyone eating little or no animal food.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.