Fiber per 100 Grams in Our 53-Food Price Study

In our July 2026 US price study of 53 grocery foods, chia seeds led at 34.4 grams of fiber per 100 grams. Whole flaxseed followed at 27.3 grams and dry green split peas at 22.2. The 18.3-gram bran-flakes row uses a brand-specific USDA record as a proxy for a differently branded priced cereal. This is a bounded grocery comparison, not a claim about every food sold worldwide.

This is the ranking by fiber content, not by price. We have a separate ranking by cost, and the two lists disagree in useful ways. Here’s the content version.

Food	Fiber per 100 g	USDA form / status	Category	Nutrition source
Chia seeds	34.4 g	Dried	Nuts & seeds	FDC 170554
Whole flaxseed	27.3 g	Flaxseed	Nuts & seeds	FDC 169414
Green split peas (dry)	22.2 g	Mature seeds, raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 172428
Bran flakes cereal	18.3 g	Ready-to-eat POST Bran Flakes	Whole grains	FDC 173888 · proxy
Pearled barley (dry)	15.6 g	Pearled, raw	Whole grains	FDC 170284
Pinto beans (dry)	15.5 g	Mature seeds, raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 175199
Black beans (dry)	15.5 g	Mature seeds, raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 173734
Oat bran (dry)	15.4 g	Raw	Whole grains	FDC 168872
Navy beans (dry)	15.3 g	Mature seeds, raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 173745
Popcorn kernels	12.9 g	Not resolved	Whole grains	Unresolved · derived from FDC 167959, see CSV reason
Bulgur wheat (dry)	12.5 g	Dry	Whole grains	FDC 170688
Almonds	12.5 g	Almonds	Nuts & seeds	FDC 170567
Chickpeas (dry)	12.2 g	Mature seeds, raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 173756
Red lentils (dry)	10.8 g	Raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 174284
Whole wheat flour	10.7 g	Whole-grain flour	Whole grains	FDC 168893
Brown lentils (dry)	10.7 g	Raw	Dried beans & peas	FDC 172420
Old-fashioned rolled oats	10.1 g	Regular or quick oats, dry	Whole grains	FDC 173904
Whole wheat spaghetti	9.2 g	Whole-wheat pasta, dry	Whole grains	FDC 169738
Sunflower seed kernels	8.6 g	Sunflower seed kernels, dried	Nuts & seeds	FDC 170562
Dry roasted peanuts	8.4 g	All types, dry-roasted, with salt	Nuts & seeds	FDC 174262 · proxy
Chopped dates	8.0 g	Deglet Noor	Dried fruit	FDC 171726 · proxy
Prunes (dried plums)	7.1 g	Dried, uncooked	Dried fruit	FDC 168162
Quinoa (dry)	7.0 g	Uncooked	Whole grains	FDC 168874
Canned black beans	6.9 g	Mature seeds, canned, undrained (solids and liquids)	Canned	FDC 175188 · proxy
Avocado	6.7 g	Raw, all commercial varieties	Fresh fruit	FDC 171705
Raspberries	6.5 g	Raw	Fresh fruit	FDC 167755
100% whole wheat bread	6.0 g	Whole-wheat, commercially prepared	Whole grains	FDC 172688
Blackberries	5.3 g	Raw	Fresh fruit	FDC 173946
Frozen shelled edamame	5.2 g	Not resolved	Frozen vegetables	Unresolved · see CSV reason
Peanut butter	5.0 g	Smooth style, with salt	Nuts & seeds	FDC 174266 · proxy
Frozen green peas	4.5 g	Frozen, unprepared	Frozen vegetables	FDC 170016
Canned chickpeas	4.4 g	Mature seeds, canned, solids and liquids	Canned	FDC 175206
Canned kidney beans	4.3 g	All types, mature seeds, canned	Canned	FDC 173741
Chopped kale (bagged)	4.1 g	Raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 168421
Brussels sprouts	3.8 g	Raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 170383
Raisins	3.7 g	Dark, seedless	Dried fruit	FDC 2758980
Brown rice (dry)	3.6 g	Long-grain, raw	Whole grains	FDC 169703
Pears	3.1 g	Raw	Fresh fruit	FDC 169118
Sweet potatoes	3.0 g	Raw, unprepared	Fresh vegetables	FDC 168482
Frozen broccoli florets	3.0 g	Frozen, chopped, unprepared	Frozen vegetables	FDC 169968 · proxy
Canned pumpkin	2.9 g	Canned, without salt	Canned	FDC 168450 · proxy
Frozen chopped spinach	2.9 g	Frozen, chopped or leaf, unprepared	Frozen vegetables	FDC 169287
Carrots (whole, bagged)	2.8 g	Raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 170393
Bananas	2.6 g	Raw	Fresh fruit	FDC 173944
Frozen green beans	2.6 g	Frozen, all styles, unprepared	Frozen vegetables	FDC 169962
Fresh broccoli crowns	2.6 g	Raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 170379 · proxy
Green cabbage	2.5 g	Raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 169975
Blueberries	2.4 g	Raw	Fresh fruit	FDC 171711
Apples (gala)	2.3 g	Raw, gala, with skin	Fresh fruit	FDC 168204
Oranges (navel)	2.2 g	Raw, navels	Fresh fruit	FDC 169917
Strawberries	2.0 g	Raw	Fresh fruit	FDC 167762
Yellow onions	1.7 g	Raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 170000 · proxy
Russet potatoes (with skin)	1.3 g	Flesh and skin, raw	Fresh vegetables	FDC 170027

Provenance checked July 30, 2026: 42 rows have an exact USDA FoodData Central food-and-form match, 10 use a linked FDC proxy with the mismatch disclosed, and 1 remains unresolved. The 53-row raw CSV contains the official description, record URL, form, status, and row-specific note. See the full /methodology/.

Why do seeds and dry beans dominate this list?

Because they’re dry. That’s most of it, and any list that doesn’t say so is selling you something.

Fiber per 100 grams rewards food that has already had the water taken out. Dry split peas measure 22.2 grams per 100. Green cabbage measures 2.5. That looks like a nine-to-one blowout, and on the plate it isn’t, because those peas will drink up a serious amount of water before anybody eats them and the cabbage arrives ready to go.

The ranking still points in a useful direction. In this 53-food sample, the first fresh fruit appears 25th, after seeds, dry legumes, grains, nuts, dried fruit, and a can of beans. Just don’t read “100 grams” as “one serving.” A 60 gram scoop of dry rolled oats delivers 6.1 grams of fiber, which is a real breakfast number and about 22 percent of the Daily Value.

Which fruits and vegetables led our 53-food study?

Produce plays a different game, and the honest winners are smaller than the headline foods.

Avocado led our fresh list at 6.7 grams per 100 grams. Raspberries came in at 6.5, blackberries at 5.3, chopped kale at 4.1, brussels sprouts at 3.8. At the bottom, russet potatoes managed 1.3 and yellow onions 1.7. Blueberries, which get talked about like a superfood, finished the whole 53-food list near the floor at 2.4 grams per 100 grams.

None of this makes produce pointless. It makes it a different tool. Berries and vegetables come with water and volume, which is exactly what beans don’t, and eating a lot of them is easy in a way that eating a lot of dry bran is not. The full fresh breakdown is in the cheapest high-fiber vegetables and fruits, and if you want the fruit-only version, the best high fiber fruits covers it.

Which foods combined fiber and low price in this study?

Here’s where the content ranking and the cost ranking part ways, and it matters.

In this 53-food study, chia seeds lead on fiber content and then land 13th on fiber per dollar, because a 32 ounce bag ran $9.44. Almonds have 12.5 grams per 100 grams and finish 36th on cost, at 8.8 grams of fiber per dollar. Within the same study, whole wheat flour ranks first on cost at 77.8 grams of fiber per dollar from a $3.12 five pound bag, despite sitting mid-pack on content at 10.7 grams per 100 grams.

Dry green split peas place near the top of both rankings in this study: 22.2 grams per 100 grams and 71.0 grams per dollar, from a $1.42 bag. That’s the closest thing to a free lunch on the shelf, and it becomes split pea soup with almost no technique required. The popcorn row is unresolved rather than an exact match: USDA’s 14.5 figure describes air-popped popcorn while the price came from unpopped kernels, so we converted it to a kernel basis and the row now reads 12.9 grams per 100 grams. That is honest arithmetic, not a published record, and we label it that way rather than quietly treating the two forms as interchangeable.

How do you actually eat these?

Nobody eats bran by the spoonful twice, so the trick is hiding the heavyweights inside food you already like.

The bran-flakes row at 18.3 grams per 100 grams needs no cooking, but it is a proxy: that exact value comes from a POST Bran Flakes USDA record while the price came from Great Value. Chia seeds work best as a texture ingredient: stirred into savory breakfast bowls or thickened into a chia raspberry jam that quietly stacks two of the top foods on this list into one spoonful. Dry beans go where dry beans always go, which is a pot on Sunday and then everywhere else all week.

One thing worth saying before you go rearrange your pantry. If you’re currently eating very little fiber, hitting 28 grams tomorrow tends to go badly. Build up over a couple of weeks and drink more water while you do it. We covered both in how to increase fiber intake without gas and the water and fiber rule.

The list above is a shopping guide, not a scoring system. Pick two or three things from the top half of this 53-food list that you’d genuinely put in your mouth, and the daily number sorts itself out. Where all of this fits into a week of real meals is laid out in how to eat more fiber on a budget.