25 nitrate rich foods ranked

When it comes to nitrate content, arugula actually has more nitrates than any other vegetable.

While arugula may not be particularly nutrient dense in the traditional sense, at 480 mg per 100 grams, this vegetable easily earns its place as the most nitrate dense food on this list.

While this may not qualify as a food, beet juice has a high enough nitrate content that we figured it deserved to be on this list. Beet juice actually has 279 mg of nitrates per 100 grams.

Rhubarb is full of Vitamin C, calcium, and even some fiber. It trails behind beet juice where it really matters: 247 mg of nitrates per 100 grams.

Butter leaf lettuce has a pretty impressive amount of Vitamin A (36% of your daily serving). Beyond that, this type of lettuce has 200 mg of nitrate per every 100 grams.

Spring greens are just a salad mix of young green leaves (also known as a mesclun mix).

Mesclun actually has plenty of vitamin A, fiber, calcium and even some iron. When it comes to nitrates, spring greens have 183 mg per of nitrate 100 grams.

Not to be confused with beets or beet juice, beet greens have an insane amount of vitamin A. Seriously: 220% of your daily serving.

Plus, 60% of the vitamin C you’ll need and even a bit of fiber (17%).

When it comes to nitrates, beet greens have 177 mg per 100 grams.

Oak leaf lettuce ends up a few places below butter leaf lettuce on this list because of it’s lower nitrate count.

Not only does it have less vitamin A (25% per serving), it has less of what we’re actually after: nitrate content. Oak leaf lettuce has 155 mg per serving of 100 grams.

This leafy green vegetable is more than just it’s 151 mg of nitrate (per 100 grams). Swiss chard has quite a bit of vitamin A (44% per serving) and vitamin C (18% per serving).

This particular vegetable is interesting because it brings so much to the table.

15% of your daily fiber, 12% of your potassium and 11% of your Vitamin C. On top of that, you can expect 110 mg of nitrates per 100 grams.

Bok Chou actually has a pretty respectable nitrate spectrum: 102.3 – 309.8 mg per 100 gram serving. While that is impressive, it just can’t compete with the nitric oxide foods near the top of the list.

With these last eight nitric oxide foods, the specifics of nitrate density are a bit harder to pin down. Generally, all we can identify is a range. Carrots, for example, have about 92-195 mg per 100 gram serving.

These vegetables fall into the same category as carrots: hard to determine exactly what the exact nitrate concentration is. Still, we were able to figure out that they have anywhere from 70-95 mg of nitrates.

If you’re at all familiar with nitrates, you’re probably wondering why spinach didn’t even make in the top 10 nitric oxide foods.

After all, spinach has plenty of nitrates, right? In reality, spinach is too inconsistent to make our top 10 list.

According to a study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, spinach can have anywhere from 23.9 – 387.2 mg per 100 grams.

This vegetable also has the potential to be nitrate dense.

That being said, 42.9-161 mg per 100 gram serving isn’t going to blow anyone away (especially when you account for the inconsistent density).

The winter melon also suffers from inconsistency on the nitrate spectrum.

Still, with anywhere from 16.6-136.5 mg of nitrates per 100 grams, it’s not without its potential benefits.

While this vegetable may not be the first thing that pops into people’s minds when discussing nitric oxide foods, eggplants actually can have 25 – 42.4 mg of nitrates per 100 gram serving.

Now, this part gets a bit trickier. See, according to the data we’ve collected, it actually gets pretty challenging to figure out the specific nitrate content of this vegetable.

Celery can contain upwards of 250 mg per 100 gram serving, but these numbers can vary drastically depending on the fertilizers used and the quality of the soil it was grown in.

So without a specific number, we can’t put it anywhere near the top 10.

Parsley has the same issue, because the spectrum can be pretty wide. It contains plenty of vitamin A and vitamin C, but it can have anywhere from 100 mg to 250 mg of nitrates

Leeks fall into the same category as parsley (100 mg to 250 mg), but without all the nutrient density.

Believe it or not, turnips actually have fewer nitrates than leeks or parsley (with anywhere from 50 to 100 mg per 100 grams).

Still, with 30% of your daily vitamin C and 12% of your daily fiber, it’s a great way to add some variety to your diet.

While cauliflower may only give you 20-50 mg of nitrates, remember that you’re getting a ton of vitamin C with every serving (77%, in fact).

Cauliflower also contains phytochemicals that work to block estrogen production.

Broccoli may just be one of the most essential vegetables out there for men (a more potent estrogen blocker than cauliflower).

Still, from a nitrate perspective, you’re only getting 20-50 mg.

Artichokes have an impressive amount of fiber per serving (41%, actually). Still, as much as we might love artichokes, there’s no denying that they offer less than 20 mg of nitrates.

Garlic deserves the praise it gets as one of the natures most potent foods. As a complete package, garlic delivers.

When it comes to nitrate content? Not so much as it contains less than 20 mg per serving.

You’re probably shocked that onions ended up at the very bottom of the list. But remember, none of these vegetables are bad.

Truth be told, onions would probably be in our ‘top 10 vegetables for overall health’ list (reducing the risk for cancer will certainly get you bonus points).

And yet, we have to be honest. Onions have less than 20 mg per serving.