The foods highest in both iron and zinc are shellfish (oysters above all), red meat, and legumes such as lentils and chickpeas, with cashews and fortified breakfast cereals close behind. Oysters top both lists by a wide margin. Beef gives you a solid dose of each in a form your body absorbs well. Beans, lentils, seeds and nuts supply both minerals too, but less of what's in them gets absorbed, so plant-based eaters need more on the plate. Most adults need 8 to 18 mg of iron and 8 to 11 mg of zinc a day, depending on age and sex, according to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.
Last updated: October 2026
Same milligrams on paper, different amounts in your blood
Here's the part most food lists skip. Iron comes in two forms. Heme iron, found in meat, poultry and seafood, is absorbed far more readily than non-heme iron, the kind in beans, spinach, tofu and fortified cereal. So half a cup of lentils and three ounces of beef can look similar on a spreadsheet and still do different amounts of work once you've eaten them.
Zinc has a similar story. Whole grains, beans and seeds contain phytates, compounds that bind zinc (and non-heme iron) in the gut and keep some of it from being absorbed. That's why the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements suggests vegetarians may need up to 50 percent more zinc than the standard recommendation, and about 1.8 times as much iron.
None of this makes plant foods a bad source. It just means the number on the label isn't the whole answer.
How much iron and zinc you need
These are the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for adults from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. An RDA is the daily intake that covers the needs of nearly all healthy people in a group.
| Group | Iron | Zinc |
|---|---|---|
| Men, 19+ | 8 mg | 11 mg |
| Women, 19 to 50 | 18 mg | 8 mg |
| Women, 51+ | 8 mg | 8 mg |
| Pregnancy | 27 mg | 11 mg |
Women under 51 need more than twice the iron men do, mainly because of menstrual blood loss. Endurance athletes and people who train hard are also often flagged as having higher iron needs, though the right amount for you is a conversation for your doctor, not a blog post.
Foods high in iron
Approximate values per serving, from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements iron fact sheet. Amounts vary by brand, cut and how the food is cooked.
| Food | Serving | Iron |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast cereal fortified with 100% of the Daily Value | 1 serving | 18 mg |
| Oysters, cooked | 3 oz | 8 mg |
| White beans, canned | 1 cup | 8 mg |
| Beef liver, pan-fried | 3 oz | 5 mg |
| Lentils, boiled | ½ cup | 3 mg |
| Spinach, boiled | ½ cup | 3 mg |
| Tofu, firm | ½ cup | 3 mg |
| Chickpeas, boiled | ½ cup | 2 mg |
| Beef, braised bottom round | 3 oz | 2 mg |
| Cashews | 1 oz | 2 mg |
| Dark chocolate, 45 to 69% cacao | 1 oz | 2 mg |
Notice that the biggest numbers on the plant side (cereal, white beans, spinach) are all non-heme. They count. You'll just absorb a smaller share of them.
Foods high in zinc
Approximate values per serving, from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements zinc fact sheet.
| Food | Serving | Zinc |
|---|---|---|
| Oysters, cooked | 3 oz | 28 mg or more, depending on type |
| Beef, bottom sirloin, roasted | 3 oz | 3.8 mg |
| Blue crab, cooked | 3 oz | 3.2 mg |
| Pork loin chop, cooked | 3 oz | 2.9 mg |
| Breakfast cereal fortified with 25% of the Daily Value | 1 serving | 2.8 mg |
| Pumpkin seeds, dried | 1 oz | 2.2 mg |
| Cashews, dry roasted | 1 oz | 1.6 mg |
| Cheddar cheese | 1.5 oz | 1.5 mg |
| Chickpeas, cooked | ½ cup | 1.3 mg |
One serving of oysters covers several days' worth of zinc. Most people don't eat oysters every week, though, so in practice red meat, seafood, dairy, seeds and beans carry the load.
The overlap: foods that cover both
If you want one shopping list that does double duty, these show up on both tables:
- Oysters and other shellfish. The highest source of both.
- Beef. Heme iron plus around 4 mg of zinc per 3-ounce serving, depending on the cut.
- Chickpeas and lentils. Moderate amounts of each, plus fiber and protein.
- Cashews. About 2 mg of iron and 1.6 mg of zinc per ounce.
- Fortified cereals. Check the label, since fortification levels differ a lot between brands.
Getting more out of what you eat
You can change how much you absorb without changing what you buy.
Pair non-heme iron with vitamin C. Lentils with peppers, cereal with strawberries, a bean chili with tomatoes. Vitamin C helps your body take up non-heme iron, and it's the single most practical habit on this page.
Move coffee and tea away from iron-rich meals. Their polyphenols (plant compounds) reduce non-heme iron absorption. Having your coffee an hour later is a small change that adds up.
Watch the calcium timing. Calcium can interfere with iron absorption, so a big glass of milk alongside your iron-rich meal isn't ideal if iron is the goal.
Soak, sprout or ferment. Soaking beans before cooking and choosing leavened bread over unleavened both lower phytate levels, which helps zinc and iron absorption.
My honest take: I'd skip hunting for a "superfood" and build two or three meals a week around a pairing instead, like a beef and pepper stir-fry or a lentil soup with tomatoes. Repeating a good pairing beats chasing a list.
Why tracking helps, and where it stops
Here's the catch with iron and zinc. You can't feel your intake day to day, and food labels won't fill the gap either. U.S. labels are required to list iron, but zinc is optional, so a barcode scan usually can't tell you how much zinc you got. The Best App to Scan Food for Nutrition Info covers what a label scan does and doesn't return, and App That Scans Food for Calories compares barcode and photo logging.
In AllStrong, you can type or say what you ate, and it breaks the meal into ingredients and estimates micronutrients using USDA FoodData Central data. Its micronutrient analysis tracks 23 vitamins and minerals, iron and zinc among them, and flags the ones running low. When you ask the coach in the chat what to eat, it can suggest foods for the gaps it saw over the past week. All of that is on the free plan. One thing to know: the app compares your intake against a single adult reference amount (13 mg of iron and 9.5 mg of zinc a day), not one set for your age and sex. If you're a woman under 51, read your iron target as 18 mg rather than the app's figure. Barcode scanning is a Premium feature, included free when your gym runs AllStrong; the Barcode Scanner Food App post covers how it behaves.
The limitation, stated plainly: any tracker estimates what you ate, not what you absorbed, and it can't tell you if your levels are actually low. Only a blood test (ferritin for iron stores, for example) can do that. A week of logging is useful for spotting a pattern, like zinc that never gets near your target on meat-free days. Consistency is what makes that pattern visible, which is why treating your food log like a habit tracking app checkbox matters more than any single perfect day.
Frequently asked questions
What food is highest in both iron and zinc?
Oysters. A 3-ounce serving of cooked oysters has about 8 mg of iron and 28 mg or more of zinc, according to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, which is more zinc per serving than any other common food. For something you'd eat more often, beef is the next best all-rounder, with heme iron and about 4 mg of zinc per 3 ounces.
How can vegetarians get enough iron and zinc?
Lean on beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, pumpkin seeds, cashews and fortified cereals, and pair them with vitamin C foods to help iron absorption. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements notes vegetarians may need about 1.8 times the iron and up to 50 percent more zinc than standard recommendations. Soaking beans and choosing leavened bread can also help.
Should I take iron or zinc supplements?
Not without talking to a doctor first. Both minerals have upper limits for adults (45 mg a day for iron and 40 mg for zinc, per the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements), and too much zinc over time can lower your copper levels. A blood test can show whether you actually need more. Food is the safer first step.
Does coffee or tea block iron absorption?
They can reduce it. Coffee and tea contain polyphenols, plant compounds that lower how much non-heme iron, the kind in plant foods and fortified cereal, your body absorbs from a meal. You don't need to quit either one. Drinking them between meals rather than with your iron-rich foods is usually enough to make a difference.