Foods High in Potassium (and Why the Banana Is Overrated)

Why Does Everyone Think of Bananas for Potassium?

Ask someone to name a potassium-rich food and you'll hear "banana" nearly every time. Bananas are cheap, easy to carry, and handed out at the finish line of half the races in the country, so the association stuck. A medium banana has 422 mg of potassium. That's respectable, and it's about 12 percent of what an adult man needs in a day.

A medium baked potato with the skin on has 926 mg. A cup of cooked white beans has 1,004 mg. A cup of boiled beet greens, the leafy tops most people cut off and throw in the bin, has 1,309 mg.

Bananas are a fine snack. They're just a long way from the top of the list, and treating them as the go-to potassium food is one reason so many people fall short without noticing.

How Much Potassium Do You Need Per Day?

The National Academies updated the reference values for potassium in 2019. There wasn't enough evidence to pin down an exact requirement, so they set Adequate Intakes instead:

Group	Adequate Intake
Men 19+	3,400 mg/day
Women 19+	2,600 mg/day
Pregnancy (19+)	2,900 mg/day
Breastfeeding (19+)	2,800 mg/day

National survey data from NHANES puts average intake from food at 3,016 mg a day for men and 2,320 mg for women. On average, that leaves men roughly 400 mg short and women about 300 mg short, and since those are averages, plenty of people sit well below them. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans list potassium as a dietary component of public health concern for exactly this reason.

Why Does Potassium Matter for Blood Pressure?

Sodium and potassium pull in opposite directions. A high sodium intake pushes blood pressure up, while potassium helps your kidneys excrete sodium and eases tension in blood vessel walls. The American Heart Association recommends potassium-rich foods as part of preventing and managing high blood pressure, especially for people who eat a lot of salt.

The strongest evidence that this affects real outcomes, and not only a blood pressure reading, comes from the Salt Substitute and Stroke Study (SSaSS), published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021. Researchers enrolled 20,995 people from 600 villages in rural China. Everyone had either a history of stroke or was 60 or older with high blood pressure. Villages were randomly assigned to switch to a salt substitute made of 75 percent sodium chloride and 25 percent potassium chloride, or to keep using regular salt.

After an average follow-up of 4.74 years, the salt substitute group had:

• 14 percent fewer strokes
• 13 percent fewer major cardiovascular events
• 12 percent fewer deaths from any cause

Serious adverse events attributed to high blood potassium were no more common with the salt substitute than with regular salt. ESC TV covered the results at the 2021 European Society of Cardiology congress, where the trial was first presented:

ESC TV at ESC Congress 2021: "SSaSS: Salt Substitute and Stroke Study."

Because the salt swap lowered sodium and raised potassium at the same time, the trial can't tell us how much of the benefit came from each. The participants were also older and at high cardiovascular risk. Even so, it's a large randomized trial with hard outcomes like stroke and death, which is rare in nutrition research, and it points firmly toward the sodium-potassium balance of a diet mattering.

Which Foods Are Highest in Potassium?

All values come from USDA FoodData Central, calculated for the portion shown.

Which vegetables have the most potassium?

Food	Portion	Potassium	Calories
Beet greens, boiled	1 cup (144 g)	1,309 mg	39
Sweet potato, baked (flesh)	1 cup (200 g)	950 mg	180
Potato, baked, with skin	1 medium (173 g)	926 mg	161
Acorn squash, baked	1 cup cubes (205 g)	896 mg	115
Spinach, boiled	1 cup (180 g)	839 mg	41
Tomato paste, no salt added	1/4 cup (66 g)	669 mg	54

Beet greens top the table, and almost nobody eats them. If you buy beets with the leaves still attached, cook the greens the way you'd cook chard. Cooked spinach scores well because a cup of it started out as a mountain of raw leaves.

Potatoes have a poor reputation among dieters, but a plain baked one with the skin is one of the cheapest potassium sources you can buy. Fries are a different food nutritionally, since the oil and salt work against you. For the calorie side, see calories in a potato and calories in a sweet potato.

Which beans and legumes have the most potassium?

Food	Portion	Potassium	Calories
White beans, boiled	1 cup (179 g)	1,004 mg	249
Lentils, boiled	1 cup (198 g)	731 mg	230
Kidney beans, boiled	1 cup (177 g)	713 mg	225
Edamame, prepared	1 cup (155 g)	676 mg	188
Black beans, boiled	1 cup (172 g)	611 mg	227

White beans carry more potassium per cup than any fruit in this article. Lentils, kidney beans, and edamame all clear 650 mg. Beans are also among the best foods high in fiber, so one serving works toward two targets most people miss.

Which fruits have the most potassium?

Food	Portion	Potassium	Calories
Dried apricots	1/2 cup halves (65 g)	755 mg	157
Prunes	1/2 cup pitted (87 g)	637 mg	209
Orange juice, fresh	1 cup (248 g)	496 mg	112
Avocado	1/2 fruit (100 g)	485 mg	160
Banana	1 medium (118 g)	422 mg	105

Dried fruit scores high per serving because the water is gone, which also concentrates the calories. Half a cup of prunes is about nine of them and 209 calories. Half an avocado beats a medium banana on potassium and has more than twice the fiber, though it has more calories too. Our pages on calories in an avocado and calories in a banana cover portion sizes.

Which dairy foods, fish, and drinks have the most potassium?

Food	Portion	Potassium	Calories
Yogurt, plain nonfat	1 cup (245 g)	625 mg	137
Coconut water, fresh	1 cup (240 g)	600 mg	46
Milk, 1%	1 cup (244 g)	366 mg	102
Salmon, Atlantic, farmed, cooked	3 oz (85 g)	326 mg	175

Plain nonfat yogurt is an underrated source. Coconut water is sold as a potassium drink, and the fresh stuff earns that at 600 mg per cup, but bottled versions vary. USDA's entry for unsweetened ready-to-drink coconut water works out to about 396 mg per cup. Wild Atlantic salmon has more potassium than farmed, at around 534 mg per 3 ounces.

What Does a Day With Enough Potassium Look Like?

Meal	What's on the plate	Potassium
Breakfast	1 cup plain nonfat yogurt with a medium banana	1,047 mg
Lunch	Lentil soup with 1 cup lentils and 1 cup cooked spinach	1,570 mg
Dinner	3 oz farmed salmon with a medium baked potato, skin on	1,252 mg
Total		3,869 mg

That clears the 3,400 mg target for men before you count the onions, tomatoes, and anything else in that soup. The banana made it in after all.

Should You Take a Potassium Supplement?

For most healthy adults, food is the better route. Over-the-counter potassium supplements in the US generally contain no more than 99 mg per serving, less than a quarter of what's in a banana. Larger doses are normally taken under medical supervision, because too much potassium in the blood, known as hyperkalemia, can cause dangerous heart rhythm problems.

Healthy kidneys are very good at clearing extra potassium from food, which is why the National Academies didn't set an upper limit for dietary potassium. That changes if your kidneys aren't working well or you take medications that make your body hold on to potassium. Those include ACE inhibitors, ARBs, and potassium-sparing diuretics, all commonly prescribed for blood pressure. If either applies to you, check with your doctor before loading up on high-potassium foods or switching to a potassium-based salt substitute.

How Do You Know If You're Getting Enough Potassium?

A routine blood test won't tell you much about your diet, because your body keeps blood potassium within a narrow range regardless of what you eat. Tracking your intake is the practical way to find out.

Potassium now appears on the Nutrition Facts label, which helps with packaged food. Most of the best sources in this article don't come in packages, though. Forkd's micronutrient tracker reads potassium along with iron, magnesium, and the rest of its 15+ tracked vitamins and minerals from a photo, voice note, or quick text, using per-ingredient USDA values, and shows how close you are to your target. Search the App Store for "AI Calorie Tracker: Forkd".

For a broader look at which nutrients are worth watching, see what micronutrients should I track, or read our guide to foods high in iron.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which fruit has the most potassium?

Per serving, dried apricots lead the common fruits at 755 mg per half cup, followed by prunes at 637 mg. Among fresh options, a cup of fresh orange juice has 496 mg and half an avocado has 485 mg, both slightly ahead of a medium banana at 422 mg.

Is a banana enough to fix low potassium?

A medium banana gives you 422 mg, about 12 percent of a man's Adequate Intake and 16 percent of a woman's. That helps with a dietary shortfall but won't correct low blood potassium caused by illness, vomiting, diarrhoea, or medication. That kind of low potassium is a medical issue and needs a doctor.

Is coconut water a good source of potassium?

Fresh coconut water has about 600 mg of potassium per cup and only 46 calories, which is more potassium than a banana. Packaged coconut water varies by brand, and USDA's entry for bottled unsweetened coconut water comes to about 396 mg per cup, so check the label.

Does cooking reduce potassium in vegetables?

Boiling draws some potassium out of vegetables and into the cooking water, which is why people on low-potassium kidney diets are sometimes told to boil potatoes. Baking, roasting, steaming, and microwaving keep more of it. If you eat the cooking liquid, as in a soup, the potassium stays in the meal.

Can you get too much potassium from food?

For people with healthy kidneys it's very unlikely, which is why there's no upper limit for potassium from food. People with chronic kidney disease, or those taking ACE inhibitors, ARBs, or potassium-sparing diuretics, can develop high blood potassium and should follow their doctor's advice on intake.

Are potassium salt substitutes safe?

In the SSaSS trial of nearly 21,000 older adults at high cardiovascular risk, a salt substitute containing 25 percent potassium chloride reduced stroke, major cardiovascular events, and death without increasing serious hyperkalemia events. People with kidney disease or on potassium-raising medications should talk to a doctor before switching.

Key Takeaways

• Adequate Intake is 3,400 mg a day for men and 2,600 mg for women, while average US intakes are 3,016 mg and 2,320 mg.
• The top sources per serving are beet greens (1,309 mg per cup), white beans (1,004 mg), sweet potato (950 mg), a baked potato with skin (926 mg), and spinach (839 mg).
• A medium banana has 422 mg, less than half of a medium baked potato.
• In a randomized trial of 20,995 people, a potassium-enriched salt substitute cut strokes by 14 percent.
• Anyone with kidney disease or taking ACE inhibitors, ARBs, or potassium-sparing diuretics should get medical advice before raising potassium intake.

References

1. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Potassium: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. Adequate Intakes, NHANES intake data, and supplement forms. ods.od.nih.gov
2. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2019). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. National Academies Press. nap.nationalacademies.org
3. Neal B, Wu Y, Feng X, et al. (2021). Effect of Salt Substitution on Cardiovascular Events and Death. New England Journal of Medicine, 385(12), 1067-1077. nejm.org
4. American Heart Association. How Potassium Can Help Prevent or Treat High Blood Pressure. heart.org
5. U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. dietaryguidelines.gov
6. USDA FoodData Central. Potassium and calorie values for beet greens (170376), sweet potato (168483), baked potato with skin (170093), acorn squash (169293), spinach (168463), tomato paste (170459), white beans (175203), lentils (172421), kidney beans (175194), edamame (168411), black beans (173735), dried apricots (173941), prunes (168162), orange juice (169098), avocado (171705), banana (173944), nonfat yogurt (170887), fresh coconut water (170174), bottled coconut water (174831), 1% milk (170872), farmed Atlantic salmon (175168), and wild Atlantic salmon (171998). fdc.nal.usda.gov