Foods High in Magnesium: 20 Best Dietary Sources Ranked (2026)

Written by Tao Wu, FounderReviewed by YourHealthier Science TeamPublished August 20, 2026 Updated August 20, 2026 19 min read Editorial Policy

Key Takeaways

Seeds are king: Pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds deliver more magnesium per serving than any other food category. One ounce of pumpkin seeds (156 mg) covers 37% of the Daily Value.
Cooking concentrates magnesium in greens: Raw spinach has about 24 mg per cup; cooked spinach has 156 mg per cup because you fit far more leaves into the same volume. Always compare cooked values for leafy greens.
Whole grains outperform refined: Brown rice has 86 mg per cooked cup; white rice has 19 mg. Refining strips the bran and germ where magnesium concentrates.
Even a good diet may fall short: Soil depletion, food processing, and modern eating patterns mean magnesium content in food has declined over the past 50 years. If you eat well and still test low, a magnesium supplement closes the gap efficiently.
Absorption blockers: Phytates (in grains and legumes), high-dose calcium supplements, and excess alcohol all reduce magnesium absorption. Soaking beans and grains before cooking reduces phytate content.

Top 10 magnesium-rich foods ranked by mg per realistic serving. Even the top-ranked foods cover only 25–37% of the Daily Value per serving. Data: USDA FoodData Central.

Why Magnesium in Food Matters, and Why It Is Getting Harder

Before we get into the list of foods containing magnesium, some context about why this matters more than it used to. Magnesium in food has been declining for decades. Between soil depletion from intensive agriculture, water purification removing dissolved minerals, and the shift from whole grains to refined flour, magnesium-based foods deliver less of the mineral per calorie than they did 50 years ago. A 2004 comparison of USDA nutrient data found that the magnesium content of vegetables dropped by roughly 24% between 1950 and 1999 (Davis 2004).

That does not mean foods instead of magnesium supplements are useless. Eating things rich in magnesium is always the first strategy. It means you need to be intentional about what foods give you magnesium in meaningful amounts. The 20 foods below, including fruits, vegetables, seeds, and grains, are the ones that actually move your daily total. Eating three or four of them daily can realistically get you to 250–350 mg. Whether you need a supplement on top depends on your total intake, absorption efficiency, and whether you have risk factors for deficiency (gut issues, alcohol use, diabetes, or medications like PPIs and diuretics).

20 Best Foods High in Magnesium (Ranked by Serving)

Seeds: The Magnesium Powerhouse

No food category beats seeds for magnesium density. A handful goes further than most people realize.

1. Pumpkin seeds (pepitas), 156 mg per 1 oz (37% DV). The undisputed champion. Roasted or raw, sprinkled on salads or eaten straight, pumpkin seeds deliver more magnesium per ounce than almost any other food. They also bring zinc and iron along for the ride.

2. Chia seeds, 95 mg per 1 oz (23% DV). Some sources list this higher (the NIH fact sheet reports 111 mg/oz from a different USDA entry), but the most commonly referenced FoodData Central value for dried chia seeds is 335 mg/100g, which works out to about 95 mg per 28g ounce. Either way, chia seeds are a serious magnesium source. They swell in liquid, making them easy to add to overnight oats, yogurt, or smoothies. Beyond magnesium, they are one of the best plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

3. Hemp seeds (hemp hearts). 210 mg per 3 tablespoons (50% DV). If you are counting per-tablespoon efficiency, hemp seeds actually beat pumpkin seeds. Three tablespoons on your morning bowl and you have half your day covered before lunch. They also provide complete plant protein.

4. Flaxseeds, 111 mg per 1 oz, ground (26% DV). Grind them to improve absorption, whole flaxseeds pass through largely undigested. The omega-3 and fiber content are bonuses.

Dark Leafy Greens: Cooking Is the Key

Leafy greens are loaded with magnesium, but the numbers you see online are often misleading because they mix up raw and cooked volumes. One cup of raw spinach weighs about 30 grams and delivers 24 mg of magnesium. One cup of cooked spinach packs 180 grams of leaves into the same volume and delivers 156 mg. Always compare cooked values, that is how you actually eat enough to matter.

5. Spinach, cooked, 156 mg per 1 cup (37% DV). Tied with pumpkin seeds for the top spot. Sauté, steam, or wilt into soups. The oxalic acid in spinach binds some minerals, but cooking reduces it and the sheer magnesium quantity still makes spinach one of your best sources.

6. Swiss chard, cooked, 150 mg per 1 cup (36% DV). Often overlooked in favor of spinach, but nearly identical in magnesium and milder in flavor. The rainbow stalks contain additional potassium.

7. Collard greens, cooked, 40 mg per 1 cup (10% DV). Lower than spinach and chard, but still a solid contributor when eaten regularly. More common in Southern American cooking.

Legumes: Affordable Magnesium

Beans, lentils, and soy products are among the cheapest per-milligram magnesium sources available.

8. Black beans, cooked, 120 mg per 1 cup (29% DV). A staple in Latin American and Caribbean diets. Also rich in fiber, folate, and potassium. Soaking dried beans overnight before cooking reduces phytate content, which improves mineral absorption.

9. Edamame (soybeans), cooked, 100 mg per 1 cup (24% DV). A convenient snack that doubles as a magnesium source. Also a complete plant protein.

10. Lima beans, cooked, 81 mg per 1 cup (19% DV). Underappreciated, but one of the most magnesium-dense legumes after black beans and soybeans.

11. Lentils, cooked, 71 mg per 1 cup (17% DV). Fast-cooking and versatile. Red lentils dissolve into soups and curries; green and brown lentils hold their shape for salads.

Whole Grains: Refined vs Whole Makes or Breaks It

Magnesium lives in the bran and germ of grains, the parts that get stripped during refining. This is why whole grains are a fundamentally different food from white flour in mineral content.

12. Quinoa, cooked, 118 mg per 1 cup (28% DV). Technically a pseudocereal, not a grain, but it behaves like one in the kitchen. One of the highest-magnesium grain alternatives available, and it provides complete protein.

13. Brown rice, cooked, 86 mg per 1 cup (20% DV). Compare that to white rice at 19 mg per cup. The difference is the bran layer. If you eat rice regularly, switching to brown rice is one of the simplest magnesium upgrades you can make.

14. Oatmeal, cooked, 63 mg per 1 cup (15% DV). Steel-cut oats retain more magnesium than instant oats. A reasonable daily breakfast contributor.

15. Whole wheat bread. 46 mg per 2 slices (11% DV). Versus 14 mg per 2 slices of white bread. The pattern is consistent: whole grain versions deliver 2–4× the magnesium of their refined counterparts.

Nuts: Snack Your Way to Better Levels

16. Almonds. 77 mg per 1 oz / ~23 almonds (18% DV). The magnesium in almonds makes them one of the best mineral-dense snacks available. Also rich in vitamin E and healthy fats.

17. Cashews. 74 mg per 1 oz (18% DV). Nearly tied with almonds. Cashew butter on toast is an easy way to add magnesium to breakfast.

18. Brazil nuts, 107 mg per 1 oz (25% DV). Extremely magnesium-dense, and also the world's richest dietary source of selenium. One ounce is 6–8 nuts. You do not need many.

Other High-Magnesium Foods Worth Adding

19. Dark chocolate (70%+ cacao), 65 mg per 1 oz (15% DV). Yes, dark chocolate is genuinely a magnesium-rich food, magnesium hot chocolate made with cacao powder and warm milk is actually a legitimate nighttime mineral boost. The darker the better. 85% cacao delivers even more. One square with coffee is a real nutritional contribution, not just a rationalization.

20. Avocado, 44 mg per 1 cup cubed / ~39 mg per medium Hass avocado (10% DV). USDA lists raw avocado at 29 mg/100g, a medium Hass with about 136g edible flesh yields roughly 39 mg. Some sources report higher (58 mg) based on larger Florida avocados or different portion definitions. I use the conservative Hass number because that is what most Americans actually buy. Avocado also brings potassium (975 mg per medium: more than a banana), healthy monounsaturated fat, and fiber.

Among magnesium-rich fruits, avocado leads (it is technically a fruit). Other fruits that contain magnesium include bananas (32 mg per medium), figs (25 mg per ¼ cup dried), guava (22 mg per fruit), and plantains (49 mg per cup cooked). None approach avocado's density, but they contribute across a full day's eating.

Magnesium Per Calorie: The Efficiency Ranking No One Else Shows

Every magnesium food list on the internet ranks by mg per serving. That is fine, but it hides something I think matters more: calorie cost. Some of these foods give you magnesium nearly for free. Others charge you 150+ calories for the same amount. If you are watching calories, or if you just want the smartest way to close a 100 mg gap, this is the ranking to use.

I calculated mg of magnesium per 100 calories from USDA FoodData Central for each food above:

1. Spinach, cooked: 678 mg Mg / 100 cal, almost free magnesium (only 23 cal/cup)
2. Swiss chard, cooked: 429 mg Mg / 100 cal
3. Edamame: 53 mg / 100 cal
4. Black beans: 47 mg / 100 cal
5. Quinoa: 47 mg / 100 cal
6. Lentils: 31 mg / 100 cal
7. Brown rice: 25 mg / 100 cal
8. Oatmeal: 27 mg / 100 cal
9. Almonds: 17 mg / 100 cal
10. Pumpkin seeds: 10 mg / 100 cal

Spinach delivers 67× more magnesium per calorie than dark chocolate. One cup each of cooked spinach and Swiss chard in a day, about 55 total calories, gives you 306 mg, which is 73% of the DV. Seeds and nuts are great magnesium sources by weight, but greens are the efficiency play. This is the data point I wish more food lists showed.

Do Bananas Have Magnesium?

Yes, but less than you might expect. One medium banana provides about 32 mg of magnesium, roughly 8% of the Daily Value. Bananas are better known for potassium (422 mg per medium banana), and they are a perfectly fine food, but they are not a magnesium powerhouse. If someone told you to eat bananas for magnesium, a handful of pumpkin seeds does five times the work.

Foods High in Both Magnesium and Potassium

Many people are low in both minerals, and fortunately, several foods are rich in magnesium and potassium simultaneously. If you are looking for foods high in potassium and magnesium together, these are your best picks:

Spinach, cooked: 156 mg Mg + 839 mg K per cup
Swiss chard, cooked: 150 mg Mg + 961 mg K per cup
Avocado: 39 mg Mg + 975 mg K per medium Hass
Black beans: 120 mg Mg + 611 mg K per cup
Edamame: 100 mg Mg + 676 mg K per cup
Banana: 32 mg Mg + 422 mg K per medium (moderate in both, not high in either)

Dark leafy greens and legumes are the overlap zone. Eating one serving of each daily covers significant ground on both minerals.

What Blocks Magnesium Absorption from Food?

Eating magnesium-rich foods is only half the equation. Magnesium absorption interference from certain foods and habits can significantly reduce how much you actually retain:

Phytates: Found in whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Phytic acid binds minerals (including magnesium) in the gut, reducing absorption. A stable-isotope study in humans found that phytic acid at levels naturally present in whole-meal bread reduced fractional magnesium absorption from 32.5% to 13.0%, a dose-dependent, statistically significant drop (Bohn et al. 2004, Am J Clin Nutr). Soaking, sprouting, or fermenting these foods breaks down phytates. This is why soaked beans and sourdough bread deliver more bioavailable minerals than their unsoaked/quick-rise equivalents.

High-dose calcium supplements: Calcium and magnesium compete for the same absorption pathways. Taking a large calcium supplement with a magnesium-rich meal can reduce magnesium uptake. If you supplement both, take them at separate times.

Alcohol. Regular alcohol consumption increases urinary magnesium excretion. Heavy drinkers are among the most commonly magnesium-deficient populations.

Excess fiber. Moderate fiber improves gut health, but very high fiber diets (above 40–50 g/day) can reduce mineral absorption by speeding transit time.

Vitamin D helps. On the positive side, adequate vitamin D status improves magnesium absorption in the small intestine. If you are low in D, fixing that may help your magnesium status too.

Can Food Alone Meet Your Magnesium Needs?

Technically, yes. Practically, it is hard, and that is not a supplement-company sales pitch. Here is the math.

An adult man needs 420 mg/day. To hit that from food alone, you could eat: one cup of cooked spinach (156 mg) + one ounce of pumpkin seeds (156 mg) + one cup of brown rice (86 mg) + one ounce of dark chocolate (65 mg) = 463 mg. That works. But it requires deliberate daily planning, zero refined grains, and consistent access to fresh produce. Most people do not eat like this every day.

NHANES survey data confirms the gap: 48% of Americans fall below their estimated average requirement for magnesium. The shortfall is usually 50–100 mg: not catastrophic, but enough to contribute to poor sleep, muscle tension, and increased stress reactivity over time.

My honest take: eat as many of the foods above as your lifestyle allows, and use a supplement to close whatever gap remains. That is more realistic, and more reliable, than trying to count milligrams from food every day. If you choose to supplement, magnesium glycinate is the form that pairs best with a food-first approach because it absorbs well and does not cause the GI disruption that makes people quit. For constipation plus repletion, magnesium citrate does double duty.

Two Sample Days: Realistic vs Optimized

Realistic day (what most people can actually sustain):

Breakfast: Oatmeal with a handful of almonds (63 + 77 = 140 mg)
Lunch: Chicken sandwich on whole wheat with a side salad (46 + ~20 = 66 mg)
Dinner: Salmon with brown rice and steamed broccoli (53 + 86 + 33 = 172 mg)
Snack: Banana + 1 oz dark chocolate (32 + 65 = 97 mg)
Total: ~475 mg, above the RDA, but notice it required whole grains at every meal and zero refined carbs. Replace the whole wheat with white bread and the brown rice with white rice, and you lose about 130 mg. That is how most people end up short.

Optimized day (deliberate magnesium focus):

Breakfast: Oatmeal with 3 tbsp hemp seeds (63 + 210 = 273 mg)
Lunch: Black bean and quinoa bowl with wilted spinach (120 + 118 + 78 = 316 mg)
Snack: 1 oz pumpkin seeds (156 mg)
Total: ~745 mg. Nearly double the RDA. But this is three straight plant-heavy meals with hemp seeds, quinoa, and black beans. Most people will not eat this way every day, and that is fine. The point is showing where the ceiling is, not setting it as the floor.

The realistic day gets most adults to their RDA. The optimized day shows what is possible with planning. In practice, most people land somewhere in between, and a magnesium glycinate supplement covering the last 100–150 mg gap is the simplest insurance policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What food is highest in magnesium?

Per realistic serving, hemp seeds (210 mg per 3 tablespoons) and pumpkin seeds (156 mg per ounce) are the highest. Among vegetables, cooked spinach leads at 156 mg per cup. Per 100 grams, hemp seeds and pumpkin seed kernels top the charts, but per-serving is the number that matters for your diet.

Do bananas have a lot of magnesium?

A medium banana has about 32 mg of magnesium, roughly 8% of the Daily Value. That is a modest contribution, not a high-magnesium food. Bananas are better known for potassium. If magnesium is your goal, pumpkin seeds deliver nearly 5× more per serving.

How much magnesium is in almonds?

One ounce of almonds (~23 nuts) provides 77 mg of magnesium, or about 18% of the Daily Value. Almonds are one of the best nut sources of magnesium, narrowly ahead of cashews (74 mg/oz).

What foods have magnesium and potassium?

Cooked spinach, Swiss chard, avocado, black beans, edamame, and bananas are all rich in both magnesium and potassium. Spinach and Swiss chard are the standouts. Each delivers over 150 mg magnesium and 800+ mg potassium per cooked cup.

Is dark chocolate really high in magnesium?

Yes. One ounce of dark chocolate (70% cacao or higher) provides about 65 mg of magnesium. 15% of the Daily Value. The darker the chocolate, the more magnesium. Milk chocolate has significantly less. One square with coffee is a real nutritional choice, not just a treat.

Can I get enough magnesium from food alone?

Possible, but difficult without deliberate planning. You would need to eat dark leafy greens, seeds, whole grains, and legumes daily, with no refined carbs substituting for whole grains. NHANES data shows 48% of Americans fall short. A food-first approach combined with a magnesium supplement to close the gap is the most realistic strategy for most people.

What foods contain magnesium glycinate?

No foods naturally contain magnesium glycinate. It is a manufactured chelate (magnesium bonded to the amino acid glycine) available only as a supplement. Foods contain elemental magnesium in its natural mineral form. Magnesium glycinate supplements are designed to deliver magnesium with high bioavailability and minimal GI side effects.

Should magnesium be taken with food?

Most magnesium supplements absorb fine with or without food, but taking them with a meal reduces the chance of stomach upset, especially with citrate, which can cause nausea on an empty stomach. Glycinate is gentle enough to take any time.

What foods are high in magnesium and zinc?

Pumpkin seeds are the standout, rich in both magnesium (156 mg/oz) and zinc (2.2 mg/oz). Other overlap foods include hemp seeds, cashews, beef, chickpeas, and dark chocolate.

References

National Institutes of Health. Magnesium, Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. NIH ODS
U.S. Department of Agriculture. FoodData Central. USDA
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