Whatever your goal, fat loss, health or muscle building, you want the best value from your food. The leanest cuts of beef are among the most nutrient dense, yet calorie sparse foods you can get your hands on. Choose your beef wisely because with delicate butchery each cut can unlock a menu of benefits for you to feast on. Here are the 6 leanest cuts with some extra nutritional benefits included to help you make your decision.
Chuck
Instead of guzzling carbs before your workout scoff some chuck steak in a pot roast because it’s full of the energy you need to crush your workouts. Cut from the cow’s shoulder, it’s replete with vitamin-B2, which has a positive influence on your work rate and performance, according to a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Not particularly lean but not crazy high in fat when you consider the protein and other nutrients bundled in. It’s usually the chuck cut that you get in your juicy burger.
per 100g
Protein : 25g
Fat : 20g
Sirloin
This is a chunk of meat cut from the cow’s back. Sirloin is actually divided into several types of steak including tenderloin, top sirloin and bottom so it’s a little unfair to lump sirloin in as one cut. In fact, the sirloin tip, is the leanest cut you can get with a tiny 5.5g of fat per 100g and a healthy 39g of protein. Top sirloin is probably the least tender of the cuts, but the one most commonly sold in steakhouses. Just 100g of sirloin packs 1.73g of vitamin B-12, according to the USDA food database. And vitamin B-12 can fight against chronic diseases, says the Canadian Family Physician. So rather than infect you with mad cow disease it’ll make you mad about beef.
per 100g (on average)
Protein: 27g
Fat: 14g
Flank
Taken from the abdominal muscles of the cow, this cut is one that often gets overlooked by carnivores. But with a gigantic 28g of protein per 100g of grilled flank, it should be a muscle-builder’s go-to meat. A study by the University of Texas, US, found that protein is essential for muscle protein synthesis, which helps to give you the tighter sleeves you train for.
per 100g
Protein : 28g
Fat : 8g
Brisket
Taken from the under breast of the cow, it’s one of the nine primal cuts. And with 1.3g of vitamin K per 100g, according to the USDA Database, it will give your training more firepower because this is the vitamin that helps your blood circulation. So, not only will it boost your performance on the pitch, it could also boost your performance between the sheets.
per 100g
Protein : 21g
Fat : 7g
Honorable mention : The sirloin tip
THE leanest cut of beef winner : Round
More specifically, the eye round cut which has the highest protein to fat ratio. Besides that, it’s super high in Vitamins B6 and B12, offering around 25% of your daily requirements in a small 100 gram cut. It ties brisket cuts for the leanest but absolutely annihilates every other cut with double the amount of protein that can be found in most of the other cuts. For those with a smaller appetite but still want to make all kinds of gains, eye of the round beef is your ticket to gainsville.
per 100g
Protein: 49.8g
Fat: 7g
Most of these cuts of beef will work perfectly well on your muscle building quest or on a food restrictive fat loss diet – but if you really are looking for the best protein vs fat vs calories ratio for your buck, this list will aid you in finding the leanest cuts of beef.
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Source of nutrition data: nutritiondata.self.com
