Cashews make a quick snack to up your protein intake. Both the protein and fiber in cashews help keep you full for a longer period of time, so you’re less likely to indulge in a vending machine treat in the afternoon. Although these nuts are nutritious, you’ll need to carefully measure your portion size instead of diving into the can. Otherwise, you’ll wind up going overboard on your fat and calories for the day.
Amount of Protein
The protein content doesn’t vary drastically between different processing methods of cashews. You’ll get roughly 4.75 grams of protein from 1 ounce -- or 18 nuts -- of oil-roasted cashews. Ideally, however, you should opt for dry-roasted nuts to cut out some of the unnecessary fat. The same serving size of dry-roasted cashews has about 4.35 grams of protein.
How Much You Need
Your protein recommendation is based on a percentage of the total calories you get from your daily diet. Ten to 35 percent of all of the calories you consume each day should come from protein, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Generally, having a sedentary lifestyle means you’ll need to stick to the lower end of the range, but if you’re highly active and hit the gym each day, you probably need to base your protein allotment on the higher end of the range. If you follow a typical 2,000-calorie diet, which is the amount of calories nutrition facts labels are based on, you’ll need 200 to 700 daily calories from protein. If you’re keeping track of grams instead, this converts to 50 to 175 grams of protein, because protein has 4 calories per gram.
Cashew Protein Considerations
Although cashews have plenty of protein for such a small portion size, the protein isn’t complete like animal proteins. Most proteins that come from plants – nuts, whole grains and beans, to name a few – are lacking one or more of the essential amino acids you need to get from your diet each day. Amino acids form muscles and organ tissues and are essential for brain functions. But even though cashews and most other plant proteins are incomplete, you can still get all the amino acids you need by eating a few different plant protein sources throughout the day. By adding other plant proteins to meals, like wild rice or a side of black beans, you'll be getting all of the essential amino acids cashews are lacking.
Ways to Get More Protein
If you want even more protein from your favorite snack, have a side of low-fat cheese with your cashews. A 1-ounce wedge of part-skim milk mozzarella cheese pairs perfectly with cashews and adds another 7.35 grams of protein to your morning snack. Have some raisins with the cashews to get a touch more protein, as well as additional fiber as an added bonus. One ounce of seedless raisins has 0.85 grams of protein. Dried apricots are equally beneficial. You’ll get 1.2 grams of protein from 10 dried apricot halves. If you crave the cashew flavor, opt for unsalted cashew butter as an alternative to margarine on your toast. One tablespoon of cashew butter has 2.8 grams of protein. You can also always add cashews to salads, grind them up in smoothies or crush them and press them onto your favorite fish fillet instead of breading.
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