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Ingredient guide

Foods high in creatine: meat, fish, and what vegetarians get

Written by the Full Measure editorial team, which sells supplements. Approved for publication by the Full Measure owners. Updated .

Drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed below. How we write these

Quick answer

Creatine is found only in animal foods, mostly meat and fish. Raw beef and salmon have about 2 g per pound and pork about 2.3 g, so a 4-ounce serving gives roughly 0.5 g. A diet with meat supplies about 1 to 2 g a day; vegans get none from food.1,2,3,4

Key facts

  • One 5 g scoop holds as much creatine as about 1.1 kg of raw steak.5
  • Food supplies about half of the creatine the body replaces each day, and the liver and kidneys make the rest.3,4
  • Vegetarians average about 90 to 110 mmol of creatine per kg of dry muscle, against about 120 on a typical diet.3
  • Creatine monohydrate powder is made by chemical synthesis, not from meat.6

How much creatine is in meat and fish

Animal foods contain creatine: beef has about 2 g per pound, pork about 2.3 g and salmon about 2 g.1

A 4-ounce serving of beef or salmon has about 500 mg of creatine.2

Creatine in raw meat and fish, from NIH's figures1,2
FoodPer poundPer 4-ounce serving, about
Pork2.3 g0.6 g
Beef2 g0.5 g
Salmon2 g0.5 g

Estimates differ a little between sources. The ISSN puts a pound of uncooked beef or salmon at 1 to 2 g, and a review by ISSN researchers puts a 6-ounce serving of meat at about 0.7 g. The figures are for raw muscle meat and fish, the main dietary sources.3,4,6

How much a normal diet gives

A typical diet with meat supplies 1 to 2 g of creatine a day, about half of what the body replaces each day. The liver and kidneys make the rest.3,4

About 1 to 2% of the creatine in muscle breaks down each day and leaves in urine as creatinine, so the body has to replace roughly 1 to 3 g a day, depending on how much muscle you carry. On a typical diet with meat, muscle stores sit about 60 to 80% full.3

Vegetarian and vegan diets

Creatine in food comes only from animal foods, mainly muscle meat and fish. Vegans get none from their diet.4

Vegetarians tend to have lower muscle creatine. In trials, supplements raised their muscle creatine, often above the levels of meat eaters.1,3,7

The body still makes its own creatine from glycine, arginine and methionine, so people who eat no meat are not without it; their stores are simply lower. A systematic review of nine studies in vegetarians found that supplements raised their muscle creatine, but results were mixed on whether their performance gains were larger than those of meat eaters, and the studies had a moderate to high chance of bias.1,7

Creatine monohydrate powder is made by chemical synthesis from compounds such as sarcosine and cyanamide, not from meat.6

Food or supplement?

A single 5 g dose holds as much creatine as about 1.1 kg of raw steak.5

Trials of strength and power used 3 to 5 g a day on top of a normal diet, or about 20 g a day for a loading week. Getting 5 g from food would take more than 2 pounds of raw beef or salmon a day. NIH notes that only the much larger amounts taken as supplements could have performance effects.1

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If you add a supplement

If you add a supplement to your diet, ask a doctor first if you have kidney disease, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are under 18, and tell whoever runs your blood tests, because creatine raises creatinine.8

Questions people ask

Is creatine vegan?

Creatine in food comes only from animals, but creatine monohydrate powder is made by chemical synthesis rather than from meat. Check the product's own label for its vegan status.4,6

Do I need a supplement if I eat meat?

Not to stay healthy: your body makes what food does not supply. The studies of strength and power used 3 to 5 g a day on top of diet, which is more than you could practically eat.1,4,5

Do vegetarians get more from creatine supplements?

Their muscle stores start lower and rise more, often above the levels of meat eaters. Whether that turns into bigger gains in performance is mixed across the studies done so far.1,7

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Sources

  1. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. Updated April 1, 2024. Opened 2026-10-06.
  2. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance: Fact Sheet for Consumers. Updated March 22, 2021. Opened 2026-10-07.
  3. Kreider RB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:18. Opened 2026-10-01.
  4. Brosnan ME, Brosnan JT. The role of dietary creatine. Amino Acids. 2016;48(8):1785-1791. Opened 2026-10-07.
  5. Harris RC, Söderlund K, Hultman E. Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation. Clin Sci (Lond). 1992;83(3):367-374. Opened 2026-10-07.
  6. Antonio J, et al. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show? J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021;18(1):13. Opened 2026-10-07.
  7. Kaviani M, Shaw K, Chilibeck PD. Benefits of Creatine Supplementation for Vegetarians Compared to Omnivorous Athletes: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):3041. Opened 2026-10-07.
  8. Tsiaras A, et al. The Effect of Creatine Supplementation on Kidney Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Ren Nutr. 2026 (online ahead of print). doi:10.1053/j.jrn.2026.04.010. Opened 2026-10-01.

This page is information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own situation.