Collagen is an animal protein. Plants do not make it, so which foods contain collagen? Animal products, and above all the parts you rarely see on display as the finest cut: connective tissue, tendons, cartilage and bones.
Below are twelve foods that contain collagen, with the reason for each one. After that you can read why it never appears on a label, why gelatine is the same substance, and which foods contain none at all. What collagen does in your body is not covered here: we make no statements about that.
Why collagen sits in those particular parts
In an animal, collagen is the protein that connective tissue is made of. It is in tendons, in cartilage, in the membranes running through the meat and in the structure of bones. Exactly the parts that make a cut tough, and that turn tender with slow cooking.
That last part is no coincidence. Heat collagen long enough in liquid and the structure falls apart, leaving gelatine: the same substance, cut shorter and soluble. That is why a stew melts in your mouth after four hours and why stock made from bones sets in the fridge.
The rule of thumb for this whole article: the more connective tissue in the original cut, the more collagen on your plate. For what collagen actually is, see what is collagen.
The 12 foods with the most collagen
- Stock made from beef bones. Bones and cartilage that simmer for hours release their collagen into the liquid. If the stock sets when cold, you know it is in there.
- Gelatine. Leaves or powder, and the purest example on this list: gelatine is collagen, only partly broken down already. More on that below.
- Head cheese or brawn. Pieces of meat set in a layer of jellied stock. That layer only stays firm because there is gelatine in it, and therefore collagen.
- Oxtail. Plenty of bone, cartilage and connective tissue for very little meat. That is why oxtail soup has body without any thickener.
- Beef shank and chuck. Cuts from the leg and the shoulder, with a lot of connective tissue and often a tendon running through the middle. Cooked slowly they turn tender and the sauce thickens by itself.
- Pork trotters and hock. In many kitchens the standard way to give a stock more body. Little meat, a lot of collagen.
- Pork rind. The outer layer of the pig, roasted crisp or simmered in a stew. One of the most collagen-rich things you can eat.
- Chicken wings and feet. A lot of cartilage and tendon per bite. In Asian kitchens, chicken feet are the classic way to give stock body.
- Home-made chicken stock from the carcass. The carcass of a roast chicken holds exactly what you are looking for. Same test: if the cold stock stands up like pudding, there was plenty of collagen in it.
- Small fish you eat whole. Sardines and anchovies are eaten bones and all, and that is precisely where the collagen sits.
- Fish cooked with the outer layer on. In salmon, cod and trout the collagen is mostly in that outer layer and around the bones, not in the white flesh itself. It is also the raw material fish collagen is made from; see what is bovine collagen for the difference between the sources.
- Sweets made with gelatine. Wine gums, marshmallows and many kinds of liquorice contain gelatine, and therefore collagen. A curious entry on this list, but an accurate one: check the ingredient list.
Why you never find collagen on a label
Packaging tells you how much protein a product contains, not which protein. Even detailed food composition tables do not: the Dutch Food Composition Database of the RIVM, the official Dutch database covering more than 130 nutrients, does not break protein down into collagen, casein or whey.
On top of that, the amount differs from one piece to the next. Two cuts of chuck from the same butcher do not contain the same amount of connective tissue, and how long you cook something determines how much collagen ends up in the sauce and how much stays on the plate. Quoting a figure per portion would suggest a precision nobody can verify.
What you can verify is the clue from the kitchen itself: if a stock or sauce sets when cold without anything being added to it, there was a lot of collagen in it.
Gelatine is collagen in another form
Gelatine is made by extracting collagen from animal raw materials and partly breaking down the long chains, so that it dissolves in hot water and gels as it cools. The European association of gelatine producers describes that manufacturing process step by step.
Collagen powder takes that one step further: enzymes cut the chains so far that the powder also dissolves in cold water and no longer gels. That is called hydrolysis, and the result is collagen peptides. How that works is explained in hydrolysed collagen and what are collagen peptides.
Three names, one substance, three stages: collagen in the animal, gelatine after heating, collagen peptides after hydrolysis.
Which foods contain no collagen
- Plants. Vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts and pulses contain no collagen. Products calling themselves "plant-based collagen" contain something else, usually a mix of amino acids or plant proteins.
- Eggs. The egg itself contains no collagen. The membrane against the shell does, but you do not normally eat it.
- Milk, cheese and yoghurt. Dairy contains casein and whey protein, not collagen.
- Lean meat without connective tissue. A chicken breast or a steak is chosen precisely for having little connective tissue. So there is little of it in there.
- Fish fingers and other heavily processed products. How much of the original fish is left is not something a label will tell you.
How to get more out of it in the kitchen
Four things decide how much collagen from a cut of meat or fish actually reaches your plate.
- Cook it low and slow. Connective tissue needs time and liquid to become gelatine. A stew of three to four hours over low heat does that; a quick sear does not.
- Simmer the bones along. A carcass, a shank or a handful of chicken feet in the pan is the cheapest way to make a stock that sets when cold.
- Do not throw away the cooking liquid. The collagen that dissolves ends up in the liquid, not in the meat. Leave the sauce behind and you leave most of it behind.
- Eat small fish with the bones, or make a stock from bones and heads. With fish, that is the equivalent of bone stock.
The difference between collagen from food and collagen from a jar
The substance is the same in both cases. What differs is the form and how measurable it is.
Collagen from food arrives as part of a meal, in an amount nobody knows precisely and that differs every time. Collagen from a jar is hydrolysed into peptides, dissolves in cold and hot drinks and is measured out per gram: with us, 5 grams per scoop.
That is a difference in practical form, not in the quality of your food. A good pot of stew and a scoop of powder are not competitors.
Our own collagen powder
We sell two powders: Earth from beef with VERISOL® by GELITA from Germany, and Sea from fish with NATICOL® by Weishardt from France. Both type 1, one ingredient, produced in Europe under ISO 9001 and FSSC 22000. A jar holds 300 grams, enough for 60 servings of 5 grams. We advise 10 grams a day for twelve weeks and 5 grams after that. Everything is at collagen powder.
The powder is neutral in taste, so it can go into something you are making anyway: see collagen drinks with collagen powder.
What we don't say about it
No health claims for collagen have been approved in the European Union. We therefore say nothing about what collagen from food or from a jar does in your body, and nothing about one source being better than another. This article is about where the substance sits and how you can tell from a dish. You can read why those rules exist in what is a collagen brand actually allowed to promise.
Frequently asked questions about collagen in food
Which foods contain collagen?
Animal products with plenty of connective tissue: stock made from bones, gelatine, head cheese, oxtail, stewing cuts such as shank and chuck, pork trotters, pork rind, chicken wings and feet, small fish eaten whole, and fish cooked with the outer layer on. Plants contain no collagen.
Which food contains the most collagen?
Gelatine, because it is nothing other than collagen that has been partly broken down. After that, the things gelatine forms in by itself: stock made from bones and cartilage, head cheese, oxtail and pork rind.
Is there collagen in eggs, milk or cheese?
No. Dairy contains casein and whey protein, and the egg itself contains no collagen. Only the membrane against the eggshell does, and that is not normally eaten.
Is there collagen in plant-based food?
No, collagen is an animal protein. Products with "plant-based collagen" on the packaging contain no collagen but something else, usually a mix of amino acids or plant proteins.
How much collagen is in bone stock?
That cannot be answered with a figure: it depends on which bones you use, how much cartilage is attached, how long they simmer and how much water goes in. The practical gauge is whether the stock sets when cold.
Is gelatine the same as collagen?
Almost. Gelatine is collagen whose long chains have been partly broken down, which makes it dissolve in hot water and gel as it cools. Collagen peptides in powder form are broken down one step further and dissolve in cold water too.
