Peppers, bell, red vs Broccoli

Bell pepper and broccoli are both vitamin C champions, but bell pepper actually wins the vitamin C contest by a wide margin that surprises most people. A red bell pepper delivers over 200 percent of daily vitamin C needs per cup — more than twice what broccoli provides, and even more than oranges. Bell pepper has 31 calories per 100g with 6.65g carbs. Broccoli matches at 31 calories with 6.27g carbs.

Broccoli brings superior protein (2.57g vs 0.9g per 100g), sulforaphane, and vitamin K. Bell pepper counters with vitamin A from beta-carotene (especially red and orange peppers), providing over 50 percent of daily needs. The two vegetables complement each other in a way that covering both in a stir-fry or salad creates a vitamin C and A powerhouse.

Crunch factor is bell pepper's behavioral advantage. Raw bell pepper strips with hummus or guacamole are one of the most satisfying low-calorie snacks because the crunch triggers satiety signals that softer vegetables miss. Broccoli can be eaten raw but requires more effort to enjoy — dipping it requires florets to be cut to the right size, and the taste is more polarizing.

Per 100g — the basis the table on this page uses — red bell pepper has 142mg of vitamin C and broccoli has 91.3mg (USDA FDC 2258590 and 747447, both raw). That's 1.6 times, not the better-than-double margin the per-cup figure implies: a cup of chopped pepper weighs more than a cup of florets, so part of that gap is the measuring cup rather than the vegetable. Pepper still wins vitamin C on any basis. But both clear the 90mg adult reference intake in a single 100g portion, so if vitamin C is all you're optimising for, the choice barely matters.

On everything else the two are unusually easy to compare, because they land on the same calorie count: 31 per 100g each. At identical energy, broccoli wins nearly every category — protein 2.57g against 0.9g (2.9 times), fiber 2.4g against 1.16g (2.1 times), calcium 46mg against 6.36mg (7.2 times), potassium 303mg against 213mg, iron 0.69mg against 0.35mg. Vitamin C is bell pepper's only category win in this dataset. Sodium runs pepper's way, 0mg against broccoli's 36mg, but 36mg is negligible either way. The straight answer: if you're picking one on nutrition, pick broccoli — and if the raw crunch is the only reason a vegetable actually gets eaten, that's a better argument for the pepper than any number here.