High Potassium Foods

Just in time for the Superbowl this weekend, a table of snacks that are among the high potassium foods. Most commercial snacks are high in sodium, so there are not many with the desirable 3 to 1 ratio of potassium to sodium. Out of 43 snacks studied in the USDA database, only 8 qualified, and they are included in the table. But even with only 8 entries, 2 have more than 200 mg of sodium in 100 grams (3 1/2 oz) of snack.

A turkey wrap can make a healthy sandwich snack, but what to do for the munchies for the rest of the day? Alternative snacks for the Superbowl that have a good ratio and a good amount of potassium can be made at home. Some simple snacks are raw veggies, nuts and fruits from the high potassium foods category. Some high potassium dips can be made simply. For ideas about snacks and dips that need minimal preparation, look at the raw high potassium foods article. A popular dip today is hummus, which can be made by blending garbanzo beans (chickpeas) with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic in the food processor. Other snacks that are simple to prepare are yams (sweet potatoes) cut into thin slices and coated with olive oil and then baked. A tasty recipe for roasted garbanzo beans is below.

Roasted Garbanzo Snack 12 servings

Ingredients

6 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp ground cumin

3 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

2 pinches ground black pepper

2 pinches crushed red pepper

1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Directions

After rinsing beans, soak them overnight until they are plump. Use 2 cups of water for one cup of beans. That way you will have minimal waste of potassium in the water. If you use canned beans, realize there is a great deal of sodium present that defeats the health value from the potassium. Three cups of canned beans would be needed to be equivalent to the one cup of dry beans. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F.

Whisk the oil, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, black pepper, and red pepper together and then coat the garbanzo beans by mixing together. Spread into a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes. When they are popping off the baking sheet they are ready.

The weights in the table below are milligrams for the potassium and sodium. The potassium and sodium values given are for 100 grams of food.

As usual, K is potassium, and Na is sodium.

Except for the potassium to sodium ratio (which we calculated), the source of data is: USDA National Nutrient Database Standard Reference – Release 22

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