Organ meats top the list by a wide margin, with braised pork brain containing a staggering 2,169 mg of cholesterol in a single 3-ounce serving. Beyond organ meats, most common cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and poultry fall in a surprisingly similar range of 75 to 135 mg per serving. The differences between them are smaller than most people expect.
Organ Meats: The Highest by Far
No category of meat comes close to organ meats for cholesterol content. Braised pork brain delivers 2,169 mg per 3-ounce serving, which is more than seven times the old 300 mg daily guideline that many people still remember. Chicken gizzards, another organ meat, contain about 536 mg per cup when simmered. Beef liver and kidneys also rank among the highest cholesterol foods available, typically ranging from 300 to 400 mg per serving depending on preparation.
If you eat organ meats regularly, whether it’s liver pâté, menudo made with tripe, or traditional dishes featuring kidneys, these are the items that move the needle most on your dietary cholesterol intake.
Beef, Pork, and Lamb Compared
Standard cuts of red meat are more moderate than organ meats, but they still contribute meaningful cholesterol. Here’s how common choices stack up per 3-ounce cooked serving, based on USDA data:
- Veal shank (braised): 105 mg
- Lamb shoulder (braised): 105 mg
- Beef tenderloin (broiled): 82 mg
- Beef top sirloin (broiled): 82 mg
- Beef short ribs, lean only (braised): 87 mg
- Lean ground beef, 90% lean (broiled): 75 mg
- Pork shoulder (roasted): 122 mg per cup
- Pork leg/ham, lean (roasted): 127 mg per cup
The pattern here is useful: most standard beef steaks cluster around 75 to 90 mg per 3-ounce portion. Fattier or braised cuts like short ribs and veal shank run slightly higher. Pork shoulder and ham sit in a similar range when you account for portion size. Lamb shoulder lands right alongside veal at about 105 mg. None of these are dramatically different from each other, which surprises people who assume beef is always the worst offender.
Poultry Is Not Always Lower
Chicken and turkey have a reputation as the “healthy” meat choice, but their cholesterol content overlaps significantly with red meat. Dark chicken meat, fried, contains about 134 mg per cup. Turkey back with skin comes in at 127 mg per cup, essentially identical to lean pork. Even raw chicken skin from drumsticks and thighs carries 119 mg per 4-ounce portion.
The real advantage of poultry is not necessarily lower cholesterol per serving. It’s that skinless white meat tends to be lower in saturated fat, which has a larger effect on your blood cholesterol levels than the cholesterol in the food itself. More on that distinction below.
Shellfish and Fish
Seafood often gets flagged as high in cholesterol, particularly shrimp. But most fish and shellfish fall in the middle of the pack. A 3-ounce serving of cooked salmon contains 81 mg of cholesterol, mahi-mahi about 80 mg, and swordfish 66 mg. Spiny lobster comes in at 76 mg, queen crab at 60 mg, and wild eastern oysters at 67 mg per 3-ounce serving.
The one seafood standout is fish roe (eggs), which packs 136 mg in just a single ounce. If you eat caviar or other fish roe by the spoonful, the cholesterol adds up quickly. For most other seafood, though, a typical portion contains roughly the same cholesterol as a lean beef steak, paired with far less saturated fat and more heart-protective omega-3 fats.
What Matters More Than Cholesterol Content
The American Heart Association’s most recent dietary guidance, published in 2026, makes an important shift: dietary cholesterol is no longer considered a primary target for reducing heart disease risk for most people. The bigger concern is saturated fat. Replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fats consistently lowers LDL cholesterol in the blood, which is a direct risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
This means two meats with identical cholesterol numbers can affect your heart health very differently depending on their saturated fat content. A 3-ounce portion of salmon and a 3-ounce beef tenderloin have similar cholesterol (81 mg vs. 82 mg), but the salmon delivers its calories with far less saturated fat and added omega-3s. The AHA still notes that heart-healthy diets tend to be naturally low in high-cholesterol foods like fatty cuts of meat and processed meats such as sausage and bacon, not because of their cholesterol per se, but because those foods also tend to be high in saturated fat.
Choosing Leaner Cuts
The USDA defines a “lean” cut of beef as one containing less than 95 mg of cholesterol, less than 10 grams of total fat, and less than 4.5 grams of saturated fat per 3.5-ounce serving. “Extra lean” cuts meet an even stricter standard of under 5 grams total fat and under 2 grams saturated fat, while keeping that same 95 mg cholesterol ceiling.
The leanest beef cuts that meet these standards include:
- Eye of round roast and steak
- Top round roast and steak
- Bottom round roast and steak
- Round tip roast and steak
- Top sirloin steak
- Top loin steak
- Chuck shoulder and arm roasts
When buying ground beef, look for labels that say 93% or 95% lean. Choosing “Choice” or “Select” grades over “Prime” also helps, since Prime cuts typically contain more marbled fat.
How Cooking Changes the Numbers
Cooking concentrates cholesterol. As meat loses water and fat renders out during cooking, the cholesterol per gram of remaining meat goes up. Research on beef loin found that all cooking methods increased the total cholesterol concentration compared to raw meat, with cooked samples containing 58% to 70% more cholesterol by weight after six days of storage than the raw starting point.
The cooking method also affects the formation of cholesterol oxidation products, which are altered forms of cholesterol that may be more harmful to blood vessels. Steaming produced the fewest of these oxidation byproducts, while pan roasting generated the most, especially after the meat was stored and reheated. If you regularly cook meat ahead of time and reheat it throughout the week, steaming appears to be the gentlest method for minimizing these compounds.
That said, the practical difference in cholesterol between cooking methods is modest compared to the difference between, say, eating chicken breast versus pork brain. Your choice of which meat to eat matters far more than how you cook it.