Low Potassium Fruits: The List, by Real Serving

Q: What fruits are lowest in potassium?

Per half-cup serving, cranberries are lowest at about 44 mg, then blueberries at 57 mg, pineapple at 90 mg, raspberries at 94 mg and blackberries at 117 mg. A medium plum is about 104 mg. Berries and pineapple are the reliable everyday choices.

Q: Is a pear low in potassium?

A pear is low in potassium by weight, about 116 mg per 100 g, but a whole medium pear weighs 178 g, so it lands near 206 mg. Half a pear is about 103 mg. The fruit is fine; the size of the piece is what makes the number.

Q: Are dried fruits high in potassium?

Yes. Drying removes water and concentrates what is left. A medium fresh plum is about 104 mg of potassium, while five prunes are about 307 mg. Half a cup of grapes is about 145 mg, while a quarter cup of raisins is about 268 mg. Fresh fruit gives you far more food for the same potassium.

Q: How much fruit can you eat with kidney disease?

There is no single answer, because potassium targets vary by kidney stage and blood test results, and many people in early stages are not asked to limit potassium at all. A common working reference is about 2,000 mg of potassium a day from all food. Two or three servings of lower-potassium fruit fit comfortably inside that. Your care team sets your number.

The lowest-potassium fruits, at a glance

Milligrams of potassium in a normal serving of each:

Cranberries, 1/2 cup44 mg
Blueberries, 1/2 cup57 mg
Pineapple, 1/2 cup90 mg
Raspberries, 1/2 cup94 mg
Plum, 1 medium104 mg
Blackberries, 1/2 cup117 mg
Strawberries, 1/2 cup127 mg
Grapes, 1/2 cup145 mg

For scale, a common working reference is about 2,000 mg of potassium a day, though it varies by kidney stage and blood test results, and many people in early stages are not asked to limit potassium at all. Half a cup of blueberries is roughly 3% of that.

Why do some low-potassium fruits still add up?

Because a fruit list ranks by concentration, and your blood responds to the amount you actually eat. Those are two different things, and for fruit they often disagree. Cherries hold about 222 mg of potassium per 100 g and pears about 116 mg, so by the usual ranking a pear looks like the calmer choice. Then you eat one medium pear, which weighs 178 g, next to half a cup of cherries, which weighs 77 g, and the pear delivers more.

Fruit	Per 100 g	Usual serving	Per serving
Cherries	222 mg	1/2 cup, 77 g	171 mg
Pear	116 mg	1 medium, 178 g	206 mg
Peach	190 mg	1 medium, 150 g	285 mg
Raspberries	151 mg	1/2 cup, 62 g	94 mg

This is good news, not bad news. It means the fruits you were told to skip are mostly a portion question. Half a pear is about 103 mg. Half a peach is about 143 mg. Nothing has to leave the kitchen; it just gets cut smaller and counted.

Which fruits are lowest in potassium?

Ranked by a realistic serving, lowest first. The carbohydrate column is there because so many people reading a kidney list are also watching blood sugar.

Fruit	Serving	Potassium mg	Carbs g
Cranberries	1/2 cup	44	7
Blueberries	1/2 cup	57	11
Pineapple	1/2 cup	90	11
Raspberries	1/2 cup	94	7
Plum	1 medium	104	8
Blackberries	1/2 cup	117	7
Strawberries	1/2 cup	127	6
Mango	1/2 cup	138	12
Grapes	1/2 cup	145	14
Tangerine	1 medium	146	12
Watermelon	1 cup, diced	170	11
Cherries	1/2 cup	171	12
Apricots, fresh	2 apricots	181	8
Honeydew	1/2 cup, diced	194	8
Apple	1 medium	195	25
Pear	1 medium	206	27
Cantaloupe	1/2 cup, diced	214	7
Kiwifruit	1 medium	215	10
Orange	1 medium	237	15
Peach	1 medium	285	14
Banana	1 medium	422	27

Nothing on this list is off limits. The ones at the bottom are the ones to portion and count, and a banana is the clearest example of that.

What happens when fruit is dried?

The water leaves and the potassium stays, so the same fruit changes sides. This is why dried fruit shows up on every kidney warning list while its fresh version sits on the friendly one:

1 medium plum to 5 prunes104 mg → 307 mg
1/2 cup grapes to 1/4 cup raisins145 mg → 268 mg
2 fresh apricots to 1/4 cup dried181 mg → 383 mg

Look at the second column and then at the portions. A quarter cup of raisins is a small handful that disappears in a minute. Half a cup of grapes is a proper bowl of fruit and still lower. Fresh gives you more food, more water and more of the feeling of having eaten something.

Juice works differently, and it is worth being precise. Squeezing fruit does not concentrate the potassium much: apple juice holds about 101 mg per 100 g against 107 mg for a whole apple. The catch is behavioural: a glass goes down in seconds, and without the fibre you would have chewed through, it takes several oranges to fill a glass and none of them fill you. Whole fruit is the better habit, and breakfast is where juice does most of its damage.

What if you also have diabetes?

Fruit is where the two sets of advice can pull apart, so it helps to read both columns of the table above at once. Berries win on both counts: half a cup of raspberries is 94 mg of potassium and 7 g of carbohydrate, strawberries 127 mg and 6 g, blackberries 117 mg and 7 g. Low potassium, low sugar, high fibre: the berries are the rare case where both columns agree completely.

Two places the columns disagree. A pear is a moderate potassium choice at 206 mg but carries 27 g of carbohydrate, the same as a banana, so with diabetes the half-pear portion is doing double work. Cantaloupe is the reverse: 214 mg of potassium for only 7 g of carbohydrate, so it reads worse on the kidney column than on the sugar one.

Dried fruit is the one place both columns agree loudly. A quarter cup of raisins is 268 mg of potassium and 29 g of carbohydrate, more carbohydrate than a whole banana, in a handful you barely notice eating. Most kidney diet advice stops at the first number; if you are managing both, the second one matters just as much, and the diabetic kidney disease diet guide takes the conflict food by food.

How we calculated these numbers

Potassium and carbohydrate values come from USDA FoodData Central (Standard Reference legacy), for raw fruit at the gram weights shown in the serving column, which is why a "medium" fruit is written with its weight. Serving weights are USDA's own measure weights for one medium fruit or a half cup. The daily figure used for scale is the roughly 2,000 mg a day many renal diets work from; it is a reference, not a personal limit. How much potassium you should have, if you need to limit it at all, is set by your kidney stage and your blood test results, which your care team tracks.

Sources

· USDA FoodData Central (nutrient values, Standard Reference legacy)
· National Kidney Foundation: Potassium and Your CKD Diet

MedMenu is an information tool, not medical advice, and does not diagnose, treat, or manage any condition. Your nephrologist and renal dietitian set your personal targets from your labs and stage. Published July 21, 2026 · Last updated July 21, 2026.

Common questions

What fruits are lowest in potassium?

Per half cup, cranberries at about 44 mg, blueberries at 57 mg, pineapple at 90 mg, raspberries at 94 mg and blackberries at 117 mg. A medium plum is about 104 mg. Berries and pineapple are the reliable everyday choices.

Is a pear low in potassium?

By weight yes, about 116 mg per 100 g. But a whole medium pear weighs 178 g, so it lands near 206 mg. Half a pear is about 103 mg. The fruit is fine; the size of the piece is what makes the number.

Are dried fruits high in potassium?

Yes. Drying removes water and concentrates what is left. One fresh plum is about 104 mg, five prunes about 307 mg. Half a cup of grapes is about 145 mg, a quarter cup of raisins about 268 mg. Fresh fruit gives you much more food for the same potassium.

How much fruit can you eat with kidney disease?

There is no single answer. Potassium targets vary by kidney stage and blood test results, and many people in early stages are not asked to limit potassium at all. Against the roughly 2,000 mg a day many renal diets work from, two or three servings of lower-potassium fruit fit comfortably. Your care team sets your number.

Low potassium fruits, by real serving