Abstract: Iron is an essential nutrient for maintaining red blood cell metabolism and assisting bone marrow hematopoiesis. Iron deficiency can cause various diseases, such as anemia, stunted growth, and premature birth in pregnant women. As a new iron supplement product, peptide iron chelate has been used as a new ideal iron supplement in recent years because of its advantages of high absorption rate, safety, and no side effects. This paper mainly reviewed the preparation of foodborne peptides and peptide iron chelates and the factors affecting their chelation activity, explored the iron-binding mechanism of peptides, summarized their binding sites and chelation patterns, further analyzed their conformational changes and intermolecular forces, and summarized how they promote iron bioavailability. The aim is to provide a reference for developing and applying iron peptide chelates in functional foods and new iron supplements.