How to reduce salt in cooked food

Oversalting is a cook's worst nightmare, but you can recover from this all too common kitchen mistake with any one of these easy fixes. 

Dilute your dish

Adding a little bit of extra liquid can be a quick and simple way to correct oversalting a meal.  Just be extra careful not to dilute the delicious flavours that have been cultivated.  Here's how to do it: 

• Remove about ½ cup of the sauce and discard. Then replace the same amount of removed sauce with either salt-reduced stock, wine or unsalted tomato passata.
   
• Adding a liquid high in fat is another great alternative. Try plain yoghurt, coconut cream, cream or milk.
   
• A good rule of thumb is to add something that will dilute the salt but not the flavour, so don't use plain water; get creative and add something with a little extra oomph but not extra salt.
   

Double up

Kill two birds with one stone by doubling up the recipe.  Of course, you'll need some spare ingredients on hand but this approach will save your dish and put a few extra meals in the freezer ready for that time when you haven't done the shopping.  Here's what to do: 

• Make a second batch of the recipe BUT be sure to omit the salt completely.  If you've used full-flavoured, ready-made stock, then ideally go for a salt-reduced version.  If that's not possible, try replacing the stock with water.
   
• When the second batch is ready, simply mix it in with the original (now too salty) batch a little at a time until the saltiness has been balanced.

Bulk Up 

Give your recipe an extra dose of fibre, and quickly reduce the saltiness of your dish by adding any extra vegetables you may have on hand in the fridge, freezer or pantry. Try foods such as zucchini, greens like spinach or even sweet potato chunks. This will not only bulk up the dish but will help to dilute the saltiness as the extra vegetables simmer and release their liquid.
 

Sugar hit

Depending on the type of recipe, adding a little sugar or alternatives such as maple syrup or honey can help to balance the saltiness of the dish. This works wonderfully in Asian cuisines or any tomato-based dish. Start by adding very small amounts, stir well and taste constantly before deciding to add more.
 

Tart it up

Adding a splash of something acidic such as vinegar, lemon juice or even wine to an over-salted dish can help to correct your meal and give it an extra tasty tang. Begin by adding a tablespoon at a time, stir well and taste.

HOT TIP: Add the acid at the end of the cooking time to avoid curdling any dairy that may be in the dish.
 

Add a starch

Adding a small amount of starchy food such as rice, barley, quinoa, pasta or couscous can help to absorb a salty sauce. Depending on the dish, simmer or bake it with a splash of extra liquid to allow the grains to absorb the excess salt. 

Salt is one of the most essential ingredients in any recipe (some cooks, like Ina Garten and Chrissy Teigen, even have specific types of salt they use). But when you add too much of it to a dish, it can be overwhelming. It seems easier to fix a recipe when it’s too spicy or too sweet, but there’s something about the flavor of salt that just permeates every element of a dish. Luckily, our years of binge-watching Food Network and obsessively reading food magazines have come in handy. There are chefs far smarter than us who have strategies for fixing food that’s too salty. These tips will help you save your dinner the next time you’re a little too generous with the fleur de sel.

1. Add yogurt

Chef Marc Maron shared this advice on an episode of Chopped. If you make a sauce that’s too salty, you can add some yogurt. The creamy tanginess will help tame and dilute the salinity.

2. Add more liquid

If a soup or stew is too salty, chef and cookbook author Sarah Moulton recommends adding more water (or unsalted broth or stock) to dilute it.

3. Add puréed white rice

Rachel Ray recommends adding cooked white rice puréed with water to soups or stews that are over-salted, which helps tame the salty flavor without making your dish watery.

4. Double the recipe

Ray also says that one of the best remedies is simply doubling the recipe, omitting the salt on your second go-round.

5. Use low-sodium ingredients

The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond says that you should use low-sodium stocks and broths in your recipes, so you can control the level of salt yourself. She also recommends adding unsalted broth to gravy made with drippings from brined turkeys to help make it less salty while still adding big flavor.

6. Add lemon juice

Giada de Laurentiis recommends cutting salt with some tart lemon juice. The acidity helps balance your dish.

7. Make a roux

Cookbook author and New York Times writer Melissa Clark says that if a gravy or sauce is too salty, you can add a roux made from butter and flour to the pan.

8. Pair with something fatty

Gail Simmons, Top Chef judge and food writer, pairs overly salted veggies with a mild cheese like fresh mozzarella or ricotta, and adds more butter or oil to dressings and sauces that are too salty.

9. Add dairy

Cookbook author Ellen Brown adds milk or cream to soups that are too salty — the richness helps balance the salinity.

10. Don’t use potato

You may have heard that adding a potato to an overly salty soup or stew can help “absorb” the sodium, but that’s a myth. In his book What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained, author Robert Wolke conducted several controlled experiments to determine if the technique was successful. The potatoes did absorb the salty liquid, but the liquid that was left over was still just as salty. Instead, use one of the methods above to tame your overly seasoned dishes.

With these tips, you’ll never have to sit through a mouth-shrivelingly salty dish again or *gasp* throw out a meal because you added too much salt.

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(Photo via pompi/Pixabay)

Justina Huddleston

Justina Huddleston is a food writer living in Los Angeles. When she's not busy writing, she spends her time in the kitchen creating both virtuous and decidedly junky vegan food. Buffalo chickpea pizza, anyone? She's also been known to eat a plain block of tofu or beans straight out of the can for lunch, but somehow those culinary adventures don't make it to her Instagram. You can follow Justina on Twitter or see what's cooking in her kitchen on her blog, A Life of Little Pleasures.