Food & Receipts

10 Tips to Fix Overly Salty Food

During the cooking process, there are times when we encounter the situation of having food that is too salty, resulting in the loss of its delicious and enticing flavor. Here are 8 simple tips to help you acquire the skills and experience to handle such situations. However, when a dish is too salty, it is important to remain calm and consider the appropriate method to apply, without using multiple methods that may cause the dish to lose its distinct taste and aroma.

Administrator

15 December, 2023

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This is the simplest and most reasonable way for salty soups, soups or braised dishes. Water will dissolve salt and make the dish less salty, but don’t boil it away because then the added water will evaporate and the dish will remain salty.

Raw potatoes

This is a trick that many people have known and passed on to each other for a long time. Potatoes can absorb salt from food, so they are often used when cooking soups, simmering bones, and cooking salty soups. You just need to peel and cut them into large pieces and then add them to the simmering soup. Leave them in until the soup is ready to be served.

Fresh lemon juice or rice vinegar

Lemon juice not only helps rescue salty food, but also helps to retain the flavor of the dish. However, if the dish you are cooking with salty products contains dairy, avoid using lemon juice as the acid in lemon when combined with dairy products will cause a reaction that leads to precipitation, making the dish even saltier.

Similarly, we cannot use rice vinegar to reduce the saltiness of dairy-based products. However, rice vinegar can still save other dishes from being salty with just 1-2 tablespoons. However, add it gradually and taste again to make sure the dish is to your liking.

Plain yogurt or tomatoes

For dairy products (cream, cheese…) that cannot be diluted with lemon juice, use plain yogurt to increase the acidity and mitigate the saltiness of the food.

For tomatoes, slice them thickly and add them to the dish about 15-20 minutes before eating to allow the tomatoes to absorb the salt and balance the flavor of the food.

Use sugar or honey

If the food is salty, you can use sweetness to neutralize it. At this point, sugar or honey is an excellent choice to both reduce the saltiness of the food and make it more delicious.

Egg whites

For soups and broths, instead of using tomatoes or potatoes, you can also use raw egg whites (chicken or duck eggs) to absorb the saltiness of the salt. Add the whole raw egg whites to the soup without beating them and let them simmer for 5 minutes before scooping them out.

Depending on the amount of salt and water in the soup, you can adjust the amount of egg whites to achieve the best dilution effect.

Use unsweetened yogurt to reduce the saltiness of dairy dishes

For dairy-based dishes such as cream cheese, whipped cream, or butter chicken curry. If they accidentally become too salty, you can use unsweetened plain yogurt to season it to reduce the saltiness and make it much milder. Note that you should use unsweetened yogurt to achieve the desired effect without altering the flavor of the dish.

Tomatoes neutralize the saltiness

If you don’t have lemons, yogurt or potatoes, you can also use thickly sliced tomatoes and soak them in the dish for 15 to 20 minutes. The natural sourness of tomatoes will neutralize the saltiness of the dish, until you start eating, then remove the tomatoes. However, using tomatoes is less effective than the methods above because the acidity of tomatoes is very mild. If none of the above ingredients are available, then use tomatoes.

Honey reduces the saltiness of the dish

Honey really helps reduce the saltiness and enhance the rich flavor of soups, braised dishes, and soups thanks to its natural sweet and fragrant taste. A small spoonful of honey will help you solve the difficult problem, making the dish less salty and more delicious. You can also use sugar as a substitute, but honey is much more effective.

Wrap rice with a cloth

You can use a thin cloth or muslin cloth to wrap some cooked rice and then add it to the soup. The rice will absorb some of the salt in the soup, helping to reduce the saltiness of the soup that should have been delicious.