I Asked 3 Chefs How To Fix Over-Salted Food—Here’s What Actually Works

Have you ever tasted a dish to see if it's ready, only to discover that you've completely over-salted it? Trust me. Even chefs sometimes have this moment of panic! You don't have to throw away the entire dish. In professional kitchens, chefs have to problem-solve, so I asked three of them how to salvage a too-salty dinner.

The Expert Problem Solvers

• Conor Seargant: Former executive chef for Wheelhouse and Sassetta
• Lawman Johnson: Recipe developer at Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street
• Mark Huxsoll: Former test cook for Cook’s Country at America’s Test Kitchen

4 Ways To Fix Food That's Too Salty

• Add liquid to dilute the dish. If you're making a sauce or soup that turns out too salty, Sergeant suggests adding more liquid to dilute the saltiness.
• Add something starchy. He also recommends adding a neutral starch, like potatoes, pasta, or rice, to balance an overly salty soup. Starchy ingredients will absorb some of the salty broth, redistributing the salt so that there's less in the liquid and more in the food. It'll help the soup seem less salty. Blending potatoes into a soup will help make it thick and creamy, too.

• Stir in some kind of fat. When fixing an overly salty sauce, Huxsoll adds fat, such as butter, cream, or olive oil. Fat helps reduce the perceived saltiness of a sauce by coating the tongue, which dulls the sharpness of salty flavors. It also adds richness that balances and softens the overall taste, making the sauce feel smoother and less harsh.
• Add an acidic ingredient. Although Johnson is cautious about adding salt, on the rare occasion when over-salting occurs, he adds lemon juice or another type of acid, like vinegar. Acid helps an overly salted dish by balancing flavors and distracting the palate. Ingredients like lemon juice or vinegar don’t remove salt, but their bright, tangy notes cut through the saltiness, making it feel less intense. The result is a more balanced and rounded flavor.

How To Season Like a Pro

It may be too late to go back now, but here are a few small kitchen tricks to help prevent over-salting next time.

• Season lightly. “As a rule, I don’t really have a heavy hand when it comes to salt,” says Johnson. While it's important to season as you go to boost flavor, you can always add more salt toward the end of the cooking time.
• Taste as you cook. Keep a teaspoon near the stove. Sometimes I forget whether I've salted something! I like to taste the food as you go, especially when I'm making more ambitious homemade soups.