What to do if you over-salted a dish - 9 ways to correct the situation

Don’t rush to throw a finished, over-salted dish into the trash; the situation can still be corrected and the food returned to normal. The best culinary methods of experienced housewives will tell you how to achieve this and what to use. Thanks to the application of small tricks in practice, no one will guess that you made a mistake, since the food itself will acquire a normal, pleasant taste.

Add an absorbent product

Some products have beneficial absorbent properties, e.g. able to absorb excess salt. Such products include potatoes, starchy cereals, pasta, and fresh herbs. So, in an over-salted soup, you can put a few chopped potatoes or add 100-150 g of rice - these ingredients will absorb excess salt. If you don’t want to spoil the dish with extra food, you can put the potatoes in whole so that they can be easily taken out later, and place the cereals in the soup in a fabric bag.

We'll have to tinker

It’s a little more difficult to correct the situation if you happen to over-salt the soup. It would seem that there is nothing simpler: add water to such a soup and cook a little more. But leave this method as a last resort, otherwise you risk hopelessly ruining the taste of the soup. It’s great if you have unsalted broth in stock - you can dilute the soup with it without any damage to its organoleptic properties. If you don't have such broth, try keeping a bag of rice in the soup. Rice is an excellent absorbent and will quickly absorb excess salt. Some housewives use refined sugar to correct the taste. A piece of sugar is placed in a tablespoon and immersed in the soup. The melted sugar is replaced with new sugar - and this is repeated several times until the salt level in the soup becomes acceptable. Regular potatoes and pasta are good absorbents. If your soup recipe allows it, just add more of these ingredients. If there are no potatoes in the original recipe, put a couple of peeled potatoes into the soup and remove after 10-15 minutes. The potatoes will absorb the salt and not spoil the taste of the soup.

Goulash and roasts that contain too much salt can be corrected with sour cream. The meat is placed in a cup with sour cream and allowed to cool. If you don’t want to bother with transferring the meat, add an unleavened butter or flour sauce to the bowl with the meat. A bland side dish can also save the situation.

Over-salted minced meat can be saved by finely chopped cabbage, raw zucchini or grated potatoes. These “additives” will make the cutlets even more tender and juicy. As a last resort, you can replay everything, and instead of cutlets, make meatballs or cabbage rolls, adding rice to the over-salted minced meat.

Tomatoes and other vegetables will remove excess salt from vegetable stew. Chop them finely and add them to the dish, which you continue to cook over the fire. Whole cooked vegetables will release excess salt if you pour boiling water over them and cook for a few minutes. Boiling water, of course, must be unsalted. Mushrooms can also benefit from bland sauces, an extra serving of new mushrooms, sour cream, or an unsalted side dish in the form of rice or mashed potatoes.

But, generally speaking, to prevent such situations from arising, you should not salt the dish immediately, but a few minutes before it is ready, or intentionally under-salt it. After all, it’s always easier to add salt than to correct something that’s too salty.

Add a fresh or sparkling side dish

If you have oversalted the main dish and it can no longer be corrected, serve this dish with a simple side dish - cereal porridge, unsalted mashed potatoes or stewed vegetables without salt. Everything together will turn out to be more harmonious in taste. If you don’t have time to prepare a side dish, serve sparkling wine or champagne with an over-salted dish - the bubbles it contains will neutralize the excess saltiness right on the tongue, and a couple of glasses will allow you to completely forget about the failed dish.

Now you know how you can save an over-salted dish. However, be moderate - it’s better to under-salt than to correct the taste of the finished dish later!

As easy as pie

The easiest way to revive over-salted rice. Simply rinse the bag of rice in cold water (longer if necessary) or boil it in unsalted water for a few minutes. Using the same principle, you can “desalt” pasta, buckwheat and other cereals. The main thing is not to overdo it, so that something shapeless, although moderately salted, does not end up on the plate.

Over-salted cabbage from a jar that you brought from your grandmother can also be reanimated with running cold water. It’s a pity, of course, that the brine containing vitamins and minerals will be lost. But if you chop fresh onions into washed cabbage and add vegetable oil, it can turn out very well. Pickled cucumbers, for which no salt was spared, also feel great when soaked in cold water.

Also, soaking in cold water can make over-salted fish suitable for consumption. To do this, you just need to fill small fish (sprat, sprat) with water, changing it periodically, and cut large fish (herring) into pieces before soaking so that the salt comes out faster. Sometimes water is replaced with milk. After two to three hours, the fish should be washed and the degree of edibility assessed. If there is still too much salt, repeat the procedure.

Over-salted dough, especially for dumplings and dumplings, is also easy to fix: you just need to knead another portion of dough without adding salt and combine it with the over-salted dough.

There is no need to be upset about an over-salted salad made from fresh vegetables. Add a couple more cucumbers, tomatoes, more greens and herbs, and you will get a lot of great salad with a wonderful taste.

Why is jerky dangerous?

In addition, the product contains purines, which are broken down to form uric acid, so its abuse carries the risk of joint pain, osteochondrosis, joint deformation, exacerbation of gastritis or pancreatitis, and stomach ulcers.

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What to do if you over-salted fried meat with gravy?

Not all over-salted dishes can be saved. But if you over-salted the meat when frying it with gravy, there is hope to correct all this. For example, it happens that instead of once you heavily salted the dish twice. Then the recipe will still have to be changed. And now you need to fry a portion of the dish twice as large or cook not meat with gravy, but a vegetable stew, etc. More details below.

Over-salted the meat with gravy

Ways to eliminate over-salting of a dish:

1. Over-salting of meat can be eliminated by preparing a serving twice or maybe three times larger. It’s just that you don’t need to salt the food for the second time.
2. In the worst case scenario, you will have to use water. Yes, the taste of the dish will be somewhat lost if you dilute the gravy with water, but sometimes strong oversalting cannot be eliminated otherwise. To improve the taste, add sour cream or tomato juice to the sauce. It depends on what kind of gravy you prepare. And such products will not worsen the taste of the dish itself; on the contrary, they will not only correct the over-salting, but also make the taste richer, and the meat softer and more tender.

IMPORTANT: An unsalted side dish goes well with over-salted meat and gravy. As mentioned above, you can use rice, buckwheat, pasta, but it is best to use mashed potatoes for a side dish. Prepare it with milk and butter. And under no circumstances add salt. Meat and gravy will serve as a salty dish for potatoes.

Here on the portal you can also read articles on the topic of oversalting if you follow the links:

1. Over-salting food is a sign;
2. What to do if you over-salted the jellied meat?
3. What to do if you oversalt the minced meat?
4. I over-salted my fried potatoes and mashed potatoes – what should I do?
5. I over-salted the kebab - tips;
6. I over-salted fried fish - how to fix it?
7. I over-salted the chicken - how to save the dish?
8. What to do if you over-salt your soup?
9. Is it possible to over-salt lard?

Dough

Add another portion of unsalted dough (Photo: pixabay.com)
Knead half a portion of dough without salt and mix with salted dough. This option is suitable if you are preparing unleavened dough for dumplings or flatbreads. Yeast dough for pies and pies, in addition to an additional portion, can be corrected with unsalted filling.

Add some water, milk, flour and sugar to the pancake batter. You can also make another portion and add it to the salted one. You'll just end up with more pancakes.

See our recipe with photos: Kefir dough for pies.

Cereals and pasta

Anton Magdyuk suggests doing something simple with over-salted cereal: rinse it. But it’s impossible to over-salt pasta, no matter how hard you try: it won’t take more salt than it needs. “As a last resort, just add unsalted sauce to the pasta,” the chef adds.

Article on the topic

Black bread and mineral water. Which foods contain the most salt? “Cereals can not only be washed, but also additionally boiled in water to remove excess salt,” says Ridvan Kochaslan. - This method is applicable to large fraction cereals - rice, buckwheat, pearl barley - as well as pasta. Just don't overdo it, otherwise they will lose their shape and taste.

In thick porridges cooked with milk, you just need to add liquid. Add the same milk to the pan, add a little sugar - and that’s it, the taste will delight you again.”

What can be made from dry shish kebab?

Save dried out kebab

can be sauces such as ketchup, tomato paste, mayonnaise, etc.
You can also put lard on the skewers (between the pieces) and simmer the kebab
for a couple of minutes on the coals. Simmer, not fry.

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Cutlets

Make meatballs from over-salted minced meat (Photo: pixabay.com)
If you over-salted the minced meat for cutlets, add grated potatoes or zucchini to it. These vegetables will make the taste more delicate and draw off excess salt.

Place the minced meat on another dish - zrazy, meatballs or cabbage rolls. The added rice will act as an adsorbent.

See our recipes with photos: Beef cutlets in a frying pan and Minced meat for dumplings, a classic recipe.

☝ How much salt to put in pilaf and at what point

For 1 kg of meat and 1 kg of rice, 1.5 tbsp is enough. l. salt.

Chicken and pork cook quickly, so add salt before adding rice. See pilaf recipes here.

See also: How to cook porridge. Table with the correct proportions of cereals and liquids.

Lamb and beef take longer to cook; it is better to add salt in stages: the first time while stewing the meat, the second time at the end, adding salt to taste.

The main guideline is your taste! Taste the pilaf and evaluate the degree of salinity during its preparation.

Goulash

Serve the goulash with an unsalted side dish (Photo: pixabay.com)
Sour cream will correct the stew. Just place the meat pieces in a bowl with sour cream and let sit for a few minutes. You can also mix tomato paste with spices, flour, water and simmer along with the meat.

Prepare an unsalted side dish for over-salted goulash - vegetables or rice. The products will equalize each other.

Fish

Place fried fish on the pie, sprinkle with lemon or serve with an unsalted side dish (Photo: pixabay.com)
Place fried or baked fish in the pie. Mix with unsalted rice, onions and cover with dough. You can also serve salted fish with unsalted side dishes: potatoes, rice, vegetables.

If you want to preserve elastic pieces and give them a delicate taste, place the finished fish in a baking dish, pour sour cream and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Sour cream will collect excess salt.

Soak lightly salted and barrel herring in water. To ensure that the salt is washed well, cut large fish into pieces. Rinse, try and refill with water if necessary.

Fried fish goes well with lemon. Pour lemon juice over the finished dish or cover it with slices. The lemon will pick up the salt and add flavor.

Soup

The soup will be saved by peeled raw potatoes (Photo: pixabay.com)
You will have to tinker with the soup. Logic dictates that you can add more water or dilute with unsalted broth. Be sure to bring to a boil.

If you don’t want to dilute the rich soup, immerse a whole raw potato or a handful of rice into the pan. These products will absorb some of the salt. Remove the potatoes after 10-15 minutes and eat as a main course.

Either leave the rice in the soup or immerse it in a cheesecloth (bag) with holes and remove it after a few minutes.

See our recipe with photos: Chicken noodle soup.