low sodium recipes
Low-sodium
Home cooks and caregivers who need flavor with less salt.
These pages use larger type. They are for people cooking with less salt, including older adults and the caregivers who feed them.
Low-sodium cooking here means no-salt-added beans and tomatoes, water instead of salty carton broth, and flavor from garlic, onion, lemon, vinegar, pepper, and herbs. A common public target is 2,300 mg of sodium a day. Some people are asked to stay near 1,500 mg. If a clinician gave you a number, use that number.
This is not a cardiac diet and not medical advice. It will not treat blood pressure. It is a way to stop a seasoning packet from spending the day's sodium before dinner.
Read labels with the sodium tracker. The gap between two brands of the same food is often the whole lesson. Cottage cheese, bread, tortillas, deli meat, and bottled sauce move the total faster than a careful pot of soup.
Related reading: soft meals if chewing is also part of the problem, and the label guide.
Ideas in this collection
A low-sodium grocery list
The low-sodium list is specific: no-salt-added beans and tomatoes, plain yogurt, fresh or frozen vegetables, fruit, unsalted nuts if you want them, and the plain.
A lower-sodium holiday plate
A holiday plate can include the foods that matter and still skip the saltiest sides. Put the plain turkey and potatoes on the plate first, and use gravy only if you.
Cooking with less added salt
Cooking with less salt is a sequence: unsalted water for grains, no packet in the pot, acid at the end, and a decision about the plate.
How to read sodium on a label
Read milligrams of sodium and the serving size before you read any claim on the front. A serving that is half of what you will eat means you double the number.
Low-sodium beans and lentils
Dry lentils and no-salt-added beans are the pantry version of a careful meal. Rinsing a regular can helps and does not make it a no-salt food.
Low-sodium breakfasts
A lower-sodium breakfast is oats, eggs, fruit, or plain yogurt, not a sausage biscuit and a salty cheese.
Low-sodium chicken dinners
Chicken is naturally modest in sodium until a brine, a sauce, or a rotisserie seasoning gets involved.
Low-sodium cooking for caregivers
Caregivers need meals that are lower in salt and still easy to chew and reheat. Cook a plain soup or a soft chicken, portion it, and label the date in large letters.
Low-sodium dinners
A low-sodium dinner can still be chicken, fish, or a stew. Skip the seasoning packet and the salty sauce, and put lemon or vinegar on at the end so it tastes finished.
Low-sodium fish dinners
Fish dinners stay lower in sodium when you skip soy sauce and salty spice rubs. Lemon, dill, and olive oil are enough for salmon or cod.
Low-sodium lunches
Deli meat is the lunch that looks small and costs a lot of sodium. Roast your own turkey or open a can that says no salt added, and build the box from that.
Low-sodium meal prep for the week
A low-sodium week is easier if the salty foods never enter the fridge. Prep two plain proteins, one pot of beans or soup, and breakfasts from oats or eggs.
Low-sodium recipes
Low-sodium cooking is mostly a shopping habit: no-salt-added cans, water instead of carton broth, and flavor from garlic, lemon, vinegar, and pepper.
Low-sodium sauces and dressings
A lower-sodium sauce is yogurt and lemon, crushed tomato with herbs, or vinegar and oil. Bottled dressing and soy sauce are where careful cooking goes to disappear.
Low-sodium seasoning that tastes like something
Salt-free seasoning is garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, pepper, cumin, oregano, and lemon zest, mixed because you like it.
Low-sodium side dishes
Potatoes, rice, greens, and roasted vegetables are the sides that do not need a salty sauce.
Low-sodium slow meals
Long cooks make meat soft without a salty packet. Use water, tomato paste, and herbs in the pot, and give chuck or chicken the time to shred.
Low-sodium snacks
Lower-sodium snacks are fruit, plain yogurt, unsalted popcorn you season yourself, or a few vegetables.
Low-sodium soups
Soup is either a careful meal or a salt delivery system. Start with water and the ingredients.
Weeknight dinners with less salt
A weeknight dinner with less salt: a vegetable, a plain protein, and a method you can cook while tired. Not a cholesterol plan.
Articles
Unsalted stock and two sauces
A pot of chicken water, a yogurt sauce, and a tomato sauce will season a week without a packet.
A salt-free seasoning jar
A paprika, garlic, and pepper mix you can keep by the stove, plus the warning about potassium substitutes.
How to read a label for sodium and protein
Serving size first, then milligrams and grams. The front of the package is advertising.
Flavor when you cook with less salt
Acid, browned onions, and no-salt-added cans do more for a low-sodium kitchen than a sad shaker of herbs.