Kitchen mis-measurers and victims of loosened salt-shakers, rejoice! There is a cure to your oversalted dish. The kitchen cats at Stack Exchange offer techniques to unsalt your overseasoned foods.


Illustration by Sean Gallagher.

How do I fix food that got extra salty?

I imagine this depends on what the food is. With spaghetti, you can add water or change water if you detect it on time. But what about grilled meat? Or a tomato sauce?


— Originally asked by Vinko Vrsalovic

Answer: Raw Potato

Slice a raw potato and add it to the over-salted sauce. As it cooks it'll draw in the salty liquid.

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You may need to add more liquids to keep the sauce from drying out.

— Answered by Kev

Answer: More Food

1. Determine correct ratio of food to salt.

2. Add more food until proper ratio is achieved.


Or just serve extra beer with it.

— Answered by Shog9

Answer: Under-Season & Adjust

Good practice is to under-season food when cooking and adjust, the seasoning at the end if necessary. It's very difficult to fix over-seasoned food at the end of cooking, and excess salt is also bad for your health.


— Answered by LeopardSkinPillBoxHat

Answer: Lemon

I sometimes add a bit of lemon juice...works to a degree.

— Answered by Tobias Op Den Brouw

Answer: Parsley

Parsley, or other very leafy stuff. Specifically, I've noticed that adding parsley to a dish that's too salty works wonders. It's good for almost any sauce you're making, as well as pasta or casserole. Probably won't work so well with over-salted meat though. Perhaps a parsley and mint sauce for the meat?


— Answered by Carmi

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