Salt calculator

Practical tools, grounded in the books. Make them work for your kitchen.

Approximate salt equivalents; check labels. This is a per-person daily estimate, not a full diet record. Recipe salt is per serving. Avoid double-counting condiments already included in a recipe.

0.00 g salt / 5 g WHO daily line

Below the daily line; other meals and packaged foods also count.

Soy sauce, regular — 1 tbsp · 2.4 g saltTamari — 1 tbsp · 2.4 g saltDoenjang — 1 tbsp · 2.2 g saltMiso — 1 tbsp (18 g) · 2.1 g saltTable salt — ¼ tsp · 1.5 g saltSoy sauce, reduced-salt — 1 tbsp · 1.4 g saltMiso soup — 1 bowl · 1.3 g saltKombu dashi — 1 cup · 0.1 g saltFind recipe servings

Halving the salt without losing flavour

Make a strong kombu dashi — its natural umami lets you use less soy and miso.
Use reduced-salt soy sauce and measure it with a spoon; add it at the end of cooking, where the taste is strongest.
Dilute dipping sauces with water, vinegar or dashi; dip lightly.
Drink half the broth of noodle soups, not all of it.
Eat pickles in teaspoon portions; rinse them, and choose quick pickles (asazuke) over long-fermented ones.
Use ginger, sesame, citrus, coriander, toasted spices and a pinch of jaggery to round out flavour.
Every recipe in this book shows estimated salt per serving, including salt from soy sauce and miso.

Read the salt and older-heart chapter