6 Ways to Add a Touch of Flavor to Your Food Without Using Salt

You may not be aware of the amount of salt you eat as part of your diet, but if you started to measure it, we’re sure that you’d be surprised. Yet, it’s very important to try to eat a low sodium diet. Doing so will help you better take care of your heart and blood pressure. That’s why today 5-Minute Crafts wanted to suggest a few ideas to spice up your meals and give them flavor without adding salt.

1. Make a sofrito

• Sofrito is a healthy way to season your food and enhance its flavor without having to use salt. Usually, it’s made with 3 common ingredients: olive oil, garlic, and onion.
• Use it as a base before frying meats, and when cooking stews, soups, and rice, or when preparing pasta sauces. Sofrito is also the base for Spanish paella.

• In a pan, add a little bit of olive oil. You can also use coconut oil instead. Then stir-fry the garlic and onion.
• Once these are translucent, you can also add fresh cilantro, carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes, as well as a few pieces of low sodium ham for more texture.

2. Caramelize onions

• Onions are rich in antioxidants and help reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. You can caramelize them to season or garnish your dishes.

• Slice the onion lengthwise in thin strips. In a frying pan, add a tablespoon of unsalted butter or a drizzle of olive oil. When the pan is very hot, stir-fry them until they soften and wait until they reabsorb the liquids they released.

• Cook over medium-high heat for at least one hour, depending on the amount of onion you’re dealing with, time may vary.

Caramelized onions will turn golden brown. You do not need to add sugar or honey, the natural sugars of the onions will do the trick.

You can mix them with sour cream, cream cheese, and black pepper to taste. You will then have a spread that’s perfect on bread or crackers.

You can also use them as add-ons next time you make hamburgers, mashed potatoes, or grilled meat of any kind.

3. Add vinaigrette to your meats and vegetables

• White vinegar and balsamic vinegar dressing go with a great variety of foods. You’d think you can only use these for salads, but meat, fish, seafood, cooked vegetables, and many types of greens combine perfectly with them.

• You can mix white vinegar or balsamic vinegar with olive oil and a little bit of ground pepper. Add it to your fresh salads with a few drops of lemon juice.

4. Marinate meats

• Marinating is a common culinary technique that allows you to enhance your dish’s flavor. It involves letting meats or other foods soak in a seasoning liquid for a certain amount of time, sometimes even overnight.

• Doing that softens and seasons the products you’re about to use before they are cooked.

• To enhance the flavor of your meats without adding salt, you can marinate them for at least one hour. Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a dash of lemon, and a couple of peeled garlic cloves.

• Another marinade you can use for your meat is to mix Greek yogurt with various spices, such as paprika, thyme, garlic, pepper, and parsley, and then add a few drops of lemon juice.

• Combine all the ingredients well and spread the resulting marinade over the meat, in our case we are using chicken.

• Let the seasoning work for at least 2 hours before putting the meat in the oven or on the grill.

5. Use fresh herbs for cooking

• Cook with fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, and sage. They will provide you with a delicious aroma and enhance the flavor of your food in general.

• You can season broths and soups by adding a teaspoon of oregano or a couple of bay leaves.

• When preparing potatoes from the oven, pour a little olive oil over them and a teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary, thyme or both.

• Instead of using salt, add ground black pepper.

6. Replace bread and other carbohydrates with vegetables

• The sodium content (salt) can be high in processed products like bread, crackers, snacks, and tortillas that you might buy at the supermarket.

• For example, if you wanted to turn a burrito into a healthier dish, instead of using the processed wheat flour tortillas you got at the supermarket, use one or more lettuce leaves to wrap veggies or other baked goods. You can also make a sofrito and then cook chicken or meat with it.

• Similarly, you could replace the buns in your hamburger with one large tomato cut in half.

• By doing so, you’ll have prepared dishes without using salt, giving them flavor with other ingredients and seasonings.

Suggestions

• Check with a physician or a specialist before making any changes in your diet.
• When buying your products, always read the label and look for products where the packaging reads “low in sodium,” “low salt content,” or “salt-free.”
• Avoid consuming onion salt or garlic salt. Instead, go for fresh onion and garlic. You can chop it, slice it, or ground it. It’s easy and versatile.
• Do not add salt when cooking rice, pasta, or hot cereals. Use a sofrito for seasoning.
• When using canned beans and vegetables, rinse them with plenty of water to help remove the added sodium often used as a condiment.
• When you feel like having a snack, replace potato chips with carrot sticks or celery sticks.