Low-Sodium Recipes – NYT Cooking

You don’t have to use a lot of salt to make bold, satisfying meals. In fact, flavorful ingredients like citrus, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, herbs and spices can do a lot of the heavy lifting.

We need sodium in our diets, but most adults consume more than the 2,300 milligrams per day recommended by federal health guidelines, with packaged and restaurant foods accounting for the majority of our intake. Cooking at home gives you far more control.

For this list, we aimed to keep each recipe at or below 760 milligrams of sodium per serving, or roughly one-third of the daily maximum, calling for simple swaps like reduced-sodium broth, beans or soy sauce, and rinsing canned beans, which can cut the salt by up to 40 percent. You can also swap in kosher salt instead of table salt — its crystals are larger, so it contains less sodium by volume — and being mindful of how much you sprinkle.

Lemon zest, garlic and cumin seeds form a simple crust for salmon in Sheela Prakash’s recipe. The carrots roast until tender, a natural match for the spice-crusted fish. Keep it as a protein-and-vegetable plate, or add a chewy whole grain like farro or brown rice for a heartier meal.

Recipe: Cumin-Crusted Salmon With Carrots

Meatballs are endlessly adaptable. Make them with pesto one night, spinach another. Here, Sheela Prakash seasons hers with parsley and za’atar. A tahini-yogurt mixture adds tang, keeps them juicy and doubles as a sauce. Serve them with orzo and sautéed spinach for a well-rounded meal.

Recipe: Za’atar Turkey Meatballs With Tahini Yogurt

With coconut milk, tomatoes and a mix of warm spices — turmeric, allspice and ginger — Ashley Lonsdale’s baked lentils strike a sweet-savory balance. The quick-pickled onions and chiles bring a little heat and snap to the tender lentils, which soften and thicken as they cook. The end result is a cozy spoonable meal.

Recipe: Baked Coconut Red Lentils and Greens

Pesto — store-bought or homemade — gives Sheela Prakash’s sheet-pan salmon plenty of flavor, while roasted tomatoes mingle with the creamy white beans. If you’d like to trim the sodium further, use no-salt-added beans.

Recipe: Pesto-Roasted Salmon With Tomatoes and White Beans

Zucchini is braised with garlic until tender, then folded together with chickpeas while salmon cooks gently on top. Lemon juice adds a lively, finishing touch. Sheela Prakash’s meal is complete on its own — the chickpeas stand in for a starchy side — but if you want to catch every drop of the lemon-garlic pan juices, serve it over your favorite grains.

Recipe: Salmon With Olive Oil-Braised Zucchini and Chickpeas

Yasmin Fahr’s sheet-pan dinner can be customized to your taste by swapping the jalapeño brine for caper or olive brine. You can also tailor your veggies. Brussels sprouts, zucchini and sweet potato all work. The yogurt sauce works overtime: first as a marinade to keep the chicken tender, then as a tangy drizzle over the finished dish.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Chicken and Carrots With Yogurt Sauce

Yasmin Fahr’s soup tastes, as one reader put it, like vitality. That restorative flavor comes from the combination of garlic, ginger and turmeric simmered in coconut milk, then finished with soy sauce, cilantro and crushed red pepper. Add lentils or tofu to sneak in some protein. Reduced-sodium soy sauce trims the salt without dulling the flavor.

Recipe: Coconut-Ginger Soup With Greens

Ginger-citrus marinade offers a zippy contrast to buttery salmon in Yasmin Fahr’s 30-minute recipe. Beans roast alongside the fish, adding a pleasant chew. With white beans in the mix, there’s no need to double up on starch, so pair it with a crisp salad dressed in a lemony vinaigrette.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Citrus Salmon With White Beans

Sheela Prakash builds this five-ingredient meal around pearl barley instead of rice or quinoa. The grain’s bite complements creamy white beans and chewy sun-dried tomatoes. A lemony kale salad is a fresh, natural pairing.

Recipe: Tomato Grains and Greens

Turmeric-infused coconut milk creates a golden base for Sarah DiGregorio’s slow cooker soup. Lentils make it a hearty meal, spinach adds color and chile crisp brings the heat. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of kosher salt, which may raise eyebrows in a lower-sodium dinner roundup. But because the crystals are larger, it contains less sodium by volume than table salt, and you can always adjust to taste.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Spicy Coconut Lentil Soup

Genevieve Ko’s take on chicken soup veers from the familiar in a few delicious ways: The gingery broth is clean and warming, pearled barley replaces the usual noodles or rice, and carrots and napa cabbage turn naturally sweet as they simmer. To add bold flavor, try chile oil, which typically has less sodium than chile crisp.

Recipe: Chicken, Vegetable and Barley Soup

Take a cue from Ashley Lonsdale, who builds flavor with spices instead of excess salt. In her easy curry, garlic, ginger, chile, cumin and turmeric infuse coconut milk, creating a sweet-spicy backdrop for the buttery fish. Spinach is stirred in at the end so it stays vibrant alongside the burst cherry tomatoes.

Recipe: Salmon and Cherry Tomato Curry

A blend of carrots, radish, mushrooms and napa cabbage gives Christian Reynoso’s soup a satisfying texture (as well as a number of nutrients). To keep it lower in sodium, let ginger and cilantro carry the flavor, choose reduced-sodium broth and soy sauce, and adjust the miso to taste.

Recipe: Hearty Vegetable Tofu Soup

Ashley Lonsdale’s one-pot pilaf has all the elements of a balanced meal, protein, vegetable and grain, as chicken thighs, fennel and wild rice simmer with tangy yogurt and Dijon. Using low-sodium stock is an easy way to reduce the salt.

Recipe: Chicken and Wild Rice with Fennel

In Nisha Vora’s hands, cabbage goes from side dish to main event. Here, it’s seared until charred and sweet, then braised in spiced tomatoes and finished with lemony tahini. Add chickpeas to turn it into a heartier main. Take this reader’s advice: “Double the tahini sauce because you’ll want to pour it on other things in your fridge.”

Recipe: Charred Cabbage in Spiced Tomatoes With Tahini

Christian Reynoso makes hummus with a twist, skipping the usual chickpeas and blending roasted cashews with tahini, lemon and orange into a bright, buttery spread. Toasted eggplant and crispy chickpeas are nestled on top, turning a simple tray of vegetables into something memorable. Serve with warm pita to scoop up every last bit.

Recipe: Roasted Eggplant With Crispy Chickpeas and Cashew Sauce

A lime-forward dressing with scallions, cumin and jalapeño brings heat and freshness to tender greens and rich salmon in Yasmin Fahr’s 35-minute salad. The recipe doesn’t skimp on avocados; two of them ensure creaminess in every bite. If your meal doesn’t feel complete without a starchy side, orzo would make a lovely addition.

Recipe: Salmon With Avocado and Cilantro Salad

Hetty Lui McKinnon creates a stellar sauce for her sheet-pan curry from just coconut milk and Thai curry paste. The key to this curry is cooking everything in stages, so the squash turns tender while the greens get crisp. Since curry pastes vary in saltiness, check labels at the store to find one on the lower end.

Recipe: Sheet-Pan Coconut Curry With Squash and Tofu

Nargisse Benkabbou proves that a salad can be hearty and bold. Punchy green harissa dressing, cumin- and paprika-spiced chickpeas and briny olives — every element brings flavor. It’s also a delicious reminder that salt isn’t the only way to make a dish pop!

Recipe: Chickpea-Chicken Salad With Green Harissa Dressing

Garlic, ginger and scallions do most of the work in Kay Chun’s skillet dinner. Coconut milk adds creaminess and a subtle sweetness, while fresh lime juice keeps the sauce lively. It has the perfect easy-to-follow, high-reward ratio.

Recipe: Fragrant Coconut Chicken and Sweet Potato

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