Chicken broth, low salt is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 218 recipes to get you started.

What is chicken broth, low salt?

Low-salt chicken broth is ordinary chicken broth with most of the sodium left out, sold as "low sodium," "less sodium," or "no salt added." It tastes of chicken and aromatics but stops short of the salty hit a regular carton delivers.

The point is control. When the broth is barely seasoned, you decide how salty the finished dish ends up, instead of the can deciding for you.

Why Reach for Low-Salt

A standard cup of regular chicken broth can carry 800 to 900 mg of sodium, often more, which is a third or more of a day's limit before you have added a single other thing.

That matters most when broth is the bulk of the liquid, as in a risotto, a braise, or a soup you simmer down. Reduce a salted broth and the salt concentrates with it, so a sauce that started fine can turn briny by the time it thickens.

Low-salt broth sidesteps that. It is the right pick anywhere you reduce the liquid or layer in other salty things like soy sauce, cheese, olives, or cured meat.

Cooking With It

Use it exactly as you would regular broth, then salt to taste at the end. It carries the grain in a Barley Risotto & Greens with Roasted Squash, Celery & Carrots and an Asian Rice With Shrimp & Snow Peas, where soy and shellfish bring their own salt.

It is the braising liquid in a Quick Coq au Vin and the body of a Weeknight Chicken Quinoa Stew, both of which reduce as they cook.

Taste before you add salt. Low-salt does not mean no salt, so season at the end in small additions and stop when it tastes right.

Substitutes

Regular chicken broth works if you cut or skip the recipe's added salt and taste as you go. Unsalted homemade stock is the best stand-in and brings more body.

A low-sodium bouillon cube or paste dissolved in water also fills in, as does plain water with a little extra seasoning if you have nothing else. Vegetable broth covers it in a pinch, though it loses the chicken backbone.

Buying & Storage

Read the nutrition panel, not the front of the box, since "low sodium" is regulated (140 mg or less per serving) but "less sodium" only means less than the regular version, which can still be a lot.

Unopened cartons keep for months in the pantry. Once opened, refrigerate and use within about four to five days, the same as any cooked broth; freeze the rest in measured portions if you will not finish it.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find chicken broth, low salt: Chicken broth, low salt is usually found in the canned goods section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Chicken broth, low salt is a member of the Soups, Sauces, and Gravies US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

鸡汤，低盐

British (UK) term

Chicken broth, low salt

en français

bouillon de poulet réduit en sel

en español

caldo de pollo bajo en sal

How much does chicken broth, low salt weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 cup	240 grams

Related

Soups, Sauces, and Gravies

Recipes using chicken broth, low salt

There are 218 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 218 recipes

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