Don’t have this ingredient on hand or realized you’re all out while you’re cooking? Here’s the best kosher salt substitute in recipes.
Making a recipe that calls for kosher salt and don’t have it on hand? Kosher salt is a coarse, flat grained edible salt without additives. Cooking with kosher salt instead of table salt is transformative.
Two reasons: kosher salt has wider, coarser grains vs table salt. The wider grains salt food in a gentler way than table salt. Kosher salt also has no iodine, which can lend a bitter taste to foods salted with table salt. So we highly, highly recommend using this type of salt in your cooking.
Deciding Whether You Need a Substitute
Can you use table salt instead of kosher salt? We don’t recommend it! Kosher salt is the perfect every day salt for recipes of all kinds. If it’s not your go to in your salt cellar: it should be! Here’s more about Kosher Salt: Explained.
But are you in the middle of a recipe and don’t have time to go to the store? We can help. Here’s the best kosher salt substitute to use in a pinch.
Best Kosher Salt Substitute
1. Flaky sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
The best kosher salt substitute? Flaky sea salt or Himalayan pink salt. Because of the size of the coarse grains, you can use flaky sea salt as a 1:1 replacement for kosher salt. For more on the similarities and differences between the two, head to Kosher Salt vs Sea Salt.
2. Fine sea salt
Another good kosher salt substitute? Fine sea salt. Because fine sea salt is ground so much finer, you’ll need to use less. Use ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt in place of 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
3. Table salt only in a pinch
A substitute to use in a pinch? If you must, you can use table salt. But again: we don’t recommend it! It doesn’t salt food nearly as well, and it can leave behind a bitter flavor. Use ¾ teaspoon table salt in place of 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
Here’s a conversion chart for kosher salt:
Kosher Salt To Table Salt (& Fine Sea Salt)
Here is a conversion chart that shows the amount of salt to use if you’re converting kosher salt to table salt, and vice versa. (Source Morton Salt)
| Table Salt (& Fine Sea Salt) | Kosher salt |
| ¼ teaspoon | ¼ teaspoon |
| 1 teaspoon | 1 ¼ teaspoon |
| 1 tablespoon | 1 tablespoon + 3⁄4 teaspoon |
