How to Substitute Kosher Salt for Sea Salt in Baking

Each brand of Kosher salt uses a slightly different grain size.

You can substitute Kosher salt for sea salt in any baking recipe. Kosher salt is a pure coarse-grain salt without additives or iodine. Sea salts are more expensive and have a more complex mineral salt taste. Using Kosher salt instead of sea salt in a baking recipe will give the finished product a cleaner, more singular salt flavor. Substitute sea salt with Kosher salt in baked goods to save money on the cost of the ingredients without lowering the quality of the food.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring cup
• Kitchen scale

Instructions

1. Set the empty measuring cup on the scale and press the tare button to reset the weight to zero.

2. Pour the sea salt into a measuring cup to portion the original amount called for in the baked goods. Portioning the sea salt can be skipped if the baking recipe lists the amount of sea salt needed by weight. Sea salt granule sizes vary greatly and most bakers add sea salt by weight, not scooped measurements like teaspoons and cups.

3. Weigh the sea salt in the measuring cup to the nearest gram on the kitchen scale.

4. Dump the sea salt out of the measuring cup and back into its original container. Using the weight of the sea salt instead of a scooped measurement will cancel out any variance in granule size that it may have with the kosher.

5. Return the empty measuring cup to the scale and press the tare button again so that the weight shows as zero.

6. Pour the Kosher salt into the measuring cup until you have achieved the same weight in grams as the measured sea salt.

7. Incorporate the weight of Kosher salt into the baking recipe just as the sea salts would have been used. Most baked goods that call for sea salts will want them applied at the last minute to give the finished product a sparkle and salty first bite.

Tips & Warnings

• Grind Kosher salts for a few seconds in the food processor or herb grinder to make the granules smaller. Smaller Kosher salt granules blend better into the raw batter and support the other flavors without leaving large salty chunks.

References

• Slash Food: Does it Matter What Kind of Salt You Use in a Recipe? by Nicole Weston
• Cook's Thesaurus: Salt