Skip The Salt – Low Sodium Recipes

Weeknights are very busy when getting home late from work, taking kids to sports practices and helping with homework. I am always looking for some easy meals to feed the family that won't take up a lot of preparation time.

My family loves hamburgers, but they just get so boring. I love casseroles because they can feed many people, are easy to double, freeze very well and can be used for lunches. The leftovers are great when covered and reheated a few minutes in the microwave at 50% power. Casseroles can be made a day ahead and pulled from the refrigerator to bake when getting home for the day.

The family loves to eat salads along with casseroles, and I chop many colorful vegetables to add to the salad bowl. A good side vegetable for this casserole would be green beans, broccoli or cauliflower. In the summer a nice side dish would be fresh corn on the cob.

I like to use 90/10 ground beef, and the choices of pasta are many Macaroni, bow tie, penne or any pasta would work in this casserole. If making this for children, let them pick out the pasta they want to go into the casserole.

Casseroles are warm and comforting and bring smiles to the faces at the table.

In the Autumn when the colorful leaves are falling to the ground and the nights are getting chilly, One Pot Chili Mac is a great meal to serve. When the Winter winds blow and you want a warm dish to serve the family, this hearty, quick meal is what you need. It will feed a crowd on a busy weekend, and the leftovers are delicious when heated for lunch or dinner. It is very economical when feeding a large family, and freezes well. Thaw in the refrigerator or defrost in microwave, and heat in the microwave for a few minutes for a really quick meal.

If you need to get vegetables into meals, this is a good recipe to choose. You may already have all the ingredients in your pantry. If you don't have macaroni, choose another pasta, maybe penne or rotini as both would work well. Be sure to use freshly minced garlic, as that makes a huge difference in taste.

Children love this recipe as much as adults. Growing teens find it very filling and tasty, and the recipe will be a staple on your meal rotation. If you want to serve something along with One Pot Chili Mac, a good side dish choice would be low sodium cornbread or muffins. You might also add coleslaw with a vinegar and oil dressing or even a simple salad with a homemade low sodium dressing.

One-Pot Chili Mac will be a family favorite.

There are so many ways to serve chicken: fried chicken, chicken stir fry, chicken noodle casserole, chicken tacos, chicken salad, chicken tortilla soup, chicken noodle soup, etc., and all of these are wonderful. But how often do you think to make a rather fancy chicken dish to serve on a weeknight?

Growing up we never had Chicken Cordon Bleu, but we had fried chicken quite often. When I was an adult, I discovered wonderful, delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu. I love using my air fryer, and it made sense to use the air fryer instead of heating up the kitchen with the oven for an hour. Now we can have a great meal in a short time all year long.

You can have a lovely main dish finished in a short amount of time and impress your guests. You might want some side dishes to go with your dinner. A few ideas are mashed potatoes, baked potatoes with sour cream and chives, green beans with toasted almonds, buttered broccoli, air fryer roasted asparagus, rice cooked in unsalted chicken broth or a nice salad of butter lettuce with a low sodium dressing Your young children and teens, spouses and even parents and friends will be impressed with this recipe, especially to find it was made in your air fryer.

Set out some wine glasses and pour a little wine to serve with your fancy dinner. Enjoy your meal!

I don't remember the first pizza I bought. I do remember the first ones I made in high school, but they didn't compare tot eh pizza shop in our small town. After high school football and basketball games, we would get a thin crust pizza topped with well ground Italian sausage and lots of Mozzarella cheese.

We have all had some wonderful pizzas with some great crusts. I loved the tomato-based sauce on the vegetable pizzas topped with onion, colorful peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and roasted garlic. I went to a pizza place and shared an Alfredo sauce pizza topped with roasted garlic and artichoke hearts. I have had pizza topped with a massive circle of sausage and cheese. Some from wood-fired ovens, home ovens and even on the backyard grill.

Everyone loves pizza, and as low sodium followers, we need to make what we can, as most of the items are not sold in stores. I make my own low sodium Italian sausage, pizza sauce, pesto, and crust. I use fresh Mozzarella since it has less sodium than the shredded kind from the store.

Use this crust to make whatever type of pizza you love. I like to make a double recipe and freeze the second crust for another pizza later or for calzones. I take the wrapped dough from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to thaw.

Tell your family they are having pizza for dinner, and they will be a happy bunch. Add a salad with low sodium dressing and have a great meal. Enjoy!

I was very small, and my Grandma made pot roast often. She would call, and I would ride my bike over to her house for dinner. She had wonderful, delicious gravy to pour over the roast, potatoes, and carrots. Memories of happy meals are so nice to carry into adulthood.

Where can we use brown gravy?

Add it to the beef and vegetables tucked into a pie crust for a lovely beef pot pie. Be sure to crimp the edges of the crust together and cut a few slits with a knife to allow the steam to escape. I have made cupcake size pot pies and frozen them for a work-free meal. Just top with gravy and enjoy.

We can use it as a gravy for Egg Fu Yung- and egg dish sauteed with many vegetables such as snow peas, carrots, celery, bean sprouts, scallions or actually anything you might like to add. When you flip over the Egg Fu Yung patty to cook a bit more, you can then transfer to a plate and top with brown gravy mixed with a very low sodium soy sauce.

Another idea is to use the brown gravy mix in a good beef barley soup to thicken and season it.

The brown gravy can be used on pot roast, carrots, onions, potatoes, celery if you use a crockpot to cook it all day. Just slather everything with the low sodium gravy.

Make low sodium beef meatballs in the slow cooker and add the gravy to the pot and allow it to cook all day. I like to do this for topping mashed potatoes or pasta. I also use these for appetizers at parties also.

Make poutine with French fries, gravy and a bit of cheese melted on top. Hot roast beef sandwiches can be made open-faced with low sodium bread, well-cooked beef and gravy overall. Salisbury steak is another idea for using brown gravy. Don’t forget that you can use brown gravy on a low sodium meatloaf. Low sodium beef stew is wonderful with tasty brown gravy. Use this low sodium beef gravy in beef stroganoff for a lovely meal. Shepherd’s pie is a great use of brown gravy with a lovely topping of wonderful mashed potatoes and baked in the oven until the potatoes are lightly browned.

How many times have you wanted brown gravy for a meal and there was none to be found? To be able to make up a large batch of the dry mix and store it in a cabinet is a real time saver.

Enjoy thinking of more uses for this very convenient dry mix that you will have on hand for very quick meal additions.

The term sausage derives from salsus, meaning “salted” in Latin. Many years ago, about 3100BC, there were no refrigerators and salting meat was a common method of preservation.

Low sodium Italian sausage is very tasty and can be used in numerous ways I have listed below.

Stuffed eggplant is delicious. Linguini and peppers with Italian Sausage. Italian Sausage with Farfalle and Broccoli. Roasted Vegetables and Kale Soup with Italian Sausage makes a great dinner on cool nights. Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms are a popular appetizer. Polenta with Italian Sausage and Vegetables make a wonderful meal. Make an Italian Sausage Tart. Have a bowl of filling Italian Sausage Chili. Use no salt pizza dough to make a fun Stromboli filled with Italian Sausage and fresh Mozzarella cheese. Make a comfort food meal of Stuffed Peppers with Italian Sausage. White Bean and Sausage Soup are a favorite. Use those many zucchinis from your garden when making Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats. I like to finish them in my air fryer to keep the kitchen cool. Grill some Italian Sausage and add a low sodium bun topped with grilled onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Make a Grilled Italian Sausage and Fennel Salad. Stuff some Sausage Calzones and enjoy. Baked Penne and Italian Sausage is a great meal. For cold winter nights, make some Italian Sausage Soup to warm you. Zuppa Toscana Soup is very popular. Sausage Tortellini Soup is very tasty, and I use small, dried tortellini that is very low in sodium. Baked Ziti is another great meal that is very filling. Try adding your Italian sausage to stuffing for your turkeys. Use a grilled Italian sausage patty on a low sodium bun, top with fresh Mozzarella cheese, a tomato slice, and some fresh basil and a couple of tablespoons of low sodium marinara sauce. Add your Italian sausage to your lasagna. Stir up some Italian sausage, onions, pepper and tomatoes and top rice or pasta with it. And finally, top your no salt pizza crust with some no-salt Italian Sausage and fresh Mozzarella cheese. Delicious!

We have so many choices to enjoy. I make my sausage into patties. You may choose to make links. Whichever is your choice, make them low sodium, add lots of other seasonings and enjoy!

I love to use my air fryer to cook so many things. They are very convenient for making “fried” foods by misting with a bit of oil and then cooking at certain temperatures. Items that you thought you would never cook in an air fryer, you will be making often. Making roasted chicken and heating up the kitchen one day was not my ideal way of cooking. I added the chicken breast to the air fryer and had a great dinner.

There are so many ways to use leftover roasted, baked or cooked chicken. Cook extra and use the leftover in some of the many ideas I have found. Wraps are fun to make with low sodium flatbread. You can use baked or grilled no salt pizza dough and top with avocado, chicken, lettuce, tomato and a bit of mayo. I love making a pizza on low sodium crust with shredded or diced cooked chicken, low sodium BBQ sauce, red onions topped with a sprinkle of cheese.

Add chicken to most of your salads of mixed greens and top with a low sodium dressing. Soup is a great way to use roasted chicken. Chicken noodle soup using no salt or low sodium broth is a great meal to serve. Chicken Tortilla Soup is very tasty using low sodium items and a can of no-salt chiles and tomatoes.

Make a broccoli and rice dish with a white sauce adding a bit of cheese and some roasted chicken for a great meal. I like to use lots of no-salt seasonings for great flavor. Unsalted breadcrumbs or panko mixed with a bit of unsalted butter can be sprinkled over the casserole when baking.

Roasted chicken can be added to fresh spinach and strawberries for a great salad. Top with homemade strawberry vinaigrette. I love making an Asian Chicken Salad with chopped chicken, pasta cooked in unsalted water and spicy dressing made with no salt peanut butter.

I like making a warm spinach salad with roasted chicken and low sodium bacon. Pulled chicken can be used in tacos, taquitos, enchiladas. lettuce wraps, pot pies, nachos, pho soup, and Waldorf chicken salad.

The number of ideas is amazing, and I have listed only a small portion of them. Just make the recipes low sodium and enjoy every one of them using your leftover air fried chicken.

Most people like pancakes for breakfast and pancakes are great to add to a breakfast-for-dinner meal. I babysat a fabulous little person for 5 years. Every day I would ask what was wanted for breakfast, and every single day the answer was pancakes!

Many boxed pancake mixes are found on the shelves of food stores. Frozen packages of pancakes can be found in the freezer section. But try and find any that are low sodium. This recipe is a great help when wanting pancakes.

I double and triple this recipe of dry pancake mix. I portion it out in small baggies for later use. I add a note with instructions on what needs to be added when finally mixing up and using the contents. On a busy morning, I can grab a little baggie, add the liquid ingredients and whip up a batch of great pancakes.

I like to spoon some of the mixed batter into a hot, oiled pan and as the pancake is cooking on the first side, I add 5 or 6 fresh or frozen blueberries to the wet batter. When the first side is cooked with lots of bubbles in the batter, I gently flip and cook the second side.

I like to add a bit of soft, unsalted butter to the top of the pancakes and pour a bit of zero sodium maple syrup over the stack. I have also topped my pancakes with crushed strawberries, blueberries, and fresh pineapple. Delicious.

When I have extra pancakes, I allow them to cool and package 2 of them in a little baggie. I add the baggies to a larger bag and list the contents, sodium, and date and then place them in the freezer. These thaw quickly. I just place them on a plate, turn on the microwave for about 45 seconds and have a hot breakfast very quickly. This is perfect for those going off to work or sending children off to school.

Enjoy this recipe and make pancakes anytime!

I don’t ever remember having biscuits served at meals during my childhood. Those living in the South were very lucky to have wonderful homemade biscuits at mealtimes. I know a man who said his family was very poor. His single Mom made biscuits for the 5 boys in the family every day. She whipped up 60 biscuits to feed her sons with nothing else but butter for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - every day. And he still loves her biscuits.

Biscuits are called magical, fluffy, light, airy, moist and golden inside, flaky, golden brown, just like Grandma’s, down-home country taste and the best thing I ever ate.

We are lucky that we can buy sodium-free baking powder for making our own biscuits. We can make them by cutting them out in circles with a biscuit cutter, triangles or we can add them to a square baking pan and cut them into squares. However you bake them, they will be wonderful.

There are different ways that people serve their homemade country biscuits, and I have added a few here:

Creamed chicken over biscuits- use unsalted butter in this meal. Little tea sandwiches can be made with biscuits. Spread wonderful fruit jam over a biscuit hot out of the oven. Fill them with crushed strawberries and whipped cream. Make little breakfast sandwiches with homemade no salt sausage, egg, and Swiss cheese. Fill with BBQ beef in a low sodium BBQ sauce. Add some slices of sweet onion and enjoy. The little ones might like a biscuit filled with no salt peanut butter, and jelly or banana. Or use the dough for sticky buns.

The options are endless. Enjoy your biscuits any way you can.

If you’re lucky, you have an Ikea store near you. You know it’s the Swedish store best known for its space-saving designs and most delicious food court where you can get a giant plate of Swedish meatballs in this wonderful cream sauce.

I have been craving these Swedish meatballs ever since I had to go low sodium. I’m so glad to finally take the time to create a low sodium version. I don’t know why it took me so long to make it – it’s so easy to make and it really tastes just like the Ikea version.

Mincing the onion, celery and parsley are key here. You want to mince them as small as you can so they incorporate into the meat and be chunky. Once you have sautéed the veggies let them cool a little before you mix them into the meat. I like to make the meatballs about the size of a Walnut. I figure the smaller the more I can eat! Yum!!

While the meatballs are cooking in the oven I make the sauce.

Now the sauce is where you either make a great Swedish meatball or you just have meatballs in a gravy sauce. I like to heat the beef broth with the cream cheese slowly in a saucepan allowing the two ingredients to fuse together. This requires lots of stirring but the effort is worth it. If you’re pressed for time you can use a blender for this process, just be careful blending as the hot liquid in a blender tends to blow the lid off and you will get it all over the place. I prefer to use an immersion blender, this way you have less clean up.

Let the sauce simmer over low heat until it thickens a little bit. You don’t want it really thick like the gravy you would have over biscuits but you want it thick like the gravy you would use on mashed potatoes.

Layout some cooked eggs noodles on a plate then top with the cooked meatballs and pour the gravy over the meatballs letting it absorb into the noodles. Top with some chopped parsley and you have a great tasting Swedish meatball dish.

WHAT IS BOURBON CHICKEN?

This dish gets its name not only for the bourbon in the recipe but also for Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

WHICH BOURBON SHOULD YOU USE?

I personally like Makers Mark but any brand will do.

HOW DO YOU MAKE IT?

Like many slow cooker recipes, this recipe is as easy as mix, cook, and serve.

Start off by adding all of the ingredients to a bowl (cornstarch, green onion, ground ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, apple juice, honey, light brown sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, water, bourbon, soy sauce, and black pepper) and whisk them up until the sauce is smooth. At this point, do a taste test and adjust the seasonings as you see fit. Then, place the cut chicken into the bottom of a crockpot, then pour the sauce on top. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. Serve and enjoy!

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving, I really like it when family get together and share what they are thankful for and enjoy all the wonderful fall foods. The one food I am most thankful for is a turkey.

What I like about this recipe is that it is so simple to make. Dust the breast with seasonings and plop it in the ol air fryer.

I enjoy this part of the bird more than any other part. It is so versatile, you can have it on top of mashed potatoes or slice it and have a sandwich.

When choosing the herbs for this recipe, use your favorite mix. I like the Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb mix, however, you could go with garlic and onion powder or a homemade Cajun spice. It’s really all up to your taste buds. Another reason I like this recipe so much is that you can have it any time of the year!

I love me some seafood pasta. One with light, fresh flavors like this Lemony Garlic Shrimp Pasta!

This is one of those “last-minute” dinners you make when you when you want a quick middle of the week dinner. If you’re like me, there’s always shrimp in the freezer, angel hair pasta in your pantry, and lemon and garlic in your kitchen. If you don’t have this on hand, you can still make this in minutes with a quick trip to the grocery store!

This recipe comes together very quickly, you won’t even realize how fast this is done. Sauté the garlic and onion, then add the shrimp with the lemon juice, and lemon zest, and finally toss in the cooked angel hair. Little effort, BIG flavors is how we roll in these parts.

Try this out and let me know what you think! I promise you will love this recipe!

I like to make this recipe in advance, so I can enjoy them during the week when I have less time to cook.

The key here is to use a lean ground beef of at least 90% beef and 10% fat, if you have a local butcher that you like, ask them to grind up a fresh batch for you, freshly ground seems to work better for me gut you can still get the prepackaged stuff, just make sure its 90/10.

The next thing you want is to use your homemade bread crumbs, this way you can be sure of the sodium count. Simply place them into your food processor or your blender and using the pulse setting, pulse them a few times to get a coarse grind. At this point, you can add some of your favorite seasonings if you like. I like to use Mrs. Dash Herb & Garlic blend, but you can use what you like.

When you're ready to mix it all together, make sure you put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl at once and always use your hands to mix it up. The gentle touch of your hands incorporates all of the ingredients without crushing the meat. You don't want to over-mix into a paste - full pieces of ground meat should still be visible.

Keeping in mind how you will use the meatballs, you should roll them to the size appropriate for the dish. For instance, you'll want smaller, bite-size meatballs if adding to soups. If they're served on their own, they should be pretty big, like the size of a golf ball (about 2 inches in diameter). If they're on top of spaghetti, a medium meatball will suffice. This one is all about preference, just consider how the meatballs will be eaten.

If you roll your meatballs with dry hands, the meat mixture will stick to your skin and make rolling a ball impossible. To remedy this, lightly oil your hands. You'll only need a light rolling motion to form a (not too tight!) ball.

Next sear the meatballs for a nice brown color in your favorite frying pan.  (Note: This is optional but recommended.)

For this recipe and for the sake of convenience, I microwaved them.

During the week I can use them with a nice pasta sauce with spaghetti noodles or I eat them on a sandwich. The uses are endless. Enjoy!

There are many ways to make this dish. I like this on because it’s so simple to make. Heat up the oil in a large stockpot. Don’t skimp on the oil. We are about to “toast” our pasta. To make Sopa de Conchas, you will need a fairly large pot. The shells need room to dance!.

The star of the show is this Conchas pasta, or pasta shaped like shells.

Once the oil is hot, add the Conchas. Get out your spatula and start stirring. The key here is, you don’t want this to burn. If you end up burning it, you will have to start all over again. That’s no Bueno. My advice is to stir, stir, stir.

You gotta be on the lookout for when the pasta starts to toast and it’s about to burn. That’s the time to add the rest of the ingredients. Add the onion, garlic and serrano pepper. Let them mingle in the pot while you’re stirring everything together.

Once everyone in the pot has had time to get to know each other add the chicken broth, the tomato sauce.

Lastly, cover up the pot for 20 minutes. Check the pot at around 18 minutes. All you want is to make sure the pasta is soft and fully cooked. The shells will puff out, almost 3 times bigger than their dried version. Serve your Sopa de Conchas in a large bowl. I call this Mexican comfort food. I hope you enjoy!

I was searching the web looking for an easy yet comfort food type of recipe when I came across a very similar recipe. I love just about anything when it comes to gravy. So I decided to convert this to low sodium and after a few rounds of experimenting with flavor, I came up with what I hope you will enjoy as much as I do.

The smothered meatballs in chunky onion gravy is a simple yet satisfying weeknight dinner recipe that the whole family will enjoy.

You can serve the meatballs smothered with an onion Gravy over mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.

This meatball dinner is a hearty meal that comes together with little effort.

The meatballs are a basic ground beef mixture that are pan-fried to get a nice golden brown to them. Then you sauté the onions, make the gravy and let the meatballs finish cooking in a rich, flavorful sauce. This will be a new go-to meal that the entire family will love!

Pasta & Shrimp Alfredo is a simple dish that’s sure to impress! Creamy and cheesy, rich and indulgent, yet easy enough to whip up in just minutes.

This Pasta & Shrimp Alfredo dish is one of my favorites to serve to guests. It looks and tastes fancy but actually is super easy to make. If you’re looking to impress your guests, try this dinner! You’ll get all the accolades without slaving away in the kitchen. Plus, it tastes oh so yummy.

For this dish, I love to use linguine noodles. They’re the perfect thickness and don’t dominate over the shrimp, which is the star of this meal. If you don’t have fettuccine noodles you can use spaghetti noodles or even angel hair pasta, once I used cheese ravioli that was really good! Use whatever you have on hand.

If you feel like experimenting a little, you can add some extra color to your plate! Toss in some fresh spinach leaves, asparagus spears, or to the pasta and sauce. I love just about anything when it’s covered in Alfredo sauce! Feel free to add any vegetable you like. That’s the beauty of this recipe; it’s versatile and simple so you can experiment with extra ingredients to really make it your own.