These finishing salts add a pop of flavor to everything from steak and popcorn to chocolate, and they’re super easy to make. In this article I’m sharing four of my favorite flavors – chili lime, vanilla, rosemary lemon, and sriracha – plus ideas for using each one.
I love sprinkling them on all kinds of dishes in my kitchen, but they make thoughtful edible gifts, too.
You can tuck all four into a box to give as a set, or give individual jars wrapped with baking twine. Either way, these recipes are perfect little housewarming gifts, wedding favors, and/or handmade holiday gifts.
Choosing Your Salt
When you make flavored salt, the kinds of salt you use really up to you. Coarse sea salt adds dramatic flair when sprinkled over dishes just before serving, while finely ground salt is more useful in recipes.
For coarse salt, I usually buy this brand or this brand. In the photos for this article I used this beautiful flaky Makai Deep Sea Salt, which I received in a gift bag at a health conference. It’s absolutely delicious when sprinkled over gluten-free soft pretzels.
For fine salt, Himalayan pink salt and Real Salt work well. If you decide to use fine salt it may be helpful your blend in a coffee grinder so that the consistency of the different additions (red pepper flakes, dried rosemary, etc.) is also more fine. When the ingredients are roughly the same size it makes sprinkling the salt easier.
Tips for Packaging Homemade Flavored Salt As A Gift
Each individual recipe below will fill two 2 ounce jars or 1 four ounce jar. In the photos in this article, the jars with chrome-colored lids are 4 ounces and the ones with black lids are 2 ounces.
Here’s where to find them:
- 4 ounce jars (Pictured at the top of this article. These jars have a quilted texture on the sides of the glass)
- 4 ounce jars (These are the same as above but don’t have a quilted texture)
- 2 ounce jars (These are the ones with black lids pictured below.)
Chili Lime Salt Recipe
This fiery blend of red pepper flakes and tangy lime is amazing over fajitas, tacos, french fries with chipotle mayo, and, um, just about everything in your kitchen.
Ingredients
Makes about 1/2 cup.
- 1/2 cup unrefined salt (coarse or fine)
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (where to find organic red pepper flakes)
- 1 tablespoon fresh organic lime zest
Equipment
Microplane zester (like this) or cheese grater
Instructions
Using the microplane zester or cheese grater, remove the outer zest from the lime. Make sure not to peel off the bitter white pith, just the outside will do.
Lay zest on a towel and allow to air dry for a few hours, then combine with salt and crushed red pepper flakes.
Optional Step: If the consistency is more coarse than you’d like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
Pour your finished salt into a pretty jar. It’s now ready for use!
Vanilla Salt Recipe
Served with strawberries or sprinkled over chocolate, this delicate salt adds a surprising pop of flavor to sweets and treats.
Ingredients
Makes about 1/2 cup.
- 1/2 cup salt (coarse or fine)
- 2-4 vanilla beans (Find them here and use the leftovers for homemade vanilla extract, custard, and more)
Equipment
- Sharp knife (like this)
- Coffee grinder (this is the one I have)
Instructions
Using a sharp knife, cut a slit down the entire length of the vanilla bean.
With the tip of your knife, scrape out the seeds in the center, which should have a paste-like consistency.
Place a small amount of salt in the coffee grinder with the vanilla beans and pulse until completely combined.
Add the vanilla/salt mixture to the rest of the salt and thoroughly mix with a spoon.
Optional Step: If the consistency is more coarse than you’d like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
Pour your finished vanilla salt into a pretty jar. It’s now ready for use!
Sriracha Salt Recipe
This fiery finishing salt is delightful over fried, eggs, grilled chicken, roasted veggies, and even salads.
Ingredients
Makes about 1/2 cup.
- 1/2 cup salt (coarse or fine)
- 2 tablespoons sriracha (This one has good ingredients)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 300F. Mix sriracha and salt together and spread over a baking sheet.
Turn off the oven and then place salt inside and let it sit for 3-4 hours, or until fully dried out.
Optional Step: If the consistency of the salt is more coarse than you’d like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
Pour your finished sriracha salt into a pretty jar. It’s now ready for use!
Rosemary & Lemon Salt Recipe
This herbaceous finishing salt (in the top left corner of the above photo) is delicious when sprinkled over grilled veggies, pasta, soups, and salads.
Ingredients
Makes about 1/2 cup.
- 1/2 cup salt (coarse or fine)
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon dried organic rosemary
Instructions
Using the microplane zester or cheese grater, remove the outer zest from the lemon. Make sure not to peel off the bitter white pith, just the outside will do.
Lay zest on a towel and allow to air dry for a few hours, then combine it with the salt and rosemary.
Optional Step: If the consistency of the salt is more coarse than you’d like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
Pour your finished salt into a pretty jar. It’s now ready for use!
More Homemade Flavored Salt Recipes To Try
Milk Thistle Seasoning Salt – Rich in minerals, liver-loving compounds and – most importantly – flavor, this salt blend is super easy to make and perfect for sprinkling on savory dishes.
Lemon Pepper Seasoning Salt – The bright flavor of lemon melds perfectly with the deep, spicy notes of peppercorns in this simple recipe, and it’s super easy to make.
DIY Flavored Salt Recipes
Equipment
- Microplane zester (like this) or cheese grater for chili lime and rosemary lemon flavors
- Coffee grinder for vanilla salt
Ingredients
Chili Lime Salt Recipe
- ½ cup sea salt (coarse or fine)
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp freshly grated organic lime zest
Vanilla Salt Recipe
- ½ cup sea salt (coarse or fine)
- 2-4 whole vanilla beans (Use the leftovers for homemade vanilla extract, custard, and more)
Rosemary & Lemon Salt Recipe
- ½ cup sea salt (coarse or fine)
- 1 tbsp freshly grated organic lemon zest
- 1 tbsp dried rosemary
Instructions
Chili Lime Salt Instructions
- Using the microplane zester or cheese grater, remove the outer zest from the lime. Make sure not to peel off the bitter white pith, just the outside will do.
- Lay zest on a towel and allow to air dry for a few hours, then combine with salt and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Optional Step: If the consistency is more coarse than you'd like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
- Pour your finished salt into a pretty jar. It's now ready for use!
Vanilla Salt Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, cut a slit down the entire length of the vanilla bean.
- With the tip of your knife, scrape out the seeds in the center, which should have a paste-like consistency.
- Place a small amount of salt in the coffee grinder with the vanilla beans and pulse until completely combined.
- Add the vanilla/salt mixture to the rest of the salt and thoroughly mix with a spoon.
- Optional Step: If the consistency is more coarse than you'd like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
- Pour your finished vanilla salt into a pretty jar. It's now ready for use!
Sriracha Salt Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300F. Mix sriracha and salt together and spread over a baking sheet.
- Turn off the oven and then place salt inside and let it sit for 3-4 hours, or until fully dried out.
- Optional Step: If the consistency of the salt is more coarse than you'd like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
- Pour your finished sriracha salt into a pretty jar. It's now ready for use!
Rosemary & Lemon Salt Instructions
- Using the microplane zester or cheese grater, remove the outer zest from the lemon. Make sure not to peel off the bitter white pith, just the outside will do.
- Lay zest on a towel and allow to air dry for a few hours, then combine it with the salt and rosemary.
- Optional Step: If the consistency of the salt is more coarse than you'd like, you can pop 2-3 tablespoons at a time in a clean coffee grinder and pulse until your desired texture is reached. Continue the process until all the salt has been ground.
- Pour your finished salt into a pretty jar. It's now ready for use!
Notes
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What other mushrooms could you use? Or that I could combine with the porcini?
Thank you!
You could use any kind of dried mushrooms 🙂
Hi Heather, your salts are amazing and everyone always loves getting them as a gift. I can’t seem to find the ratios for the Rosemary & Lemon salt, only that salt is involved 😉 Can you update that please?! Thank you and for all of your creativity!
Hi Jenn, I’m so sorry about that! Looks like part of the recipe was deleted somehow. I just added the missing info back in. 🙂
Huge thanks for the amazing recipes. I would love to try the rosemary and lemon soon but would really love to know an expiration date. How long can it be kept and what is the best way. Thanks
Salt has long been used as a natural preservative so the blend has an indefinite shelf life. The herbs will lose flavor over time, though, so I would plan on using it up within a year or so.
Are these self preserved?
Should these Salts be refrigerated? How long are they ok for with fresh ingredients?
Thanks you.
????? There are no mushrooms in any of the flavored salt recipes…..
It used to but I swapped the mushroom recipe for the lemon and rosemary one because the ingredients are easier to find. 🙂
Where did you get the cute glass spice jars?
I bought mine at Michaels or any craft store.
World Market has really nice spice jars
I’m confused. Isn’t 4 oz. 1/2 cup? Why are the recipes for 1/4 cup? I’m reusing spice jars and they hold twice as much as what the recipe says and so do the jars you link to use.
Hi, these are great!! I will be trying to make a few soon. What kind of labels did you use?
I used some brown craft labels that I had leftover from another project. They were too big so I trimmed them down 🙂
Wow. This is absolutely brilliant. I’ll definitely be making myself a set of these (and gifts for others!) Thank you, thank you!
How long do I bake the Sriracha salt?
Heat your oven to 350 and switch off as she has instructed. Put your tray inside and relax. Let the heated oven do the job ?
These are really nice, Heather! It’s a new gift idea for me. And also great to have on hand!
how to use the vanilla salt?
If you do the Sriracha salt at 350 it burns! I recommend doing it MUCH lower!
In this tutorial, I recommend pre-heating the oven to 350F, then turning the oven off when you place the salt inside. When the salt is very wet it won’t burn, and the temperature of the oven naturally lowers as it dries out.
I agree that 350F for pre-heat is too hot. I just burnt a batch.
I turned off the oven well in advance of putting in the wet sriracha salt, but as others have said, it burned. Perhaps an electric oven doesn’t cool as fast. Trying again but in the oven with only the light on, not preheated. Working beautifully.
I’m making 3 of these for my brothers Christmas gift. The chili lime salt with this Thai broth… Heavenly. Please do me a favor and try it! 🙂 http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2013/02/simple-thai-broth-oh-so-soothing-delicious.html
Oh no…another food processing obsession…. I go to our beach in the San Juan Islands and get a gallon of Sea Water…put it in a Crock Pot on low and a day and a half later…Viola! 1/2 Pt Sea Salt…I just used a 1/4 Cup of it on a small amount of Lime Chile Salt! Gunna’ put it on Pork Chops on the BBQ.
For the vanilla salt, the description is a little ambiguous. We scrape out the insides and that is what goes in the processor with the salt, correct? We don’t put the bean “shell” in?
Hi Missy
I wouldn’t whizz up the pod but definitely put it on the container with salt!
Cheers Peta
Any suggestions of what you can use the rosemary and lavender salt for?
I think it was rosemary and LEMON 🙂 but lavender work work too… Maybe over some vanilla ice cream for a salty sweet treat
Would like to purchase these salts especially the chilli n lime salt
How long can I keep these. And, what is the best way.
Um… the recipe for Rosemary Lemon Salt doesn’t have any lemon in it. Shouldn’t that be Rosemary Lavender Salt? Or should there be lemon zest in the recipe instead of lavender? Some great ideas here; that one’s just a bit confusing.
Thanks for catching that, Ev! I recently updated these recipes and apparently forgot to switch out the ingredient list for this one. Just updated 🙂
Man I had bought and made labels for rosemary lavender salt! Now I have this stuff for no reason.
Maybe next time put a big “EDITED” note next to it?
Hi Ariel, here is the recipe:
3/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons dried organic lavender
2 tablespoons dried organic rosemary
Instructions
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and then transfer to a jar for storage/use.
Since I didn’t see the original lavender Rosemary salt post, what do you recommend using that on?
What happened to the bacon salt recipe? It’s on the photo and I swear I looked at the recipe recently and now I don’t see it.
Hey Wendy! I decided to pare down this post to salts that have a super long shelf life – and honestly, because the porcini was hit or miss depending on the specific batch of mushrooms I used – but in case you need it here is the bacon salt recipe 🙂
Ingredients
½ cup unrefined salt
8 ounces thin cut bacon
Equipment
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper
Coffee grinder (this is the one I have)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375F. Crinkle up your parchment so that there are grooves for the bacon grease to drip into, then lay bacon across and cook for until completely crisp. Mine took about 25-30 minutes, but you’ll want to start checking around the 15 minute mark to make sure the bacon doesn’t burn.
Once the bacon is crisp, transfer it to a paper towel and let the grease drain off. Blot it if needed and then place in the coffee grinder and pulse until it reaches the consistency you prefer.
Nearly all versions of bacon salt that I’ve found online call for it to be stored in the fridge. I’m not sure that’s necessary given that salt is used to cure meats, but because I could not find any definitive resources on the subject I decided to keep mine in the fridge just in case.
Where’d the mushroom salt recipe go? We bought all the ingredients to make it, then came back and it was gone!
Hi Taylor! I decided to pare down this post to salts that have a super long shelf life – and honestly, because the porcini was hit or miss depending on the specific batch of mushrooms I used. Here is the recipe:
Makes about ¾ cup
1/3 cup dried wild porcini mushrooms, which is about 3 tablespoons ground
3/4 cup unrefined sea salt
Hi Heather! Love the ideas. I’m trying the seasoned salts this year for gifts for co-workers. The even after leaving the sriracha salt in the oven over night, it still seems a bit moist to me. Is that right or will it actually completely dry? Thanks!
Lemon & rosemary or thyme are my favourite! I usually add both the zest and the juice of the lemon, this way as it dries out in the oven at low heat (70-90º celsius approx 2 hr) the salt absorbs the lemon juice and the result is tangy and delicious!
If I wanted to do the vanilla but don’t have any beans, could I do what you did with the sriracha? Mix a tiny amount of vanilla extract with some loose salt and grind it together or would the extract completely dissolve the salt?
I’ll have to make these for my husband for all the meat smoking he does.
The 2oz jars link are for the dark brown cosmetic ones: I think these need to be in clear glass for the beauty, since these recipes won’t degrade like cosmetics.