How To Prevent Stuffing From Becoming Too Salty

Stuffing is a favorite dish at Thanksgiving, and for good reasons. Aside from it being a traditional dish to serve, it's also savory and delicious, has a satisfying texture, and is a great companion to turkey. Whether it's prepared from the box or assembled from scratch, made country style or Tuscan style, stuffing is a real crowd-pleaser. Since it doesn't require complicated cooking techniques, stuffing is a fairly easy recipe to pull off. But be warned — it can go south pretty quickly if you add in too much salt.

The key to preventing this is being extra careful about the salt content of your mix-ins. Ingredients like seasoned bread, chicken broth, and sausage are all naturally salty. If you're too heavy-handed with them and you sprinkle more salt on top of that, you can count on your stuffing being salty. The best way around this is to use reduced or low-sodium broth, or simply cut back on the saltier mix-ins.

If you've already made your stuffing and it came out too salty, there are a few things you can try before you start over. eHow recommends mixing in 1 cup of plain bread cubes and a 1/2 cup of unsalted chicken stock. You can add more if needed, but this should be enough to tone down the saltiness. If it isn't, try balancing out the saltiness with sweetness, says eHow, by adding diced dried fruits, which have concentrated sugar content. A 3/4 cup of dried fruit per 4 cups of stuffing should yield the best results. This also has the effect of bulking up the dish so there's less salt in every bite.

The Spruce Eats explains that acidic ingredients like white vinegar and lemon juice also can counteract saltiness. If you opt for either of these ingredients, use them sparingly, since too much could turn your stuffing mushy and you'll be left to troubleshoot another stuffing mishap. But as long as you taste it as you go, it's possible to rescue your stuffing in time for dinner.