How And When To Substitute Salt With MSG In Your Cooking

It's time to put the biggest misconception about MSG to rest – it's not a manufactured chemical additive but is derived from an amino acid. Monosodium glutamate has been used as a flavor enhancer for nearly a century, and has been proven safe for human consumption despite racist origins of a theory that it causes health issues. MSG is often referred to as the authentic taste of umami, which is the difficult-to-describe taste of savoriness, often described as meaty, and can add depth of flavor to almost any food or recipe.

If you're looking to reduce your intake of sodium, MSG can be a great way to use less salt without leaving your food bland and underwhelming. In fact, regular table salt has 39% sodium, while MSG only contains 12% sodium, which means that MSG has less than a third of the sodium that table salt does. MSG's flavor-enhancing abilities give food a stronger umami taste without the addition of lots of extra sodium, although it's not recommended as a total replacement for salt. 

You can use MSG both before and during cooking, similar to how you'd season food with salt and pepper. As with any seasoning, if you're not sure what it will taste like or how it will affect the flavor of your dish, just go ahead and try a small taste of MSG if you've never tried it before. This is a quick and easy way to get a good sense of the flavor of umami, if you're unfamiliar, and you can move forward with using it in recipes with more confidence of the outcome. You can easily source it online, where there are numerous brands, which make the MSG through a process of fermenation of plant-based products like sugar cane, cassava, sugar beets, or corn. One popular brand is Ajinomoto, made from corn glucose.

In terms of specific measurements as a guide for substituting MSG in your cooking, it's best to start slowly and use MSG sparingly until you've gotten a better handle of how it changes foods' taste, as you can always add more while you continue cooking. For smaller quantities like pasta sauce or salad dressing (and you should be adding MSG to salad dressing), use only a pinch to start with and taste frequently as you season. For larger quantity recipes like stocks and soups, use ¾ teaspoon of MSG along with each tablespoon of salt you add, tasting as you go before adding another dash of MSG or salt. You may be surprised at how little traditional salt you need when you incorporate MSG into your cooking.

Along with being a great flavor booster for water used to blanch vegetables or cook pasta, MSG is also handy for using alongside salt in marinades or meat rubs. For seasoning a pound of meat, start by using half a teaspoon of MSG with each full teaspoon of table salt. You can even make your own blend of MSG and salt to keep on hand: Simply mix 1 part MSG with 2 parts salt and use this to season food as you normally would. There are a few interesting ways to use MSG, as it can even be added to sweet dishes, giving ingredients like vanilla bean or egg-based custards an extra burst of umami without turning the entire recipe into a savory dish.