1,556 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

When to add salt to cooking water?

Name: When to add salt to cooking water?
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 12 min
Yield: 4 Whens to add salt to cooking water?
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: No ingredients in this recipe (a); No ingredients in this recipe (b)

Is it better to salt cooking water, for vegetables for example, at the beginning when it is cold or when it boils?

I always heard that one should salt "after", when water is boiling, because if it is salted "before" it will take longer to boil.

True or false? Let's try the experiment...

155 K 4.1/5 (24 reviews)

15 min.

Easy

4 Whens to add salt to cooking water?

Last modified on: July 25^th 2017

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 2 min.

Cooking: 10 min.

All in all: 15 min.

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 2 min.

When to add salt to cooking water? : Stage 1

1 litre of water is put in a pan and 1 tbs coarse salt is added.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 10 min.

When to add salt to cooking water? : Stage 2

The water temperature is measured in the same way, every minute, until it boils.

Stage 3

Let's compare times and temperatures in this diagram: the unsalted water in green, the salted water in red.

Conclusion

At the start of heating, the temperature of the salted water rises more slowly: after 3 minutes 30 seconds the unsalted water is already at 040°C (100°F), while salted water is still at 025°C (80°F).
But then the two catch up and they take the same time to reach 100°C (210°F).
Another point: it seems, but I'm not really adamant about it, that salted water starts to boil at a lower temperature than unsalted, i.e. around 90°C (190°F) rather than 100°C (210°F).

Other recipes you may also like

Ocean bread

The idea for this bread was inspired by an amusing coincidence: the proportion of salt needed for good bread is 35 g of salt per litre of water, which just happens to be the exact concentration of salt in the Atlantic Ocean. So it's possible to make bread using sea water to provide all the salt needed, rather than normal fresh water. Not only does it work, the resulting bread is excellent!

October 24^th 2017192 K 63.8 5 hours 7 min.

Rata-tart

"Rata-tart" is a tart filled with ratatouille and polenta. The layer of polenta in the bottom separates the pastry from the ratatouille and so keeps it crisp.

October 27^th 201389 K4.2 1 hour 15 min.

Blackcurrant jelly

Blackcurrants are full of flavour and make an excellent jelly. In the depths of winter, you'll be glad you made some now.

September 8^th 202146 K4 60 min.

Involtinis

Involtinis are small rolls of meat, usually veal, and cheese. Here is my version.

February 21^th 2011412 K4.4 2 hours 55 min.

Morteau sausage

In this recipe, Morteau sausages are cooked on a bed of chopped potatoes. The trick is to cook the Morteau sausage slowly, so that its delicious, smoky flavor descends on the potatoes, which are crispy on the outside and melt-in-the-mouth on the inside, a pure delight.

September 29^th 20241.27 M 34.1 1 hour 35 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.