Homemade Herbed Sea Salt Recipe (Herbamare)
If you have not already noticed, I absolutely love Herbamare! It is a fantastic replacement for salt or bouillon in savory recipes because it adds flavor without adding as much sodium. By replacing some of the salt with savory herbs and vegetables, you can naturally reduce the sodium while increasing the depth of flavors in your meals. Additionally, the kelp, herbs, and vegetables add important trace minerals, beneficial plant compounds, and pre-biotic fibers that feed the good bacteria in your gut.
Last year I began making my own homemade herbed sea salt recipe to mimic Herbamare. This helps save money and, if you have a garden, helps preserve some of your herb and vegetable harvest! It is so incredibly easy to make once you gather up all of the ingredients. You will just need a food processor or high-powered blender. And, if you don't have all of the ingredients don't worry! This recipe is very forgiving. Experiment with different dried herbs to get the flavor you like best. You can even make a spicy sea salt by including some dried chilies and black pepper!
This homemade herbed sea salt is one of the new recipes I added to the revised edition of my Nourishing Meals book. Use it in soups and stews, on top of scrambled eggs, sprinkled over mashed avocado on toast, use it to make roasted chicken taste amazing, and in any other savory recipe.
Homemade Herbed Sea Salt
Throughout this website and my cookbooks, I use a sea salt and herb blend called Herbamare; it can be found at your local health food store or ordered online. It’s a fabulous replacement for sea salt as it lends more flavors with the added benefit of less sodium per teaspoon compared to plain salt. If you can’t find Herbamare, then you can create your own at home using some fine sea salt (I like to use Real Salt) and dehydrated herbs and vegetables—most of which can be found in the bulk herb and spice section at your local health food store. If you can’t find an ingredient then just leave it out. Use this flavorful herbed sea salt anywhere sea salt is called for in a savory recipe!
I usually add about 4 tablespoons of celery powder to this recipe for added flavor but it is not necessary, although it is very easy to make your own celery powder! Simply chop up some fresh, organic celery (leafy tops included) and add them to your dehydrator. Set temperature to the fruits and vegetable setting (about 120 to 140 degrees F) and dehydrate until completely dry and crispy, about 24 to 48 hours. Then transfer to a high-powdered blender (I use the dry container) and blend until powdered. You can do this with any vegetable or herb—try leeks, onions, or kelp!
Optional Additions
- Add all ingredients, including any optional additions, to your food processor fitted with the “s” blade or high-powered blender and process for a few minutes, or until very finely ground and combined. It will be a pale green color.
- Spoon it into a clean, dry, pint-sized jar and cover tightly with a lid. It will last for a year in your cabinet or pantry.
- For daily use, I suggest reusing a small, clean, dry spice jar with a shaker lid and filling it with some of your herbed sea salt. This way you can keep your pint jar from getting too much moisture in it.
Yield: about 1 ¾ cup
Use this recipe in our Meal Planner
About the Author
Ali Segersten
Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University and a Master’s of Science in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from the University of Western States. She is a Functional Nutritionist, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them. Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book. Alissa is the founder and owner of Nourishing Meals®.Nourishing Meals Newsletter
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This looks wonderful, Ali! I started making my own herbed salt last year on a whim. It's SO much nicer than anything you can buy in a store. Can't wait to try your version. Thank you! :)
Ahh I see! I've never actually smoked my own sea salt. I would just replace the salt you have with a plain smoked salt such as this one here:
Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt: http://amzn.to/2bVTzLl
My question is actually - how can we smoke salt ourselves? (The smoked salt I was buying has garlic as one of the ingredients, so I can no longer use it.) We can try adding other things to it, but how do we actually smoke the salt itself?
You are very welcome. Enjoy! :)
I'm very excited about trying this recipe and such a good time of year to get the recipe so I can dehydrate herbs from the garden. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Rob,
I think using smoked sea salt in place of the regular sea salt would be delicious! Especially if you added some dried chili peppers and black peppercorns. I'm going to have to try this. Thanks for the inspiration. :)
How could we make this into Smoked Salt? I've been using (& loving) Smoked Salt, but can no longer have garlic so have had to stop using it.
Hi there!
Yes, you can absolutely leave the garlic and onion powder out.
As far as the celery powder, no celery seed powder is not the same thing. Though you could certainly use it, just in much smaller quantities (2 to 3 teaspoons total per batch). You can easily dehydrate celery if you own a dehydrator and want to do that, or just leave it out.
As far as brand recommendations, here you go:
Kelp: http://amzn.to/2bsMxzD
Kelp Powder: http://amzn.to/2bkwxOK
Sea Salt: http://amzn.to/2bkwOBd
Let me know how it turns out! :)
Hi Ali,
I am really excited to try this recipe! I've stayed away from Herbamare because I don't do well with garlic and onion powder. I am excited to make my own Herbamare and just leave those out!
Could you add your recommendations for brands? I'd love to know what salt and kelp you use. Is celery seed powder the same as celery powder? Thanks so much!!