Fleur de Sel Substitutes, by Whether the Salt Sits on Top or Dissolves In

Out of fleur de sel? The first question is whether the salt sits on top of the food or dissolves into it. Fleur de sel’s job is nearly always the first one: a pinch scattered over food just before you eat it, where the crystals stay whole and crunch. For that, reach for Maldon or another flaky sea salt, or Diamond Crystal kosher salt from the pantry. If the recipe measures fleur de sel into a dough or sauce, almost any salt will do; you just need the right amount, and measuring by volume is where that goes wrong.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

What makes fleur de sel different

Fleur de sel, “flower of salt,” forms as fine crystals floating on the surface of the brine in seawater salt pans and gets skimmed off by hand. Gray salt (sel gris) comes out of the same pans but crystallizes on the clay bottom, which gives it its color.

At the table, that comes down to texture: fine, slightly damp crystals that hold their shape for a moment before dissolving. Flavor matters less. America’s Test Kitchen found that sea salts vary in color but only slightly in flavor, and that sea salt tastes no different from table salt once it’s mixed into food.¹

If fleur de sel is finishing a dish

1. Maldon or another flaky sea salt

Maldon gives you the same kind of crunch in a different shape. Its crystals are thin pyramid-shaped flakes that, like fleur de sel’s, form at the top of the brine. The flakes are bigger and crisper than fleur de sel’s fine crystals.

Ratio (Method): Use it by the pinch, as you would fleur de sel, and taste. Crush the flakes between your fingers if you want smaller crystals.

2. Diamond Crystal kosher salt

If all you have is kosher salt, Diamond Crystal is the better of the two big US brands for finishing. Its crystals are hollow pyramids, and ATK’s tasters liked its “delicate and fleeting crunch.” Morton’s kosher salt, by contrast, is pressed through rollers into thin, hard flakes.²

Ratio (Method): By the pinch, to taste. Go lighter with Morton: ATK found a teaspoon of Morton kosher salt weighs 4.8 grams against 2.8 grams for Diamond Crystal,² so a pinch of Morton carries more salt.

3. Sel gris (gray salt)

Gray salt is the other salt from the same pans, so it’s the natural relative. It’s gray from clay, and damp. It suits heartier food, like roast meat or root vegetables, better than delicate fish or sweets.

Ratio (Method): By the pinch, to taste. Gray salt crystals usually run chunkier than fleur de sel’s, so use fewer, or crush them first.

4. Coarse Himalayan pink salt, for color

Himalayan pink salt is rock salt, not sea salt. A coarse grind gives crunch and a pink fleck on a salad or steak, but its crystals are hard and chunky, nothing like fleur de sel’s fine, damp ones.

Ratio (Method): By the pinch, to taste.

If fleur de sel is measured into a recipe

Some recipes, often caramels, shortbread or salted butter, measure fleur de sel into the mix, where it dissolves. Here the crystal doesn’t matter anymore. Salt in its most basic form is sodium chloride, whatever its source. What matters is how much salt.

By weight (Computed, upper limit): The Codex standard for food-grade salt requires at least 97% sodium chloride on a dry basis,³ and Guérande fleur de sel can hold up to 12% moisture.⁴ So a gram of fleur de sel can’t carry more salt than a gram of dry salt. If the recipe gives grams, use no more than the same weight of any food-grade salt, and taste.

By volume: This is where swaps go wrong, because a spoon holds very different weights of different salts. Big crystals carry less salt per teaspoon simply because fewer of them fit,⁵ and ATK weighs a teaspoon of table salt at about 6 grams, Morton kosher at 4.8 and Diamond Crystal at 2.8.² Start with about half the volume if you’re using table salt and about three quarters with Morton kosher salt, then taste. Diamond Crystal is the lightest of the three, so it’s the safest to start at equal volume. These are cautious starting points, not measured equivalents.

Other options

• Ordinary coarse sea salt. Coarse crystals give crunch, but they’re harder and slower to break down on your tongue than fleur de sel. Use by the pinch.
• Table salt. Fine and dense, it disappears into food instead of sitting on top. Fine for a dissolved use, at the volume above. A poor finishing salt.

Notes for every swap

• Iodine. Fleur de sel isn’t a source of iodine. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements lists fleur de sel, sea salt, kosher salt and Himalayan salt among specialty salts that aren’t usually iodized.⁶
• Sodium. Table salt, kosher salt and most sea salts are all about 40% sodium,⁵ so swapping one for another won’t change your sodium intake unless you use less.

What isn’t known

• Fleur de sel from other regions follows its producers’ own rules. The figures here describe Guérande’s specification.

Related

• Fleur de sel, fleur de sel vs. Maldon salt and fleur de sel vs. kosher salt
• Fleur de sel vs. sea salt and fleur de sel vs. Himalayan salt
• Maldon sea salt, Celtic sea salt, kosher salt, Himalayan salt and sea salt
• Maldon salt substitutes, Celtic salt substitutes and sea salt substitutes
• Cooking with sea salt and too much sea salt