How to Reduce Sodium in Chicken: A Complete Guide

This week, Jill answers a listener question about ways to reduce sodium in pre-made chicken and other ready to eat foods.

Jeff Sarris: Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I’m your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris.

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Jill Harris: Yeah, you know, people who listen to us on Spotify and Audible, or whatever, they must be like, “We don’t really give a damn. We don’t give a damn. We can’t see it. Why do you have to talk about it?” I don’t know. We just love them. We just love them. People like this one. Just a simple little kidney stone on them.

Jeff Sarris: Yeah, that’s definitely my vibe is always the simplicity. If it’s not clear because I’m always wearing one color and it’s black.

Jill Harris: Well, you look good in it. So I like that we have the opposites now, now that I don’t wear black every day.

Jeff Sarris: Yeah, you have all the colors going on there, especially with the whole line of stuff. There’s so many options.

Jill Harris: I look like a bag of Skittles on any given day! I mean, I really do now that you know, Easter’s here. If we dyed my hair grass green, I’d look like an Easter basket. I have that kind of hair, Easter grass. I would look like an Easter basket these days. Why not? It’s happy. What was it gonna say? Oh, I have to ask the viewers. I’m on a mission, Jeff’s on a mission. We are on a mission to reach 10,000 subscribers and I know you’re all like, “Here that old lady goes again!” Well, I’ve done some research 64-65% of the people that watch our YouTube channel, we’re so grateful for you, but you didn’t click the red button.

Just click it, boop, click it, just click it. That’s all you have to do. Even though it doesn’t mean anything to you, it does to us because it helps people find us faster when they search for kidney stone stuff on YouTube. So then people can get, you know, clinically correct information. Instead of, you know, if you smoke this cigarette and hit your head three times, you’re going to prevent or dissolve the stone, which we all know isn’t true. So, please press the subscribe button because I want to get 10,000 subscribers. Jeff said he wants to get 50,000, so y’all better be clicking that button right now. Thank you. If you do click it, could you please let us know? That way I can thank you in the comments, since I don’t like asking for things and can’t say “thank you” in person. Could you do that? Okay, thank you.

Jeff Sarris: Yeah, that costs nothing. So that’s just helps with the algorithm and all the algorithm stuff is all a big mystery, always. But all these little markers always help, little likes on the videos, too. If you like it, it always helps. But yeah, so what do you say? Should we dive into this?

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Can I rinse my food to remove sodium?

Listener Voicemail: Hi, Jill. My name is Jean. I’m from Crumpman, Indiana and I was diagnosed with kidney stones. I have a question for you. If something has a lot of sodium in it, say you buy chicken breasts that are already grilled and they’re in strips, what if you were to rinse your food to remove some of the sodium? Does it actually reduce the sodium count in your food when you rinse your food that has high sodium? Just curious. Appreciate the feedback! Thanks. Love you, bye.

Jill Harris: Jean, I love you, too, first of all, because we all need more love in the world. There are a lot of people who say that to me, and I always say it back. The world needs more love. I love it, myself. So, Jean, thank you for that. I appreciate you. I also appreciate everybody that calls in. You don’t have to do this. Because you’re taking time out of your day to call us and ask us this question, it’s pretty amazing that you did it. So, Jean in Indiana, yeah, sure. If you boil some food, the salt’s going to come out in the water. Anyone who has ever eaten tuna in a can has rinsed it out. If you bought store-bought chicken, you might be able to get the salt off the top of it.

If you boiled it for a while, yes, you are going to reduce the sodium in it. You will. I don’t know how much. It would depend on how long you were rinsing it. Would it be worth you doing at that point? Is it going to take away some of the flavor? Obviously, yes. Is it going to ruin the feel of that already made chicken breast? It may. Here’s some things. Instead of going through all that, you certainly can because it will reduce, you’re just not going to know exactly how much it’s going to reduce it by. Here’s other things I would say. Instead of putting yourself through that, something that’s already cooked, I would say–and Jean’s probably going to be like, “Well, I get it, girl, but I don’t want to have to cook the chicken. That’s why I’m getting a premade.”

Four Ways to Make Food Less Salty

FAQ

How to remove sodium from chicken?

To reduce sodium in chicken, you can try soaking it in water or buttermilk, using potatoes or bread to absorb excess salt in soups, or rinsing canned chicken.

How to make chicken less salty?

To make overly salty chicken less salty, try rinsing the chicken under cold water or soaking it in cold water. Adding a touch of sweetness with sugar or honey, or incorporating acidity with lemon juice or vinegar, can also help balance the flavor.

Can I eat chicken on a low sodium diet?

Protein sources that are low in sodium: For low sodium meals, skinless chicken, turkey, fish, tofu, and legumes are all good protein sources. When preparing these foods, use herbs and spices for flavor instead of salt.

Why is chicken breast so high in sodium?

Sodium keeps it juicy and makes it taste good for chicken breast.