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    Home » Recipes » Basics

    Updated: Feb 26, 2023 by Marc Matsumoto · 12 Comments

    Umami Seasoning Salt

    This easy umami seasoning salt combines glutamate-rich konbu (kelp) with GMP-rich dried mushrooms to make a flavorful salt that will add loads of umami to anything you season with it.
    Recipe Video Pin
    Sprinkling umami seasoning salt onto boiled edamame.
    Umami salt sprinkled on edamame (soybeans)

    Umami Seasoning

    Umami is a relatively new concept in the West, but in Japan, where the taste was first identified over a century ago, it's long been an essential dimension of cooking. Simply replacing plain salt with this Umami Seasoning Salt will amplify the savory taste in any dish you cook. This easy way to make any dish taste more delicious has made this an indispensable ingredient in my pantry. 

    Table of contents

    • Umami Seasoning
    • Why This Recipe Works?
    • Ingredients for Umami Seasoning
    • How to Make Umami Seasoning Salt
    • Variations on Umami Seasoning Salt
    • How to use Umami Seasoning
    • FAQ

    Why This Recipe Works?

    • By taking advantage of the synergy of ingredients rich in glutamate and GMP, this umami seasoning blend creates more umami than the sum of its parts. 
    • Grinding the ingredients into a fine powder and mixing them with salt makes it easy to use this all-purpose seasoning in almost anything as a substitute for plain salt. 
    Wooden bowl filled with umami salt with edamame and tomatoes in the background.

    Ingredients for Umami Seasoning

    • Konbu - Konbu is the Japanese word for kelp, and in Japan, it is harvested, dried, and aged to make soup stocks such as dashi. It makes such a potent addition to this umami seasoning because konbu is a rich source of an amino acid called glutamate. Not all konbu is the same, so if you can find it, I highly recommend using konbu from the Rausu area of Hokkaido, Japan. The konbu from this region is thicker and has a very meaty flavor that works well with this seasoning salt. 
    • Dried Shiitake Mushroom - Mushrooms contain a nucleic acid called guanosine monophosphate (GMP). Dried shiitake mushrooms are a particularly rich source of GMP, with a much higher nucleic acid concentration than fresh shiitakes. If you can't find dried shiitake mushrooms, other dried mushrooms like porcini are another excellent alternative. 
    • Salt - There's no need to get fancy here. I used regular table salt, but you could do this with kosher salt, sea salt, or finishing salts like fleur de sel. You could also omit the salt and just use the umami powder on its own, but I find it more convenient to mix this with salt because you can substitute this one ingredient into any recipe. The umami powder alone(without the salt) tends to clump up in a humid area, so if you don't plan to mix it with salt, I recommend storing the powder with a desiccant to keep it from caking. 

    How to Make Umami Seasoning Salt

    The first thing you need to do is turn the konbu and dried shiitake mushrooms into powder. One option is to break them into small pieces and add them to a spice grinder, blender, or food processor. Then you can run the machine until you have a fine powder. Another option is to use a stone mortar and pestle. 

    Once you have a very fine powder, you can just stir the umami powder with the salt to make the seasoning salt. If you plan to use the salt to sprinkle on foods like popcorn, potato chips, or French fries, you may want to grind the granules of salt into a finer powder as well to help it stick better. 

    As long as you keep the salt in a cool, dry place, the seasoning salt will last for years (but hopefully, you'll find so many uses for it, that you'll use it all up in a matter of weeks). 

    Tomato and basil salad sprinkled with umami salt.
    Umami salt sprinkled on tomato and basil salad

    Variations on Umami Seasoning Salt

    I like to keep this seasoning salt neutral so that it can be used in various dishes, but you can mix in other herbs and spices to transform it into a variety of different spice blends. Here are just a few ideas:

    • Curry - Mix in some curry powder. 
    • Italian seasoning - Add some black pepper, garlic powder, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and thyme.
    • Lemon Pepper - Add dried lemon zest and black pepper
    • Taco Seasoning - Add some chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper.

    How to use Umami Seasoning

    This Umami Seasoning Salt can be used in any savory dish as a substitute for regular salt. Use it to season steaks, veggies, chicken, pork, hamburgers, or salmon. Add it to soups, sauces, stews or rice. Sprinkle it on salads, eggs, broccoli, or potatoes. Or use it as a condiment on snack such as nuts, popcorn, or avocado toast. It also works great in the recipes below:

    • Tempura Mushrooms
    • Edamame
    • Kakiage
    • Poke Bowl
    • Vegan Parmesan Cheese

    FAQ

    What is Umami?

    Umami is the fifth taste that's often referred to as savory, alongside salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. Humans have taste receptors in our mouths that can sense the presence of certain amino acids and nucleic acids in foods that we eat, and they register in our brains as umami. If you wanna learn more about umami, check out my What is Umami post.

    What is Umami Seasoning?

    This Umami Seasoning is a seasoned salt that includes ingredients rich in glutamate and GMP. This results in a synergy that gives any food you season with this salt the taste of umami. A couple companies (like Trader Joe's) are making packaged seasonings that combine a variety of umami-rich ingredients to make umami powder, but it's super easy to make at home with this recipe.

    Can I use Umami Salt like regular salt?

    You can use this umami salt as a 1:1 substitute for salt in any recipe. Since the other ingredients displace some of the salt, you'll end up with less salt in your food, but it will still be flavorful, thanks to the boost in umami. If you feel like the food is not sufficiently salted, just add a little extra seasoning.

    Is Umami Seasoning vegan?

    I can't vouch for commercially available seasoning blends, but this recipe is vegan and vegetarian friendly.

    📖 Recipe

    Sprinkling Umami Seasoning Salt with fingers.

    Umami Seasoning

    By: Marc Matsumoto
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Discuss
    Prep Time 5 minutes mins
    Total Time 5 minutes mins
    Yield 50 servings

    Units

    Ingredients 

    • 5 grams konbu
    • 3 grams dried shiitake mushrooms (stems removed)
    • 150 grams salt (~½ cup)

    Instructions

    • Break the konbu and shiitake mushrooms into small pieces and add them to a spice grinder, blender, or food processor. Run until the ingredients have been ground into a fine powder.
      Konbu and shiitake mushrooms in a spice grinder.
    • Pour the mixture into a bowl with the salt and mix to combine.
      Adding umami powder to salt.
    • Store the umami seasoning salt in a sealed container.
      Store finished umami seasoning salt in a sealed container.
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    Nutrition

    Calories 0.2kcalCarbohydrates 0.1gProtein 0.01gFat 0.001gSodium 1163mgPotassium 1mgFiber 0.01gSugar 0.002gVitamin A 0.1IUVitamin C 0.01mgCalcium 1mgIron 0.01mg

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    Reader Interactions

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Shan says

      July 18, 2022 at 3:41 am

      Sounds yummy. Made your Japanese pickles. So good.

      If I were using kelp powder instead of kombu, how much would I use?

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        July 18, 2022 at 10:32 pm

        Hi Shan, you can use the gram measurement. It won't make a difference whether it's whole or powdered.

        Reply
    2. IzzieK says

      July 19, 2022 at 12:04 am

      I will get into this straight away, Mark. Excellent post! I always enjoy your post. the extra little video in the middle of your post always excites me and I would like t make most of them apart from when I encounter an ingredient that is not really available here in MidWest. USA. Keep up the good work.

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        July 19, 2022 at 11:19 pm

        Thanks! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the video too!

        Reply
    3. Phyllis says

      July 19, 2022 at 8:28 am

      Thank you so much for sharing Marc! I usually buy flavored salt at my local Asian store, so I was ecstatic to see this. Perfect for just about everything, especially homemade ramen, since I don't always have Kombu and shiitake on hand. Just tried it out on homemade chicken soup and it was superb!

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        July 19, 2022 at 11:21 pm

        You're welcome Phyllis, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Great idea using it to season chicken soup!

        Reply
    4. Rosalie says

      July 19, 2022 at 11:31 pm

      Hi Marc,
      Thanks for the great blog topic. Can you tell me why you would remove the stems from the shiitake, please?
      Rosalie

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        July 22, 2022 at 8:50 am

        Hi Rosalie, The stems are much tougher than the caps and won't turn into a powder as easily. They also sometimes still have growing medium (a.k.a. wood) attached to the base which you don't want in your salt.

        Reply
    5. Brian says

      August 08, 2022 at 7:05 pm

      I have been unsuccessful in getting Konbu, would this be possible using something like dashi powder or would that be too fishy/salty ?. Also could you put some blitzed p chillie flakes to give it a bit of heat ?

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        August 08, 2022 at 9:43 pm

        Hi Brian, have you tried looking online? If you're in a country with Amazon, they carry it. As for using dashi powder, it would work, but most dashi powder is loaded with MSG so if you're going to use that you may as well just buy MSG and use that instead. As for adding chili flakes, you can certainly add other seasonings like chili, garlic powder, spices etc, but I use this in place of regular salt, so I wanted the most neutral tasting mixture so it has the most versatility.

        Reply
    6. Jane says

      October 10, 2022 at 6:06 am

      Hi Marc,
      I tried your shiitake konbu salt, it has become a versatile condiment in my kitchen now. Thank you for your generosity in sharing this great recipe.

      May l seek your expertise in making shiitake & konbu powder seasonings? What should be the ratio for shiitake and konbu, sugar, Himalayan salt and nutritional yeast flakes if l want to have all these ingredients added in?

      Reply
      • Marc Matsumoto says

        October 10, 2022 at 4:44 pm

        Hi Jane, I'm happy to hear you've been enjoying this! As for a powdered seasoning, it kinda depends on how you want to use it, but you may want to powderize each ingredient separately and then blend them a spoonful at a time until you have a mix you're happy with (make sure to weigh the amount of each thing you add so you can make it again and scale it up). Here's a nutritional yeast and shiitake based seasoning for another point of reference: https://norecipes.com/vegan-parmesan-cheese/

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Marc Matsumoto, a retired chef living in Tokyo, and I founded No Recipes to empower home cooks of all levels by sharing essential techniques and my kitchen secrets.

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