A tasty low sodium chili recipe can be helpful as the cold weather comes. It’s soup and stew season but unfortunately these foods can be quite high in sodium.
Chili can be a wonderful heart healthy option when you use lots of beans and veggies. With beans and tomatoes, it is a great source of potassium, which can actually improve blood pressure.
However, excess sodium can be a problem for those with blood pressure concerns. So restaurant or store bought chili may not be the best option. Instead, grab your crock pot or pressure cooker and a low sodium chili recipe, and make a heart healthy pot of chili!
What is considered high sodium? Typically, aiming for 1500-2000 mg of sodium per day is a decent goal for those on a sodium restricted diet. But we definitely recommend checking with your care team for your specific needs!
But let’s say we’re aiming for 1800 mg of sodium per day. In a 3 meal, 3 snack day, meals can be around 500 and snacks can be around 100. But you can divide this up however you would like! 200 at breakfast, 800 at lunch, 300 in a snack, 500 at dinner. It’s up to you. All that to say, we generally consider a meal to be reasonable for a low sodium diet if it’s around 500 mg or less.
Most chili recipes can be easily altered to be lower in sodium by purchasing low sodium or no salt added canned products (beans, tomatoes, etc). You can also limit the salt added. We even have a recipe for a no salt added chili seasoning mixture that gives you all the flavor without the sodium!
Low Sodium Chili Recipes
- Beef and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe
- Turkey Chili with Beans Recipe
- Lentil Chili Recipe
- Easy Pumpkin Turkey Chili Recipe
- Three Bean Chili Recipe
How to Make a Satisfying Meal with Chili
Chili may be satisfying for you on its own. However, many find greater satisfaction with different tastes and textures to round out the meal.
So what might this look like? Topping with shredded cheese, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, avocado, or crunched up low sodium tortilla chips. Serve the chili alongside a salad, crackers, or a piece of bread or cornbread.
Speaking of cornbread, how about one of our low sodium jalapeno cheddar cornbread muffins?
More Low Sodium Recipes
- 15 Satisfying Low Sodium Snacks for High Blood Pressure
- 10 Tasty Low Sodium Soup Recipes to Keep you Cozy this Winter
- 5 Flavorful Low Sodium Salad Dressing Recipes to Add to your Meals
An award winning recipe developer, Dietitian Kaitlin’s mission is to empower others to reach their health goals by encouraging them to get back into the kitchen. Co-author of Nourished: 10 Ingredients to Happy, Healthy Eating and Cooking with Diabetes.
