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The best salt storage containers are sturdy, hold a useful amount of salt, are easy to fill and access, and protect your salt from kitchen splatter and humidity. Our winner is the BEE HOUSE Salt Box 16 oz. This solid and roomy model held 2 cups of salt, so we didn’t have to fill it often. Its wide opening made it easy for even large-handed cooks to access the salt inside. Our Best Buy, the Totally Bamboo Salt Cellar, holds less salt, but it costs less than half the price of the winner. While its light weight made it easier to knock off the counter by accident, some testers preferred its more compact size and secure magnet closure.
We like keeping a salt storage container next to the stove while we cook. This makes it easy to season a steak or a pot of boiling water on the fly. While a small prep bowl could be used, a dedicated container looks a little nicer while also protecting the salt from splatter and humidity. There are two basic kinds of salt containers. Salt pigs are open-mouth, often cylindrical vessels, while salt boxes have lids and tend to be slightly smaller.
What to Look For
- Salt Boxes: We vastly preferred salt boxes, as they came with lids that provided protection from both humidity and food splatter. Despite their lids, most also turned out to be simple to open with one hand.
- Easy Access: We liked models with relatively large openings at their tops. These were easy to load with salt and access from above.
- Moderate Weight: Containers that weighed around one pound were less likely to tip over or be moved on a countertop than lighter models.
What to Avoid
- Salt Pigs: Salt pigs often have wide openings, but these openings are located on the sides, not the top, of each vessel. This made them harder to fill and use. Both models we tested forced us to tilt the salt pigs to fill them with salt, which was awkward and still resulted in some spillage. Because the salt pigs had no lids, food spattered their contents, and the salt clumped from humidity.
The Tests
- Fill each container to capacity
- Have users of various hand sizes remove salt
- Leave containers in a humid environment to test for clumping protection
- Leave containers near simmering pots of tomato sauce to test for splatter protection
- Bump each container 10 times to see how well the salt containers stay put on a countertop
How We Rated
- Stability: We evaluated how sturdy the containers were when bumped and jostled.
- Ease of Use: We rated the containers on how easy they were to fill, open with one hand, and access.
- Cleanup/Humidity Protection: We evaluated how well the containers protected the salt from humidity, clumping, and food splatter.
