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Foods high in Chloride

Mineral that keeps body fluids in balance alongside sodium and potassium, and is used to make stomach acid. Almost all of it comes from salt.

About Chloride

Chloride works with sodium and potassium to keep the body's fluids in balance, and is needed to make stomach acid, which is hydrochloric acid.

Almost all dietary chloride comes from salt, which is sodium chloride, so salty foods are the richest sources: soy sauce, stock, cured meat and fish, cheese, bread and ready meals. The UK label reference intake is 800 mg a day.

Because it arrives with sodium, the practical advice is the same as for salt. Most UK adults eat more than the recommended 6 g of salt a day, and a shortage from diet alone is very rare.

Foods high in chloride, soy sauce, white fish, stock gel, and more

Ranked by how much you get per calorie, so foods are not rewarded for simply being dry or concentrated. Values from USDA FoodData Central, McCance & Widdowson's CoFID, ANSES Ciqual, and other public nutrition databases. Amounts in milligrams.

Per calorie is the default here because it answers what to eat: ranked purely by amount, a list of the richest foods fills up with dried and concentrated things nobody eats a plateful of. Switch to per 100 grams above if concentration is what you are after.

  1. Soy sauce, light and dark varieties 10,379.75mg
  2. White fish, dried, salted 7,432.43mg
  3. Stock gel 6,092.02mg
  4. Salted fish, Chinese, bones removed, steamed 5,367.74mg
  5. Shrimps, boiled 5,000mg
  6. Shrimps, boiled, weighed with shells 4,948.72mg
  7. Chilli sauce 4,425mg
  8. Beef extract 3,659.22mg
  9. Onions, pickled, drained 3,041.67mg
  10. Mustard, smooth 2,553.96mg
  11. Shrimps, dried 2,465.31mg
  12. Sauce, dry, casserole mix, made up 2,342.86mg

Common questions about Chloride

How much chloride do I need?
The UK label reference intake is 800 mg a day. Most people get far more than that from salt.
What foods are high in chloride?
Salty foods: soy sauce, stock, cured meat and fish, cheese, bread and ready meals.
How is chloride related to salt?
Salt is sodium chloride. One gram of salt contains about 0.6 g of chloride and 0.4 g of sodium.