Restaurants Put Rice in Salt Shakers — Why You Should Do the Same at Home

In restaurants, salt shakers usually go unnoticed until you reach for some extra seasoning and are surprised to find white rice grains inside. Is it a mistake or a quirky touch? Actually, neither.

To see why rice is used, you first need to remember that salt has a big enemy: moisture. When exposed to humidity — for example near hot stoves — salt crystals draw moisture to their surfaces. Some of the salt dissolves, then recrystallizes as the water evaporates, welding grains together. The result is clumping that can block the shaker holes entirely. To prevent this problem, some restaurateurs add uncooked rice to the shaker: the rice soaks up part of the moisture inside the container and helps stop the salt from forming hard lumps. The salt then pours more easily, without having to shake the bottle like a maraca.

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You can use the same trick at home: put a little less than a teaspoon of uncooked rice in the bottom of a thoroughly dry salt shaker, then fill it as usual and give it a quick shake to spread the rice. Picking the right rice matters — plain white rice is generally better than brown rice, because the bran layer on whole-grain rice limits how readily the interior of the grain can absorb moisture.

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What about pepper — does rice help there too? It’s not necessary to treat pepper the same way. Unlike salt, pepper isn’t made of water-soluble crystals and is theoretically less prone to the same kind of clumping. Still, rice is no substitute for good storage: keep your salt shaker in a dry spot, away from splashes and prolonged exposure to steam from cooking.

To keep this little hack working, change the rice from time to time, especially if the shaker is frequently exposed to humidity. And if the salt does start to cake up anyway, empty the container, wash it, let it dry completely, then refill it. That way you’ll have a salt shaker that pours smoothly without having to shake it wildly.