43 Sweet and Salty Desserts to Satisfy All Your Cravings at Once
As cooks, we’ve learned to season our food with salt. And sweets are no exception—they always need a pinch, at least, to taste well-balanced. But the sweet and salty desserts in this collection go a step further, playing with the way that salt can amplify and add depth to the flavors of chocolate, caramel, and nuts (among others) while rounding off the bitterness found in some of these ingredients. Below, you’ll find salted cookies and tarts, desserts punched up with pretzels and salty crackers, and sweet recipes that lean on salty ingredients like miso and soy sauce to bring out umami. Grab your favorite flaky salt and scroll down.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by M. Pearl Jones2/43Chocolate Miso Bread Pudding
Epi contributor Nik Sharma designed this chocolate bread pudding recipe with shiro miso in the custard in order to intensify the bright and savory flavors of the chocolate and tamp down some of its bitterness. The result: a chocolate dessert where the chocolate really shines.
Photograph by William Meppem in The New Easy by Donna Hay3/43Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownie
Salted caramel is magnificent on its own, but some argue that it’s even better when paired with chocolate. These easy bar cookies lean on store-bought caramel or dulce de leche for quick results.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton4/43Chocolate-Dipped Ice Cream Cones With Peanuts
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton5/43No-Churn Salted Caramel Ice Cream
If you believe that salted caramel is best in ice cream form, but you don’t want to buy an ice cream maker, this recipe is for you.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Prop Styling by Gerri Williams, Food Styling by Judy Haubert7/43Salted Speculoos Malts
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova8/43Salted-Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These salty, chewy, crunchy cookies are a longtime staff favorite. Salted butter is a crucial ingredient here; resting the dough in the fridge makes the cookies even better.
9/43Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart
The crumbly crust on this chocolate-caramel tart comes together quickly in a food processor. Pour in a salty caramel filling and top everything off with a chocolate ganache for a silky finish.
Ed Anderson © 201410/43Salted Butter Caramel–Chocolate Mousse
Dessert pro David Lebovitz makes this simple mousse with salted butter, heavy cream, chopped chocolate, eggs, sugar, and flaky sea salt—preferably fleur de sel.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Stevie Stewart11/43Stamped Calamansi-Fish Sauce Shortbread
A tiny bit of fish sauce graces these cookies—it’s not enough to make them taste fishy, just complex and subtly, delightfully funky.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks12/43Crispy Peanut Butter Snack Cake
This crunchy no-bake snack made from Chex cereal, crispy puffed rice, salty peanuts, pretzels, and potato chips is mixed with creamy peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and a bit of coconut oil and chilled until sliceable, then drizzled with chocolate. Some readers add crumbled bacon for even more savory-salty flavor.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton14/43Crunchy, Creamy Key Lime Pie Bites on Ice Cream
Photo by Ben Dearnley15/43Bourbon Sugar and Pretzel Truffles
If standard chocolate truffles are too one-note for you, try making this version with crushed pretzels, bourbon, and sea salt.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Susan Kim16/43No-Bake Peach Cheesecake
Graham cracker crust is great and all, but this crust made with Wheat Thins can really wake up your next cheesecake.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne18/43Hello Dollies
Instead of using standard graham crackers in these simple layered bars, you’ll crush Ritz crackers. They’re a guaranteed bake sale hit.
Photo by Justin Walker19/43Ovenly's Brooklyn Blackout Cake
We’re not going to stop you from making the full recipe for this lavish cake, but if you’re short on time, we highly recommend that you whip up the 9-minute salted chocolate pudding on its own. While it makes a great cake filling, we also love it chilled in a bowl, with or without a dollop of espresso whipped cream and another pinch of salt on top.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton20/43Peach and Butter Pecan Ice Cream Icebox Cake
Icebox cakes are a staple of low-effort, no-bake desserts. Adding a layer of ice cream and using salty Ritz crackers instead of cookies or graham crackers makes this one unforgettable.
Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua23/43Salted Coffee Custard Pie
Rinne Allen29/43Salted Rye Cookies
Got rye flour in your pantry that you’ve been meaning to use up? Put these cookies on your must-bake list.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Judy Kim, Prop Styling by Nicole Louie39/43Miso White Chocolate–Macadamia Cookies
Romulo Yanes40/43Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies
The Maldon that you keep in the salt cellar on your counter is just waiting for you to bake these cookies.
