If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes scrambling to finish a starship hyperdrive upgrade only to realize you’re 150 units short of the one resource you forgot to stock up on, you know how frustrating No Man’s Sky’s resource grind can be. Salt is one of those underrated materials that pops up in more crafting recipes than you’d expect, from thermal shielding to nutrient processors and even certain high-value trade goods. Figuring out how to get salt in No Man’s Sky consistently cuts out a huge chunk of that last-minute panic, whether you’re a brand new player still learning planet navigation or a veteran traveler running a base manufacturing chain. I’ve spent over 300 hours hopping between star systems testing every salt farming method out there, so I’ve broken down the easiest, most efficient options for every playstyle below.
How to Get Salt in No Man’s Sky via Natural Planet Scavenging
This is the most accessible method for new players, since it requires zero advanced tech or base building progress. You can start gathering salt within the first hour of gameplay, as long as you can find the right type of planet. Salt spawns most frequently on oceanic and frozen tundra planets, so pull up your galaxy map when you’re in a new system and scan for worlds marked with “water world” or “frozen” biomes before you warp down.
When you land, head for coastal areas or shallow ice sheets. Salt appears as bright white crystalline deposits that are easy to spot even without your analysis visor, though turning the visor on will tag deposits with a clear icon from up to 300 units away to save you time wandering. If you’re on a frozen planet, you can often find salt just below the surface of thin ice, so you don’t have to gear up for underwater exploration if you don’t have breathing upgrades yet. You don’t need an upgraded terrain manipulator to mine basic salt deposits, so even the starter tool you get during the tutorial will work fine. This method is totally free, but it’s not the best option if you need hundreds of units of salt quickly, since you’ll have to travel between deposits to gather large batches.
Set Up a Passive Salt Farming Base for Unlimited Stock
If you want a steady supply of salt without having to go out and mine it every time you need it, a passive extraction farm is the way to go. You only need a few pieces of basic base building tech to set one up, all of which you can unlock with just 3 salvaged data modules from the construction research terminal on the space anomaly.
First, find a large salt deposit using your analysis visor. The visor will show you the total size and hourly yield of the deposit, so you can pick the best spot to set up. Place a base computer within 50 units of the deposit to claim the area, then set your mineral extractor directly over the center of the deposit to maximize output. High-yield salt deposits produce up to 250 units of salt per hour, so even one single extractor will fill a standard supply depot in less than a day of real time. You can stack multiple extractors on the same large deposit to double or triple your output, just make sure you have enough solar panels and batteries to power all of them so they don’t stop running when you’re off exploring other systems. I have a small 3-extractor salt farm on a frozen ocean planet in my starter system, and it’s given me all the salt I’ve needed for the past 100 hours of play without any extra work on my part.
Craft or Refine Salt From Other Common Resources
If you’re stuck on a planet with no salt deposits and need salt right away for a critical repair or upgrade, you can make it yourself using a refiner and other common materials you probably already have in your inventory. This is the fastest method for getting large batches of salt in just a few minutes, as long as you have the required input materials on hand. You can use any tier of refiner for these recipes, from the portable personal refiner you get early in the game to large industrial refiners for bulk processing.
- 1x Chlorine + 1x Oxygen = 2x Salt: This is the most efficient recipe if you have extra chlorine, which you can farm easily from gas giant atmospheres or underwater plant life on ocean planets. It doubles your input volume, so you can turn 500 chlorine into 1000 salt in just a few minutes.
- 2x Sodium Nitrate + 1x Ice = 1x Salt: Perfect for players who stockpile ice from frozen planets, as sodium nitrate is also a common resource found in most planetary deposits. This is a great option if you’re exploring a frozen system with no exposed salt deposits.
- 1x Salt + 1x Water = 2x Salt: While this sounds redundant, it’s a handy duplication trick if you have a small amount of salt and a water harvester set up at your base. You can turn 100 salt into 200, then repeat the process to make as much as you need for free.
Just make sure you don’t waste rare resources making salt if you need them for other critical upgrades. If you only have a small amount of chlorine saved for hyperdrive upgrades, stick to mining or farming instead of refining. Refining is the fastest method to get large batches of salt in under 10 minutes if you already have the required materials sitting in your storage, though, so it’s worth keeping these recipes in mind for emergencies.
Buy Salt From NPC Vendors or Other Players
If you have extra units to spare and don’t want to waste time mining, farming, or refining, you can just buy salt directly from vendors. This is a great option for veteran players who have a steady income from selling rare resources or crafted trade goods, since salt is usually very cheap in most star systems.
You can find salt for sale at space station trade terminals, planetary settlement shops, and random NPC traders who land at your base or planetary trading posts. It’s most commonly sold in systems with ocean or frozen planets, where local NPCs harvest it in large quantities, usually for less than 20 units per piece. If you play multiplayer, you can also ask other players on your server if they have extra salt to trade or give away. Most veteran players have hundreds or even thousands of units of salt sitting in storage that they don’t need, so it’s often easier to trade a few rare resources for salt than to farm it yourself. Salt prices jump 30% to 50% in systems with economic shortages, so check the system economy tab first before you buy to avoid overpaying. You can even sell your excess salt for a small profit in arid desert systems, where it’s considered a rare, high-demand resource.
At the end of the day, the best method for gathering salt depends entirely on your playstyle and what you have available in the moment. If you’re just starting out, scavenging deposits on ocean planets is free and requires no extra tech. If you’re a base builder, a passive farm will give you unlimited salt without any extra work. If you have extra materials sitting in storage, refining is the fastest way to stock up, and if you have extra units, buying it saves you all the grind. No matter which method you pick, you’ll never have to panic mid-craft again once you know how to get salt in No Man’s Sky reliably. Next time you warp to a new system, keep an eye out for those ocean worlds – you’ll thank yourself later when you have a full stock of salt waiting for whatever recipe you need to complete.
