No-Bake Salt Dough 3 Ways
Make adorable Christmas ornaments and more with this super easy recipe. Spoiler alert: There’s no salt. Or baking!


If you’re looking for an easy Christmas craft, you can’t go wrong with classic salt dough. The iconic dough is super versatile for making holiday decorations. But Danielle Boaz and Gabriela Hardan from the HGTV Handmade crew have done you one better and discovered a “salt dough” recipe that doesn’t require baking. And it doesn’t have salt either! Read on to see three super cute ways to craft with this no-bake, no-salt dough.
Better-Than-Salt-Dough Crafts 03:01
No-Salt Dough
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 cup baking soda

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia
Combine all ingredients in pot. Stir over medium heat until the mixture reaches a mashed potato-like consistency. Take the dough off heat and let cool in a bowl. Cover with a damp dish towel until the dough cools. Once the dough is cool, transfer to a cutting board. Knead until smooth. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a ¼ inch-thick sheet.
No-Salt Dough Napkin Ring Holders

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Materials Needed
- no-salt dough
- rolling pin
- cutting board
- circle cookie cutter
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- skewer
- rubber letter stamps
- twine

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Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia
Make dough recipe above and roll out dough to a ¼ inch-thick sheet. Using circle cookie cutters, cut out circle shapes. Transfer dough circles to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a skewer, poke holes in both sides of the circle. Using rubber letter stamps, stamp festive words, such as “joy” or “noel,” into the center of the dough circle. Let the dough circles air dry for 24 to 48 hours. Once the circles are dry, go over the stamped words with a metallic paint pen to outline the words. Thread festive twine through the holes on each side and tie to turn each disc into a napkin ring. Adjust the twine length based on your napkins.
No-Salt Dough Ornaments

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Materials Needed
- no-salt dough
- rolling pin
- cutting board
- festive cookie cutters
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- skewer
- paint pens
- twine or ornament hooks

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia
Make dough recipe above and roll out dough to a ¼ inch-thick sheet. Using Christmas cookie cutters, cut out festive shapes. Transfer dough ornaments to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a skewer, punch a hole in the top of each ornament. Let the dough ornaments air dry for 24 to 48 hours. Once dry, decorate each ornament with paint pens. Hang with ornament hooks or twine.
No-Salt Dough Gift Tags

Materials Needed
- no-salt dough
- rolling pin
- cutting board
- knife
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- skewer
- rubber letter stamps
- paint pen
- twine

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Cassidy Garcia

Make dough recipe above and roll out dough to a ¼ inch-thick sheet. Using a knife, cut dough into a long rectangular pendant or any other gift tag shape. Transfer dough gift tags to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a skewer, poke a hole at the top of each gift tag. Using rubber letter stamps, add names to each gift tag. Let the dough gift tags air dry for 24 to 48 hours. Once the gift tags are dry, go over the stamped words with a paint pen to outline the words.
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