How can I return JSON in .NET without extra escaping?

The extra backslashes you see aren’t actually “extra” in the final output—they’re just the way JSON encoding represents special characters (such as the backslash itself) in a string literal. In other words, when you return a string (as in your first two cases), you see the unescaped version, but when you return an object (with a property that is a string), the JSON serializer escapes characters so that the JSON is valid.

For example, if your en_content value contains a single backslash character ("\"), then when it’s embedded inside a JSON string it appears as "\" (or sometimes even more if there are multiple escapes) so that when the JSON is parsed the actual string value has a single backslash.

If you really need to change how the serializer escapes characters (for example, to have a “relaxed” form that puts fewer escape characters in the output), you have a couple of options:

---

Option 1. Using System.Text.Json with Custom Options

You can configure the JSON serializer to use a custom encoder. For example, you could disable most escaping with the following options:

CSHARPCopied
using System.Text.Encodings.Web;
using System.Text.Json;

[HttpGet("blog/{blog_id}")]
[AllowAnonymous]
public async Task<IActionResult> GetBlog(string blog_id)
{
    var blog = await _blogs.Find(b => b.id == blog_id).FirstOrDefaultAsync();
    if (blog == null)
    {
        return NotFound("Blog not found.");
    }

    // Return the blog with a custom JSON serializer.
    var options = new JsonSerializerOptions
    {
        Encoder = JavaScriptEncoder.UnsafeRelaxedJsonEscaping,
        WriteIndented = true // Optional: for prettier printing
    };
    
    return new JsonResult(blog, options);
}

Setting the Encoder to JavaScriptEncoder.UnsafeRelaxedJsonEscaping tells the serializer not to escape characters like the forward slash (/) or backslash (\) as strictly as it normally would.

---

Option 2. Global JSON Options in Startup/Program

If you want this behavior application‑wide, you can configure your JSON options when you add controllers. For example, in your Startup.cs (or Program.cs if you’re using top‑level statements):

CSHARPCopied
// In Startup.cs ConfigureServices method or equivalent in Program.cs
services.AddControllers().AddJsonOptions(options =>
{
    options.JsonSerializerOptions.Encoder = JavaScriptEncoder.UnsafeRelaxedJsonEscaping;
});

This will apply the relaxed escaping rule to all JSON responses from your controllers.

---

Final Note

Keep in mind that the extra backslashes you’re seeing in your browser or tool (like Postman) are just part of the JSON encoding. When a client parses the JSON—say into a JavaScript object—they will appear as ordinary backslashes. Adjusting the escaping may be useful if you’re trying to view the output in a specific way, but as long as your client can parse the JSON, the value of en_content will be correct.

By applying one of the options above, you can control the JSON escaping behavior so that the output more closely matches your expectations.