Brine Calculator (Equilibrium, Wet and Dry)
Brine Calculator (Equilibrium, Wet and Dry)
How much salt for a brine, on all three bases that are actually used — equilibrium brining as a percentage of meat plus water, traditional brining as a percentage of the water, and dry brining as a percentage of the meat. The same “1.5%” is three different doses. Answered in grams first, because salt type changes the volume by a factor of two and not the mass. Nitrite curing salts are refused.
Salt for a brine, three ways
1.5 kg of meat in 1.5 kg of water, equilibrium brined at 1.5%
One multiplication, three bases, and the base is the whole question
- p
- the salt percentage. It means nothing until you say what it is a percentage OF, and the three answers differ by up to a factor of three on the same joint
- meat + water
- the equilibrium base. The salt ends up evenly distributed through everything in the container, so this percentage IS the meat’s final saltiness. That is the whole appeal of the method
- water
- the traditional base. A much stronger brine, and time rather than concentration decides where the meat stops — so it can be overdone
- meat
- the dry-brine base. No water at all: the salt draws out moisture, dissolves in it and is reabsorbed
- grams per teaspoon
- 6.00 for table salt, 4.88 Morton coarse kosher, 2.85 Diamond Crystal, 5.19 Morton fine sea. A factor of two by volume for the same mass, which is why this page answers in grams first
- refrigerated
- assumed throughout. FSIS’s brining guidance is for refrigerated brining only, and the brine is discarded after use
Worked example
1.5 kg of meat in 1.5 kg of water, equilibrium brined at 1.5%
The equilibrium base is meat plus water: 1,500 + 1,500 = 3,000 g
1.5% of 3,000 g is 45.0 g of salt — and that 1.5% is where the meat itself will end up, which is the point of the method
The same 1.5% on a traditional brine's base would be 1.5% of the water alone, 22.5 g, and no published traditional brine is anywhere near that weak: FSIS's own is 5.7% of the water, 216 g in a gallon
45 g is 15.81 level teaspoons of Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or 7.50 of table salt. Same mass, 2.11 times the volume
Refrigerated throughout, and the brine goes down the sink afterwards. The internal temperature at the end still decides whether it is cooked
Three methods, three bases, and the same percentage means three different doses
| Method | Salt is a % of | Published range | On 1.5 kg of meat in 1.5 kg of water, at 1.5% | What controls the result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equilibrium brine | meat + water | 0.5–2.5% (Is Salt); 1–1.5% standard; 1.2–1.8% with 1.5% to start (Destination BBQ) | 45 g | The percentage. The brine and the meat move toward the same concentration, so the final saltiness is what you dosed. Time affects how evenly, not how much. |
| Traditional brine | the water alone | 3% light / 6% standard / 10% strong (Is Salt); 5–7% (Destination BBQ); 5.7% (USDA FSIS’s own recipe); 9% (America’s Test Kitchen) | 23 g at 1.5%, though nobody publishes a traditional brine that weak | Time. The brine is much stronger than you want the meat to end up, so you take it out before it gets there — and you can overshoot. |
| Dry brine | the meat alone | About 0.6 to 1.3% depending on the salt; Cook’s Illustrated’s 1 tsp per pound is 0.63% in Diamond Crystal and 1.32% in table salt | 23 g | The percentage, like an equilibrium brine — there is nowhere for the salt to go but in. Slower, and it does not dilute the surface. |
Same 45 g of salt, four salts, and the spoon changes by a factor of two
| Salt | g per level tsp | Teaspoons for 45 g | Tablespoons for 45 g | “1 tsp per lb” as a % of meat | FSIS’s ¾ cup per gallon, as a % of water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Table salt / fine salt | 6.00 | 7.50 | 2.50 | 1.323 | 5.72 |
| Morton coarse kosher salt | 4.88 | 9.22 | 3.07 | 1.076 | 4.65 |
| Diamond Crystal kosher salt | 2.85 | 15.81 | 5.27 | 0.628 | 2.71 |
| Morton fine natural sea salt | 5.19 | 8.68 | 2.89 | 1.143 | 4.94 |
The one brine recipe here from a food safety authority
| As FSIS write it | Salt (g) | Water (g) | % of water |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¾ US cup of table salt to 1 US gallon of water | 216 | 3,779 | 5.716 |
| 3 tablespoons of table salt per US quart | 54.0 | 945 | 5.716 |
Nitrite curing salts: this page refuses them
| Product | What is actually in it | Substitutes for salt at |
|---|---|---|
| Prague powder #1, Insta Cure #1, pink curing salt #1 | 6.25% sodium nitrite, 93.75% sodium chloride | No ratio. Never. |
| Prague powder #2, pink curing salt #2 | 6.25% sodium nitrite, 4% sodium nitrate, 89.75% sodium chloride | No ratio. Never. |
| Table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, flake salt | Sodium chloride | The ratios above, by weight |
A percentage of what? Three methods, three bases
A brine percentage is meaningless until you say what it is a percentage of, and there are three answers in common use. An equilibrium brine doses the salt against the weight of the meat AND the water together. A traditional, time-limited brine doses it against the water alone. A dry brine — salt rubbed straight onto the meat — doses it against the meat alone. On 1.5 kg of meat in 1.5 kg of water, “1.5%” is 45 g, 22.5 g and 22.5 g respectively; on 2 kg of meat in 4 kg of water it is 90 g, 60 g and 30 g, a factor of three. Most of the contradictory brining advice on the internet is this confusion and nothing else.
Equilibrium brining is the one worth leading with, because the number you set is the number you get. Salt moves until the concentration is the same everywhere in the container, so if you dose 1.5% of the total weight, the meat ends up at about 1.5% salt. Leave it in longer and it becomes more evenly seasoned rather than saltier. That is genuinely a different kind of control from a strong brine, and it is why the method has taken over in competition cooking and sous vide. It is not magic, though, and the claim that you cannot over-brine is overstated: one of the sources here says so directly. Published targets run from 0.5% to 2.5%, and the three sources this page uses do not agree with each other — 1 to 1.5%, 1.2 to 1.8%, and a full span of 0.5 to 2.5% — so the percentage is an input here and the bands are printed rather than averaged.
A traditional brine is a different calculation and a different risk. It is much stronger than you want the meat to finish at — USDA FSIS’s own published recipe is ¾ cup of salt to a gallon of water, which computes to 5.7% of the water by weight, and America’s Test Kitchen recommend 9% — and you remove the meat before it reaches equilibrium. So time is the control, and over-brining is real: the outside goes past pleasant long before the middle is seasoned. The four published strengths on this page span 3% to 10%, which is a wider disagreement than anything on the equilibrium side. FSIS’s two forms of their own recipe, incidentally, check out exactly against each other: three quarters of a cup is 36 teaspoons, and three tablespoons a quart over four quarts is also 36.
Salt type changes the volume, not the mass — and that is where most dry-brine advice comes apart. A level teaspoon holds 6.00 g of table salt and 2.85 g of Diamond Crystal kosher, a factor of 2.11. So Cook’s Illustrated’s widely copied dry-brine dose of one teaspoon per pound is 0.63% of the meat’s weight in Diamond Crystal, 1.08% in Morton coarse kosher and 1.32% in table salt. The equally widely repeated “dry brine at about 1%” is true for exactly one of those three. This page therefore answers in grams first and prints the spoon measure in all four salts, so the spread is visible rather than hidden. The densities are taken unchanged from the salt conversion calculator, which owns them and explains where each came from; nothing was re-measured here, so the two pages cannot drift apart.
Two things this page will not do. It will not calculate a nitrite cure. Prague powder and pink curing salt are 6.25% sodium nitrite in sodium chloride, dosed against a regulated ingoing limit to control Clostridium botulinum in a product that will be held for weeks, and there is no ratio at which they substitute for salt. That is a food-safety calculation with legal limits, not a taste calculation, and handing back a weight of pink salt from a brine percentage would be actively unsafe; the salt conversion calculator refuses them for the same reason and in the same words. And it will not tell you when the meat is cooked. Brining changes how meat holds water and how it tastes; it does not move the temperature at which it becomes safe. FSIS still require 165 °F (73.9 °C) for poultry and 145 °F (62.8 °C) plus a three-minute rest for whole cuts. Refrigerated brining is assumed throughout, and FSIS are explicit that the brine is discarded afterwards. For the cooking, the roast cooking time calculator and the meat cooking temperature converter; for the oven, the oven temperature converter.
Frequently asked questions
What is equilibrium brining, and can you really not over-salt it?
Salt is dosed as a percentage of the meat plus the water together, so the concentration you set is the concentration everything in the container ends up at — including the meat. Leave it longer and it gets more evenly salted rather than more salted. That is a real advantage over a strong brine, but “cannot over-salt” is too strong a claim, and one of the sources this page uses says so in terms: it is “close enough to sound helpful and loose enough to get you in trouble.” Salt moves toward equilibrium rather than stopping dead at it, meat is not pure water, and a long soak changes texture whatever the concentration. Published targets run from 0.5% to 2.5%, with 1 to 1.8% the usual recommendation.
How much salt for a traditional brine?
Much more than for an equilibrium one, and the published figures disagree badly. USDA FSIS’s own recipe — ¾ cup of salt to a gallon of water, or 3 tablespoons a quart — works out at 5.7% of the water by weight. One source gives 3% light, 6% standard and 10% strong; another 5 to 7%; America’s Test Kitchen recommend 9%. With a brine that strong, TIME is what controls the result, and over-brining is entirely possible: take the meat out on schedule. FSIS also say to brine in the refrigerator and to discard the brine afterwards.
Is dry brining really about 1% of the meat?
Only if you happen to use one particular salt, and this is the cleanest illustration of why salt type matters. Cook’s Illustrated’s dose is one teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt per pound of meat. That is 0.63% of the meat by weight. Follow the same instruction with Morton coarse kosher and it is 1.08%; with table salt, 1.32%. So the rule of thumb is true for Morton kosher and wrong by a factor of two either side of it. Weigh the salt.
Does the kind of salt change how much I need?
By weight, no. By volume, by about a factor of two. A level teaspoon holds 6.00 g of table salt, 4.88 g of Morton coarse kosher, 2.85 g of Diamond Crystal kosher and 5.19 g of Morton fine sea salt, so the same 45 g is anything from 7.5 to 15.8 teaspoons. This page answers in grams first for that reason and gives the spoons for all four salts so you can see the spread. The densities come from the salt conversion calculator, which owns them.
Can I use this for curing with pink salt or Prague powder?
No, and this page refuses to. Nitrite curing salts are 6.25% sodium nitrite in sodium chloride, they are dosed against a regulated ingoing limit to control Clostridium botulinum in a product that will be held for weeks, and there is no ratio at which they substitute for table salt. Curing is a food-safety calculation with legal limits, not a taste calculation, and arriving at a dose by scaling a brine percentage is how people get hurt. Use a published cure formulation from a food-safety authority and weigh to a tenth of a gram. The salt conversion calculator refuses them in the same terms.
What does sugar do in a brine?
It browns, it balances the salt on the palate, and at these concentrations it does nothing preservative. It is offered here as an optional second percentage on the same base as the salt, because that is how brine recipes are written, but treat it as seasoning: unlike the salt figure, there is no published equilibrium logic behind it, and no source this page uses gives a target concentration. Start at half the salt percentage if you want it at all.
Does brining mean I can cook it less?
No. Brining changes how the meat holds water and how it tastes; it does not change the temperature at which it becomes safe. USDA FSIS’s minimums are unchanged: 165 °F (73.9 °C) for all poultry and 145 °F (62.8 °C) plus a three-minute rest for whole cuts of beef, pork, lamb and veal. This page also assumes refrigerated brining throughout — a brine at room temperature is a warm salty broth holding raw meat. For the cooking side, the roast cooking time calculator and the meat cooking temperature converter.
Related calculators
References
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service. A work of the United States Government and in the public domain. Poultry: Basting, Brining, and Marinating (GPO GOVPUB-A101-PURL-gpo6145). The only brine recipe on this page from a food safety authority: “add 3/4 cup salt to 1 gallon of water, or 3 tablespoons of salt per quart”, brine in the refrigerator, poultry for up to two days, and “Discard brine after use.” The two forms are the same recipe — 36 teaspoons either way — and in table salt it computes to 5.7% of the water by weight.
- America’s Test Kitchen. A Better Brine. americastestkitchen.com. “We generally recommend brining in a solution that’s roughly 9 percent salt by weight”, described there as a deliberate choice over a weaker 6% solution. The strongest of the four published figures this page carries.
- Destination BBQ. Equilibrium Brining Explained. destination-bbq.com. Salt as a percentage of the combined meat and water weight, “a practical starting range is 1.2% to 1.8% … with 1.5% as a good place to begin”, traditional brines “often around 5% to 7% of the water”, and a correction worth repeating: the claim that you cannot over-brine an equilibrium brine is “close enough to sound helpful and loose enough to get you in trouble.”
- Is Salt. Brining Ratios & Science. issalt.com. Equilibrium 0.5–2.5% of the total with 1–1.5% standard, wet brines 3% light / 6% standard / 10% strong of the water, dry brine ½–¾ teaspoon of kosher salt per pound, and times by cut. Named here because its bands do not agree with the other two sources’, and this page prints all three rather than averaging them.
- Cook’s Illustrated dry-brining doses, as collected and attributed by The Virtual Weber Bullet, All About Dry Brining (Salting) Meat: one teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt per pound for a whole chicken, a roast or a turkey, ¾ teaspoon per pound for bone-in pieces, 1½ teaspoons per pound for water-chilled boneless breast. In Diamond Crystal that first dose is 0.63% of the meat’s weight; the same instruction followed with table salt is 1.32%.
- Salt densities are taken unchanged from this site’s own salt conversion calculator, which derives them from Morton’s and Cook’s Illustrated’s own published substitution ratios and USDA FoodData Central 173468: table salt 6.00 g per level teaspoon, Morton coarse kosher 4.88, Diamond Crystal kosher 2.85, Morton fine sea 5.19. Nothing was re-measured for this page, so the two pages cannot disagree.