How to Brine Chicken Breast (and Every Other Cut)

5% salt to water by weight is this site's standard for a wet brine: 189 g of salt in a gallon of water, 47 g per quart. That sits inside Morton's own published range, a half cup to a full cup of Morton Coarse Kosher per gallon of water, which works out to roughly 3 to 6%. Use 3.5% for a longer soak or a salt-sensitive table, 6% for a short one. A dry brine runs on a different ratio entirely, salt as a percent of the chicken's own weight rather than the water; see the next question.

For a wet brine, the pound of chicken does not set the salt; the water does, at 5% of its weight. For a dry brine, the salt is a percent of the chicken's own weight: about 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt per pound (2.8 g, roughly 0.6%) for a whole bird or bone-in pieces, from Cook's Illustrated's salting chart. A 4 lb whole chicken comes to 11.2 g rubbed on dry, or 189 g dissolved in a gallon of water for a wet brine.

Depends on the breast. For a boneless one going straight into a hot pan or onto the grill, a quick wet brine has the edge: The Kitchn's quick chicken brine (1/4 cup kosher salt in a quart of water, about 30 minutes, never more than 2 hours) adds a little water back to a cut with no fat or skin to protect it. For a bone-in, skin-on breast headed for the oven, dry usually wins; America's Test Kitchen credits salting with crisper skin and more fridge space, and notes that brining can hold browning back. Cook's Illustrated also has a fast dry method built for a boneless, water-chilled breast specifically: 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt per pound and just 1 hour in the fridge, no water at all.

Bone-in thighs and drumsticks, yes, more or less exactly: they carry the same wet figures (5%, 1 to 2 hours) and the same dry figures (about 0.46% of the weight, 3/4 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal per pound, 6 to 24 hours) as a bone-in, skin-on breast, because Cook's Illustrated's chart treats all bone-in chicken pieces the same way. A boneless breast is the outlier; it takes a shorter, stronger dry rub or a shorter wet soak because there is no bone or skin slowing the salt down.

Wet, keep it short. The Kitchn caps its quick chicken brine at 2 hours, and this site's defaults run 1 to 2 hours for a bone-in breast and 30 minutes to 1 hour for boneless. Dry, Cook's Illustrated's chart for whole birds and bone-in pieces says salting and resting past 24 hours starts to break the meat down; its quick method for a boneless breast needs only about 1 hour and gains nothing from more.

No, either way. Pat it dry instead; a wet surface steams in the pan or oven instead of browning. After a wet brine, drain the chicken first, then dry it. After a dry brine there is nothing to rinse off in the first place, since the salt has already dissolved into the meat's own moisture and been drawn back in.

No. Salt cannot move into frozen muscle, so a brine started on a partly frozen bird seasons the outside and leaves the center bland. Thaw it fully in the refrigerator first (USDA FSIS advises against thawing raw poultry on the counter), then brine it cold, whichever method you use.

Any plain salt you weigh rather than scoop. Diamond Crystal and Morton kosher are the two named most often in the sources behind this page, and they are not interchangeable by the spoon: a cup of Diamond Crystal is 134 g, a cup of Morton is 230 g. Weigh the grams and the brand you have stops mattering; the calculator above converts to cups and teaspoons for whichever one is in your kitchen.

Yes, treated as the thinnest of the bone-in pieces: 5% wet for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or about 0.46% dry (3/4 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal per pound) for 6 to 24 hours, the same bone-in-pieces figures Cook's Illustrated gives for chicken parts generally. Wings are small enough that the low end of either range is usually plenty.

165°F (74°C), measured in the thickest part of the breast and the innermost part of the thigh and wing, the same USDA FSIS and FoodSafety.gov figure for any chicken, brined or not. Brined chicken often reads done a little sooner because it holds more water, so check it with a thermometer rather than by the clock.