Meat Brine Calculator: Salt and Time for Chicken, Pork, Beef and Lamb
4 lb whole chicken, 5% wet brine: 189 g Diamond Crystal (about 1 1/2 cups) in 1 gal water, 6 hours in the fridge, then cook to 165°F.
Pick the protein and cut, enter the weight, and get the salt, water, and brining hours for it.
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- Spoons for your salt brand
Your brine
Sets the hours and the water.
Wet for chicken and pork. Beef and lamb default to dry; the dry brine calculator has the full version.
0.5 to 30 lb (0.25 to 13.6 kg). Above that, split it into two containers.
Moves the hours within the cut's range: under 1 in takes the low end, over 2 in the high end. Leave blank for the middle.
Light for a longer soak, strong for a short one. The hours scale with 5 divided by the percentage, so 6% is shorter, never longer.
Filled in by cut and weight: about 1 quart per pound for small cuts, 1 gallon for a whole chicken. Change it to what your container holds.
Brown or white sugar by weight, for browning and a rounder flavor. It does not change the salt or the hours.
Weigh the salt if you can; the cups are a check. Swapping brands by volume is on the salt conversion calculator.
4 lb whole chicken, 5% wet brine
about 1 1/2 cups
- Water
- 1 gal (3.79 L)
- Strength
- 5% salt to water by weight
- Sugar
- none
- Time
- 6 hours (4 to 8 hours for this cut at 5%)
Dissolve the salt fully, chill the brine to 40°F, submerge the chicken, and refrigerate. The container size calculator sizes the vessel.
Common cuts
4 lb whole chicken, 5%
189 g Diamond Crystal (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 gal water
6 hours, cook to 165°F
2 lb chicken breasts, 5%
94.6 g Diamond Crystal (about 11 1/2 tbsp)
2 qt water
1 hour, cook to 165°F
2 lb pork chops, 5%
94.6 g Diamond Crystal (about 11 1/2 tbsp)
2 qt water
2 hours, cook to 145°F
3 lb pork loin, 5%
94.6 g Diamond Crystal (about 11 1/2 tbsp)
2 qt water
5 hours, cook to 145°F
3 lb chicken wings, 5%
142 g Diamond Crystal (about 1 cup)
3 qt water
1 hour, cook to 165°F
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Browse brining supplies on AmazonHow this is calculated
This meat brine calculator: pick the protein and cut, enter the weight, and get the salt in grams (and cups for the salt you own), the water your container needs, and the hours. Wet brines are 3.5, 5, or 6% salt to water by weight, and a stronger brine means fewer hours, never more. Chicken and pork default to a wet brine; beef and lamb default to a dry brine, because Morton's own guide advises against soaking them. Turkey has its own page: the turkey brine calculator.
A wet brine on this site is salt as a percentage of the water's weight (the culinary convention; what brining is covers why). The salt is computed in grams and then, and only then, turned into cups or spoons for the salt you picked. The water is sized to the cut, and the hours come from the cut's range, nudged by thickness and scaled by strength.
wet salt NaCl (g) = water (g) x percent 3.5, 5, or 6%
salt to weigh (g) = NaCl (g) / purity
(Redmond 0.96, Celtic grey 0.81, others 1.00)
sugar (g) = water (g) x 0, 1, 2, or 3%
water default = small cuts: 1 qt per lb, at least 1 qt
whole bird: 1 gal up to 6 lb, 1.5 gal above
roasts: 2 qt to 3 lb, 3 qt to 5 lb,
1 gal to 8 lb, 1.5 gal above
wet hours = cut figure (low / middle / high by thickness)
x 5 / percent, never below the cut's low end,
never above 24 h
dry salt NaCl (g) = 2.8 g per lb whole birds and roasts (1 tsp DC)
2.1 g per lb pieces (3/4 tsp DC)
4.2 g per lb steaks and chops (3/4 tsp per 8 oz)
dry hours = cut figure by thickness, 24 h cap
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Hours and salt by cut
Wet hours are at 5% and take their range from destination-bbq's time chart and America's Test Kitchen's brining chart (which runs stronger and shorter), bracketed by Morton's 4 to 5 hours at a cup of kosher salt per gallon and overnight, up to 14 hours, at half a cup. For whole chicken this site uses a narrower 4 to 8 hour window, the shorter half of destination-bbq's 4 to 12 hours; cuts those charts do not cover (tenderloin, ribs, shoulder, fresh ham) are house figures. Dry figures are Cook's Illustrated's salting chart. The beef and lamb wet columns are house figures kept for people who insist; both proteins default to dry because Morton advises against wet-brining them.
| Cut | Default | Wet, at 5% | Dry | Dry salt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken, whole chicken | wet 5% | 4 h to 8 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Chicken, breasts or thighs (pieces) | wet 5% | 30 min to 2 h | 6 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Chicken, wings | wet 5% | 30 min to 2 h | 6 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Chicken, cornish hen | wet 5% | 2 h to 4 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Pork, chops (1 to 1.5 in) | wet 5% | 30 min to 4 h | 1 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per 8 oz |
| Pork, tenderloin | wet 5% | 2 h to 4 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Pork, loin roast | wet 5% | 3 h to 8 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Pork, ribs (spare or baby back) | wet 5% | 2 h to 4 h | 6 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Pork, shoulder or butt | wet 5% | 12 h to 24 h | 12 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Pork, fresh ham | wet 5% | 12 h to 24 h | 12 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Beef, roast (chuck, rump, rib) | dry | 8 h to 24 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Beef, brisket | dry | 12 h to 24 h | 12 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Beef, steaks | dry | 30 min to 2 h | 1 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per 8 oz |
| Beef, short ribs | dry | 2 h to 8 h | 6 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Lamb, leg of lamb | dry | 8 h to 24 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Lamb, shoulder | dry | 8 h to 24 h | 6 h to 24 h | 1 tsp Diamond Crystal per lb |
| Lamb, chops | dry | 30 min to 2 h | 1 h to 24 h | 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal per 8 oz |
Cups and spoons
| Salt | Per tbsp | Per cup | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Crystal kosher | 8.4 g | 134 g | Diamond Crystal label (1/4 tsp = 0.7 g) |
| Morton kosher | 14.4 g | 230 g | Morton label (1/4 tsp = 1.2 g) |
| Table, pickling, fine sea salt | 18 g | 288 g | USDA, 6 g per tsp |
| Redmond Real Salt | 16.8 g | 269 g | Redmond label (1/4 tsp = 1.4 g, about 96% salt) |
| Celtic light grey | 18 g | 288 g | Selina Naturally label (1/4 tsp = 1.5 g, about 81% salt; the calculator weighs it up) |
| Himalayan pink, fine / coarse | 16.5 / 15 g | 264 / 240 g | Measured (Is Salt); approximate |
| Flake salt (Maldon) | 8.3 g | 133 g | Measured (DadCooksDinner); approximate |
Cook temperatures
From foodsafety.gov: poultry to 165°F (74°C); whole cuts of pork, beef, and lamb to 145°F (63°C) with a 3 minute rest; ground meat to 160°F. Brined meat holds more water and often gets there a little sooner, so trust the thermometer, not the clock.
What you'll need
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- Kitchen scale that reads in grams. The 189 g for a whole chicken is 1 1/2 cups of Diamond Crystal and only 3/4 cup of Morton.
- Instant-read thermometer for the 165°F and 145°F finishes.
- Brining bag or a 12 quart food-grade container that holds a whole chicken under a gallon of brine and still fits in the fridge.
How this page is checked
This calculator was built by Cedrick Reese for BrineCalculators.com. The three brine strengths sit inside the range Morton publishes (a half cup to a cup of kosher salt per gallon, about 3 to 6% by weight) and are checked against America's Test Kitchen's brining chart; the hours per cut take their range from destination-bbq's time chart and America's Test Kitchen's chart where they give one, bracketed by Morton's 4 to 5 hour and overnight brines, and capped at 24 hours (whole chicken runs a narrower 4 to 8 hours here, inside destination-bbq's own 4 to 12 hour range); the dry-brine rates are Cook's Illustrated's salting chart; and the cook temperatures are foodsafety.gov's chart. Salt weights come from each maker's nutrition label through the salt table every calculator on this site shares.
Every number the script uses is printed in the table above it, so a reader with a scale can check any result by hand. When Morton or a test kitchen revises a chart, or a maker changes a label, the constant changes in one place and the page recalculates. If a figure here disagrees with the source it names, that is a bug; use the contact page to report it.
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Frequently asked questions
How long can I safely brine meat?
It depends on the cut, and the calculator's per-cut table is the answer: chicken pieces 30 minutes to 2 hours, a whole chicken 4 to 8 hours, pork chops 30 minutes to 4 hours, pork loin 3 to 8 hours, pork shoulder and fresh ham 12 to 24 hours. Nothing wet-brines past 24 hours on this page; after that the texture goes soft and the salt keeps climbing. Beef and lamb are dry-brined here (6 to 24 hours for roasts, at least 1 hour for steaks and chops). Everything stays in the refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below the whole time.
Can I reuse brine for multiple batches?
No. Once raw meat has sat in it the brine carries bacteria and blood from the meat, and its salt percentage has dropped by an amount you cannot measure. Discard it as soon as the meat comes out, wash the container, and mix a fresh batch. The salt costs pennies.
What's the difference between kosher salt and table salt for brining?
By weight nothing; by volume a great deal. A cup of Diamond Crystal kosher weighs about 134 g, a cup of Morton kosher about 230 g, and a cup of table salt about 288 g (each from the maker's label). So a recipe written for one cup of Diamond Crystal needs about 0.58 cup of Morton or 0.47 cup of table salt. This calculator computes the grams first and prints the cups for whichever salt you pick, which is why the gram figure never changes when you switch salts and the cup figure does.
Which salt type is best for brining?
Any plain salt you can weigh. Diamond Crystal and Morton kosher dissolve fast and carry no anti-caking agents, which is why recipes name them. Table salt works at the right grams; its iodine and anti-caking agents can cloud the brine and add a faint metallic taste at higher percentages. Fine sea salt behaves like table salt. Pick yours in the salt field and the cups adjust.
What about specialty salts like Celtic Sea Salt or Redmond Real Salt?
They work, with one adjustment the calculator makes for you. Both are unrefined, so part of the weight is water and minerals rather than sodium chloride: Redmond Real Salt is about 96% salt by its label sodium figure and Celtic light grey about 81% (it is sold moist). Pick either one and the calculator weighs it up so the brine still lands on the percentage, and says so in the result.
Do I need to rinse meat after brining?
A quick rinse under cold water takes off the surface salt, and patting the meat completely dry matters more than the rinse: a wet surface steams instead of browning. For poultry skin, leave the bird uncovered on a rack in the fridge for a few hours after drying and the skin crisps far better.
Can I brine frozen meat?
No. Thaw it in the refrigerator first. Frozen meat takes up brine unevenly, and the water it sheds while thawing dilutes the brine to an unknown percentage. Thawing in brine on the counter also puts the surface in the 40 to 140°F zone for hours. Thaw cold, then brine cold.
Why is my brined meat too salty?
Three usual causes: salt measured by the cup with the wrong salt (a cup of Morton or table salt carries 1.7 to 2.1 times the salt of a cup of Diamond Crystal), too long in the brine, or salting again during cooking. Weigh the salt, keep to the hours for the cut, and season brined meat at the table rather than before cooking. A batch that is already too salty can soak in cold fresh water for 30 to 60 minutes.
What's the best container for brining?
Glass, stainless steel, or food-grade plastic, big enough that the meat is fully under the brine and small enough to fit in the refrigerator. A zip bag or brining bag inside a bowl uses the least brine. Skip aluminum and copper; salt water reacts with both. The container size calculator on this site works out the volume you need from the meat and the water.
Can I add other ingredients to my brine?
Yes. Peppercorns, bay leaves, garlic, thyme, rosemary, citrus peel, juniper, coriander, and cloves are the usual additions, and 1 to 3% sugar (the optional field here) helps browning. Dissolve the salt and sugar first, then add the aromatics. They change the flavor, not the salt-to-water ratio, so the grams and the hours stay the same.
What happens if I brine meat too long?
The salt keeps moving in past the point where it seasons and starts to break down the muscle proteins, so the meat turns soft and spongy, tastes like ham, and can go grey. Chicken pieces show it after a few hours; a whole chicken after about 12. If it has already happened, a 30 to 60 minute soak in cold fresh water pulls some salt back out, but the texture does not come back.
Do I need to adjust cooking time for brined meat?
Cook to temperature, not time, with a thermometer: 165°F (74°C) for poultry, 145°F (63°C) with a 3 minute rest for pork, beef, and lamb (foodsafety.gov). Brined meat holds more water, so it often reaches temperature a little sooner and is more forgiving if it goes a few degrees over.
Can I use the same brine for different types of meat?
The same percentage, yes; the same hours, no. A 5% brine suits chicken and pork alike, but chicken breasts are done in an hour where a pork shoulder needs 12 to 24. Beef and lamb do better with a dry brine (Morton's guide advises against wet-brining them). Pick the protein and the cut and the calculator changes the hours and the water, not the percentage.
What is the 3-minute rest time after cooking?
USDA FSIS and foodsafety.gov give 145°F (63°C) for whole cuts of pork, beef, veal, and lamb, followed by a 3 minute rest before carving or eating. During the rest the temperature holds or rises a little and the last of the bacteria at the surface are destroyed. It is part of the safe cooking rule, not a serving tip. Poultry at 165°F needs no rest for safety.
What percentage brine for chicken?
5% salt to water by weight, the default here: 47 g per quart of water, or 189 g in the gallon a 4 lb whole chicken needs. 3.5% is the light end (Morton's half cup of kosher per gallon is about 3%) for a longer soak or a salt-sensitive table; 6% is the strong end for a short one. America's Test Kitchen's brining chart goes stronger and shorter for chicken, 1/2 cup of table salt in 2 quarts of water (about 7.5%) for 30 minutes to 1 hour, and lands near 4% for its 6 to 12 hour turkey brine. This site's window for a whole chicken is 4 to 8 hours at 5%, the shorter half of Destination BBQ's own 4 to 12 hour range; pieces run 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Should I wet brine beef?
Usually not. Morton's brining guide advises against wet-brining beef and lamb, and most cooks agree: a wet brine waters down beef's flavor and gives a hammy texture. A dry brine (salt rubbed on, meat uncovered in the fridge) seasons it without the water: 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal per pound (2.8 g) for roasts, 3/4 teaspoon per 8 oz for steaks, 6 to 24 hours for roasts and at least 1 hour for steaks (Cook's Illustrated's salting chart). This calculator defaults beef and lamb to dry for that reason, and the dry brine calculator goes into more detail.
References
- Morton Salt, a guide to brining (1 cup kosher per gallon for 4 to 5 hours, 1/2 cup overnight up to 14 hours; advises against wet-brining beef and lamb)
- America's Test Kitchen, brining meat (chart: table salt, 30 minutes to 1 hour for chicken, 6 to 12 hours for turkey)
- Destination BBQ, how long to brine meat (time chart by cut)
- Cook's Illustrated, salting meat (dry brine chart)
- foodsafety.gov, safe minimum internal temperatures
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
- USDA, Brining safely will bring tender, flavorful meat to the Thanksgiving table
- FoodSafety.gov
- Dad Cooks Dinner, salt by weight
- Serious Eats
- National Center for Home Food Preservation
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food safety
- Partnership for Food Safety Education
Disclaimer
Educational tool only: this calculator is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional food safety advice or culinary training.
Food safety responsibility: while we strive to provide accurate information based on USDA guidelines and industry standards, you are ultimately responsible for following proper food safety practices. Always use a calibrated food thermometer to verify safe cooking temperatures.
Individual results may vary: brining times, salt absorption, and results can vary based on factors including meat quality, actual thickness, refrigerator temperature, salt brand variations, and other environmental factors. Use this calculator as a starting guideline and adjust based on your specific circumstances.
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Consult professionals: for commercial food preparation, food service operations, or if you have specific food safety concerns, please consult with a certified food safety professional, your local health department, or the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-674-6854.