Wet vs Dry Brine for Turkey, Chicken, Pork, Beef, and Fish

For roast poultry with skin, steaks, chops, and large roasts, most published comparisons come down on the dry side: no water is added, the surface dries so it browns, and there is no bucket in the fridge. America's Test Kitchen lists brining's advantages as being faster and able to give juicier meat, and salting's as convenience, fridge space, and crisp skin. So the honest answer is that wet is better when you are short on time or the cut is lean and will be cooked hot and fast, and dry is better for everything you want a crust or crisp skin on. Neither is wrong on a chicken; on a ribeye, salt it.

Dry, unless you have less than a day. Rub 0.6% of the bird's weight in salt (1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal per pound, Cook's Illustrated's rule; a 14 lb turkey takes 38 g) over and under the skin and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours. The skin roasts crisp and there is no 2 gallon container to find room for. If the bird has to go in the oven tomorrow morning, a 5% wet brine (284 g of salt in 1.5 gallons for a 14 lb bird) for 12 to 24 hours seasons it in time; pat it very dry afterwards. Never brine a kosher or self-basting turkey either way.

Whole chicken for roasting: dry, 0.6% salt for 12 to 24 hours, for the skin. Boneless breasts or thighs for the grill or a hot pan: a 6% wet brine for 1 to 2 hours, because the added water is insurance against a lean cut cooked fast, and there is no skin to protect. Bone-in pieces with skin: dry, 4 to 12 hours. A 4 lb chicken dry-brined takes 10.9 g of salt, about 4 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal or 2 1/4 of Morton.

A dry brine is a percentage of the meat: 0.5 to 0.9%, about 0.6% for poultry and roasts and 0.9% for steaks and chops, which is about 4 g per pound. A wet brine is a percentage of the water, not the meat: 3.5 to 6%, 5% standard, which is 47 g per quart or 189 g per gallon. Morton's rule of 1 cup of Morton Coarse Kosher per gallon is 6.1% for a 4 to 5 hour brine, and 1/2 cup per gallon is 3% overnight. Weigh it: a cup of Diamond Crystal is 134 g, a cup of Morton is 230 g, a cup of table salt is 288 g.

By the scale, yes: meat in a wet brine takes on water, and published figures run up to about 10% of its raw weight (Science of Cooking, citing Harold McGee). America's Test Kitchen lists juicier meat as brining's advantage over salting. Whether that reads as juicier on the plate is where sources part ways: Clemson Extension and ATK both note wet-brined skin browns less, and the water the meat takes on is plain water, so the meat's own flavor is spread thinner. A dry brine keeps more of the meat's own juice without adding any. Lean cuts cooked hot gain most from the extra water; fatty cuts do not need it.

Do not. Both methods deliver salt, and stacking them doubles the dose: a 5% wet brine for 12 hours and then a 0.6% rub is a ham. Pick one. What you can do after a wet brine is the drying step: rinse, pat dry, and leave the meat uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours (Clemson Extension's advice for turkey) so the skin gets some of the dry brine's crispness back.

Yes. Dry salt has to pull moisture out, dissolve, and go back in, and there is far less of it than in a bucket of brine, so a turkey takes 24 to 48 hours dry against 12 to 24 wet, and a whole chicken 12 to 24 dry against 4 to 6 wet. ATK's one stated disadvantage of salting is that it takes longer than brining. The exception is thin cuts: a steak dry-brined for 1 to 2 hours is seasoned as well as one wet-brined for the same time, and it sears better.

No. An injection brine is pumped into the muscle with a needle, so it seasons in minutes rather than hours and reaches the center of a thick roast or turkey breast directly. This site's default is a 10% pump of a 5% brine, which adds about 0.5% salt to the meat, with a warning above 1%. It is the method for a bird that has to be seasoned this afternoon; the trade is uneven pockets if it is done carelessly. The injection brine calculator sizes it, and the injected meat still needs to be cooked to the same USDA temperatures.