Two ways to make a brine
Equilibrium brine: salt = (meat + water) × p ÷ 100
A standard brine is a solution of a given strength — a 5% brine is 5% salt and 95% water by weight, so each litre (1,000 g) of water takes 52.6 g of salt. Meat sits in it for a set time, then comes out. Some recipes simply use “50 g per litre”, which is very slightly weaker (4.8%).
An equilibrium brine uses salt as a percentage of the meat and water together — often around 1.5–2.5%. Given enough time, salt spreads evenly through meat and water, so the meat can never end up saltier than the percentage you chose. It suits long brines and curing, where timing a strong brine is risky.
Salt for common brine strengths
| Brine | Per litre of water | Per US quart | Per US gallon |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% | 30.9 g | 29.3 g | 117 g (4.1 oz) |
| 4% | 41.7 g | 39.4 g | 158 g (5.6 oz) |
| 5% | 52.6 g | 49.8 g | 199 g (7.0 oz) |
| 6% | 63.8 g | 60.4 g | 242 g (8.5 oz) |
| 7% | 75.3 g | 71.2 g | 285 g (10.1 oz) |
| 8% | 87.0 g | 82.3 g | 329 g (11.6 oz) |
| 9% | 98.9 g | 93.6 g | 374 g (13.2 oz) |
| 10% | 111.1 g | 105.2 g | 421 g (14.8 oz) |
Why the brand of salt matters
Salt crystals differ in shape, so a spoonful of one salt can weigh twice as much as another. By weight they are the same; by volume they are not.
| Salt | 1 tsp | 1 Tbsp | 1 cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Crystal kosher | 2.7 g | 8 g | ≈ 128 g |
| Morton kosher | 5.3 g | 16 g | ≈ 256 g |
| Table salt (fine) | 6.0 g | 18 g | ≈ 288 g |
Tablespoon weights from King Arthur’s ingredient weight chart; teaspoons (⅓ Tbsp) and cups (16 Tbsp) are worked out from them. America’s Test Kitchen’s volume swap agrees: 1 tsp table salt = 1½ tsp Morton kosher = 2 tsp Diamond Crystal (ATK). Spoon-measured salt varies — a scale is more reliable.
How strong a brine?
America’s Test Kitchen tested brines and recommends a 9% salt solution; they found water absorption peaked at about 6% (ATK). Weaker brines of 3–6% are used for longer soaks, and equilibrium brines of about 1.5–2.5% for overnight and multi-day brining. Brine in the refrigerator at 40 °F (4 °C) or below, keep meat submerged, and discard used brine.
Curing with Cure #1
Cure #1 (also called Prague powder #1 or pink curing salt) is 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% salt. US rules cap the ingoing sodium nitrite in commercial products (FSIS, 9 CFR 424.22). These are regulatory maximums, not recipe amounts:
| Product | Ingoing sodium nitrite |
|---|---|
| Comminuted (sausage, ground) | 156 ppm |
| Immersion cured, pumped or massaged (not bacon) | 200 ppm |
| Bacon, immersion cured | 120 ppm maximum |
| Bacon, pumped or massaged | 120 ppm |
| Bacon, dry cured | 200 ppm |
| Dry cured (other products) | 625 ppm |
This calculator uses the equilibrium method common in home curing: Cure #1 is worked out on the total weight of meat and water, so once the cure has evened out the meat holds that concentration. At 120 ppm that is 1.92 g of Cure #1 per kg of meat + water; at 156 ppm, 2.5 g. The salt in the cure counts towards your salt percentage. (FSIS calculates commercial immersion cures differently, from the brine the meat actually picks up.) Keep curing meat refrigerated at 40 °F (4 °C) or below for the whole cure.
Curing safety. Nitrite is toxic in excess. Weigh cure on a scale that reads to 0.1 g, never by volume, keep it away from regular salt, and follow a tested recipe for the product you are making. These figures are a check on your recipe, not a replacement for one.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-04 · Disclaimer