Salinity Meat Calculator

Dry-brine calculator. Pick a cut, weigh your meat, choose a salt (or type any rub from its nutrition label), and get the right range.

Cut

Meat weight

Bone fraction 0% bone

Seasoning

Name

Sodium per serving (mg)

Serving size

Pick a cut, enter the meat weight, and choose a seasoning to see a recommendation.

Dry-salt only. This calculator is for dry-brining. Wet brining uses different math (% salt by water weight, plus equilibration time).

Bone-only correction. The slider reduces the "seasonable" weight to account for bone, but skin and trimmed fat are still treated as meat.

Salinity targets are % NaCl-equivalent by mass of the seasonable meat (bone removed via the slider). All meats use the same 1.0% / 1.25% / 1.5% band — once bone is corrected for, published dry-brine guidance from saltyourmeat.com (~1.0%), Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat (1.25%), and Destination BBQ (1.5-2%) collapses into this band. Pick "a little more" for BBQ-style bark formation; "a little less" for restaurant style with finishing salt at the table. Per-salt nutrition data from USDA FoodData Central. Numbers on nutrition labels carry FDA rounding, so this answer is only as precise as your label.

Dave's Eats

Salinity Meat Calculator