How Much Salt to Dry Brine
A dry brine is just salt, time, and air. Instead of soaking meat in a saltwater bath, you season the surface and let the salt pull moisture out, dissolve, and then get reabsorbed as a concentrated, seasoned brine deep into the muscle. The chef-reliable dose is 1% of the meat weight by grams: a 14 lb turkey weighs about 6,350 g, so 1% is roughly 63 g of salt. That same 63 g is about 22 teaspoons of light Diamond Crystal kosher but only about 13 teaspoons of dense table salt, which is exactly why weighing salt beats scooping it.
Salt (g) = weight(lb) x 453.6 x (percent / 100)
Because salt brands differ so much in crystal size, this calculator converts your gram target into teaspoons for the exact salt you own. Diamond Crystal kosher is about 2.84 g per teaspoon, Morton kosher about 4.8 g, and fine table salt about 6.0 g. Use the wrong conversion and you can over-salt by nearly double.
How Long to Rest the Meat
Time is what separates a dry brine from a last-minute salting. The salt needs hours to travel inward. A whole turkey wants 48 to 72 hours uncovered in the fridge, a whole chicken 12 to 24 hours, and steaks anywhere from 1 hour to a full 48 depending on thickness.
Why Uncovered and Why No Rinse
Leaving poultry uncovered on a rack dries the skin so it crisps in the oven instead of steaming. And because the salt has fully absorbed, you never rinse a dry brine before cooking. Rinsing washes away the seasoning you worked for and can splash bacteria around the sink.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much salt do I use per pound for a dry brine?
The accurate method is 1% of the meat weight by grams, which works out to roughly 4.5 g of salt per pound. In teaspoons that is about 1.5 tsp of Diamond Crystal kosher per pound, just under 1 tsp of Morton kosher, or about 0.75 tsp of fine table salt per pound, since denser salts pack more grams into the same spoon.
How long should I dry brine before cooking?
Bigger cuts need more time. A whole turkey is best at 48 to 72 hours, a whole chicken at 12 to 24 hours, and steaks from 1 hour up to 48 hours depending on thickness. The minimum useful window is about 40 minutes for thin cuts, but overnight is where the magic happens because the salt has time to fully penetrate.
Do I rinse off the salt before cooking?
No. With a proper dry brine the salt has dissolved and absorbed into the meat, so there is nothing to rinse and rinsing only removes your seasoning. Just pat the surface dry with a paper towel if it looks wet, which also helps poultry skin crisp up in the oven.
What is the difference between kosher salt brands for brining?
Crystal size changes how much salt fits in a spoon, so the same teaspoon delivers very different amounts. Diamond Crystal kosher is light and flaky at about 2.84 g per teaspoon, while Morton kosher is denser at about 4.8 g and table salt is about 6 g. That is why measuring by weight, or using a brand-specific teaspoon count, prevents accidental over-salting.
Practical Guide for Dry Brine Calculator
Weigh your meat and your salt whenever you can. A kitchen scale removes every guess from the equation: 1% of the meat weight in grams seasons evenly from edge to center without a salty bite. If you have no scale, use the brand-specific teaspoon figure this calculator gives you rather than a generic per-pound rule, because a teaspoon of fine table salt holds more than twice the salt of a teaspoon of flaky Diamond Crystal.
Start the clock early and rest uncovered. The whole point of a dry brine is diffusion, and diffusion is slow. Salt a turkey three days out, a chicken the night before, and thick steaks at least a few hours ahead. Set poultry on a rack over a sheet pan with nothing covering it so the surface dries and the skin can crisp instead of steam during cooking.
Adjust the strength to the dish, not just the meat. Choose 1% as your default, drop to 0.75% when a salty gravy, brine-cured bacon, or heavy rub is also in play, and push to 1.25% for large roasts that get sliced thin where each bite carries less surface seasoning. Never add table salt afterward until you have tasted, because a good dry brine often needs none.
Quick Checklist
- Weigh the meat and target 1% of that weight in salt by grams.
- Use the brand-specific teaspoon count, since salt densities vary by up to 2x.
- Rest uncovered on a rack in the fridge: turkey 48 to 72h, chicken 12 to 24h, steak 1 to 48h.
- Pat dry, do not rinse, and taste before adding any salt at the table.