Brine ratio for whole chicken
Brine whole chicken at 5 percent salt by weight of water, for 8 to 12 hours. In practice that is 50 grams of salt per litre of water. Weigh the salt rather than measuring it by volume: kosher, table and sea salt differ enough in density that a tablespoon is not a fixed amount of salt.
The ratio and the arithmetic
| Water | Salt | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 500 g (0.5 L) | 25 g | 8 to 12 h |
| 1000 g (1.0 L) | 50 g | 8 to 12 h |
| 2000 g (2.0 L) | 100 g | 8 to 12 h |
| 4000 g (4.0 L) | 200 g | 8 to 12 h |
Weigh the salt, do not measure it
A tablespoon of fine table salt and a tablespoon of flaked kosher salt are not the same amount of salt, and the gap is close to a factor of two. Every brine ratio worth following is therefore a weight percentage, and a scale that reads to a tenth of a gram costs less than the meat you are about to ruin. This is the same reason fermentation recipes are written as percentages.
Gear that fits these numbers
What this job needs
Cambro 12 Quart Round Food Storage Container
A cheap commercial tub that doubles as a sous vide bath if you cut or buy a lid for it.
Freshware 32 Ounce Deli Containers, 24 Sets
Where ice cream bases, brines and stock live between steps. Cheap enough that you stop rationing them.
ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE
One second and half a degree. On a page about pasteurization that accuracy is not a luxury, it is the difference between a figure meaning something and not.
Prices when last checked. They change often.
Frequently asked questions
What is the brine ratio for whole chicken?
5 percent salt by weight of water, which works out at 50 grams of salt per litre. Weigh it rather than measuring by volume: kosher, table and flaked sea salts differ enough in crystal size that a tablespoon of one can be nearly twice the salt of another, and that difference is the whole recipe.
How long should it brine?
8 to 12 hours. Time scales with thickness rather than weight, for the same reason cooking times do: salt has to diffuse from the surface to the centre. An overnight brine that is right for a whole bird will over-salt a thin cutlet, and the failure is not reversible.
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
Ratios by weight, which is arithmetic, alongside conventional brining times. Nothing here comes from cooking test batches in our own kitchen, and we do not claim otherwise. Where the USDA or FSIS publishes a figure we quote it and link the source. Where we have no defensible figure we say so rather than estimate one.
Sources
Published figures, quoted as published. We do not generate our own time and temperature data.
How we research: we compare manufacturer specifications, owner manuals, published USDA and FSIS figures and recurring themes in verified owner reviews. We do not cook test batches or run instruments, and nothing here is professional food safety advice. When a figure is not published by a source we trust, we say so rather than estimate one.