About the Curing Salt Calculator
This curing salt calculator tells you exactly how much Prague Powder #1 or #2 (also sold as pink curing salt, Insta Cure or Cure #1/#2) to add to meat, along with the salt and sugar for an equilibrium cure. Enter the weight of the meat — plus the water if you are making a brine — choose what you are making, and it returns the cure in grams, the sodium nitrite level it produces in parts per million, and how much additional salt is needed so the cure’s own salt is not counted twice.
Targets come from the USDA FSIS regulations for cured products (9 CFR 424.21 and 424.22): ¼ oz of sodium nitrite per 100 lb (156 ppm) for sausage and other chopped meat, 120 ppm for pumped or immersion-cured bacon (up to 200 ppm for dry-cured bacon), 1 oz per 100 lb (625 ppm) for a dry-cure rub, and no more than 200 ppm of nitrite in the finished product. Prague Powder #1 is 6.25% sodium nitrite and the rest salt; Prague Powder #2 adds 4% sodium nitrate for products that are aged for weeks or months.
Curing salts are toxic in large amounts, so weigh them on a scale that reads to 0.1 g rather than using spoons, keep them labelled and away from table salt, and never exceed the amounts shown. Check the nitrite percentage on your product’s label — most are 6.25%, but some brands differ — and enter it if needed. Use Cure #1 for anything cooked, smoked or eaten within a few weeks; use Cure #2 only for long dry-cured items, and never in bacon.
With the default inputs, the curing salt to use is 5.66 g. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the curing salt calculator
- 1Weigh the trimmed meat and, for a brine, the water.
- 2Choose what you are making so the right nitrite target is used.
- 3Pick Cure #1 (most products) or Cure #2 (long dry-aged products only).
- 4Set your salt and sugar percentages.
- 5Weigh the curing salt, salt and sugar precisely and mix them evenly before applying.
Formula and method
Parts per million is grams of sodium nitrite per million grams of product. Because Prague Powder #1 is only 6.25% sodium nitrite, the cure weight is the nitrite needed divided by 0.0625. For 156 ppm that works out to 0.25% of the total weight — about 1 level teaspoon for 5 lb of meat. For a brine, the water is included in the total because in an equilibrium cure the nitrite and salt spread evenly through meat and liquid.
The cure itself is about 93.75% salt (89.75% for Cure #2), so that salt is subtracted from your salt target to give the additional salt to add. Teaspoon figures use about 5.7 g per level teaspoon and are only a cross-check; densities vary, so always weigh.
- ppm
- Target ingoing sodium nitrite (156, 120 or 625)
- f
- Sodium nitrite fraction of the cure (0.0625)
- W
- Total weight of meat plus any brine water, in grams
Worked examples
5 lb of sausage with Cure #1
5 lb is 2,268 g. At 156 ppm that needs 0.354 g of sodium nitrite, or 5.66 g of Prague Powder #1 (about 1 teaspoon). The cure supplies 5.3 g of salt, so add about 51.4 g more to reach 2.5%, plus 22.7 g of sugar.
2 kg pork belly for bacon
At 120 ppm, 2,000 g of belly needs 0.24 g of nitrite, which is 3.84 g of Cure #1. The cure adds 3.6 g of salt, so add 46.4 g more for a 2.5% equilibrium cure, and 20 g of sugar.
Corned beef brine: 4 lb brisket in 4 lb water
Meat plus water is 8 lb (3,629 g). For 156 ppm the batch needs 9.06 g of Cure #1. Its salt (8.5 g) counts toward the 3% target of 108.9 g, leaving about 100.4 g to add, plus 54.4 g of sugar.
Frequently asked questions
How much Prague Powder #1 per pound of meat?+
For sausage and equilibrium cures at 156 ppm, use about 1.13 g of Prague Powder #1 per pound (0.25% of the weight) — roughly 1 level teaspoon per 5 lb. Always weigh it rather than relying on spoons.
What is the difference between Cure #1 and Cure #2?+
Both are 6.25% sodium nitrite in salt. Cure #2 also contains about 4% sodium nitrate, which slowly converts to nitrite over weeks, so it is used only for long dry-cured products such as salami, coppa or country ham. Cure #1 is for everything cooked, smoked or eaten within a few weeks.
Is pink curing salt the same as Himalayan pink salt?+
No. Pink curing salt is dyed pink so it is not mistaken for table salt and contains toxic amounts of sodium nitrite if misused. Himalayan pink salt is just sodium chloride with trace minerals and does not cure meat.
Can I use too much curing salt?+
Yes. Sodium nitrite is toxic in excess, which is why USDA caps ingoing levels (156 ppm for chopped meat, 120 ppm for bacon) and limits finished products to 200 ppm. Weigh the cure to 0.1 g and never exceed the calculated amount.
Do I include the water when calculating cure for a brine?+
For an equilibrium brine, yes: the nitrite and salt spread evenly through meat and water, so the cure is calculated on their combined weight. For a traditional strong brine with a set soaking time, follow a tested recipe instead.
This tool gives general estimates and is not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or qualified professional about your health, diet or training.