Kosher Salt vs Table Salt for Brine: Amounts by Weight

Kosher salt and table salt make the same brine when you weigh them, but not when you measure them with a spoon. By the manufacturers' labels, a teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt weighs 2.8 g, a teaspoon of Morton kosher salt weighs 4.8 g and a teaspoon of fine table salt weighs 6 g. A recipe that says "1 tablespoon of salt" without a type can be off by a factor of two.

The calculator gives every amount in grams and ounces first, then in volume for each of the three salts. Use the grams if you have a scale, and use the column for your own salt if you do not.

Weight per spoonful

These figures come from the Nutrition Facts panels on the products, which give the weight of a 1/4 teaspoon serving, and the calculator multiplies by four for a teaspoon. The tablespoon is three teaspoons and the cup is 48 teaspoons. America's Test Kitchen's kosher salt taste test lists the same per-teaspoon weights.

Why the same spoonful weighs different amounts

The grains are different shapes. America's Test Kitchen describes table salt as tiny, cube-shaped grains, Morton kosher as flat, thin flakes that are fairly hard and dense, and Diamond Crystal as hollow, pyramidal grains. Diamond Crystal is the lightest of the three by the spoonful. All three are sodium chloride, so a gram of one is a gram of another.

Other sources give different tablespoon weights, so a volume swap that works from one page may not match another. America's Test Kitchen's article on the difference between table, kosher and other salts lists 23 g, 16 g and 10 g per tablespoon for table salt, Morton kosher and Diamond Crystal. MasterClass lists approximately 19 g, 15 g and 10 g. The calculator uses the label-based 18 g, 14.4 g and 8.4 g because they come from the manufacturers' own panels and agree with the per-teaspoon weights America's Test Kitchen publishes.

America's Test Kitchen also gives a rule of thumb for swapping by volume, 1 part table salt to 1 1/2 parts Morton kosher to 2 parts Diamond Crystal. The label weights give a different ratio. On its Salting Chicken page, America's Test Kitchen says to reduce the amounts by 33 percent when using Morton instead of Diamond Crystal, while the taste test says to decrease the volume by 25 percent. At the taste test's weights of 2.8 g and 4.8 g per teaspoon, equal weight needs about 42 percent less Morton by volume, so both rules leave a Morton cook with more salt by weight. Treat any volume rule as approximate and weigh the salt.

The same brine with each salt

Here is the chicken breast brine at the standard strength. The grams are the same for every salt, and the volume depends on the salt.

At 2 lb (0.91 kg), the standard brine takes 54 g of salt in 1 quart (0.95 L) of water, which is 3/8 cup of Diamond Crystal, 1/4 cup of Morton kosher or 3 Tbsp of table salt. Using the Diamond Crystal measure with table salt, 3/8 cup, would put in about 108 g, twice the salt.

What goes wrong when the salt type is not named

The Kitchn's quick brine is a published example. It says 4 tablespoons of kosher salt or 3 tablespoons of fine table salt per quart of water, and it warns that kosher salt brands vary. It does not name a brand. With the label weights, 3 tablespoons of table salt is 54 g, or 5.71% of a quart of water. Four tablespoons of Diamond Crystal is 33.6 g, or 3.55%, and four tablespoons of Morton kosher is 57.6 g, or 6.09%. These are arithmetic from the label weights, not figures the Kitchn publishes. The same instruction produces three different brines, which is why the calculator names the salt type in every volume.

In the dry brine guides, a source that says "kosher salt" without a brand is read as Diamond Crystal at 2.8 g per teaspoon, the lightest of the three common salts. The same volume of Morton is about 1.7 times the salt by weight (4.8 g divided by 2.8 g), so a cook who measures Morton by the Diamond Crystal volume ends up well above the percentage shown. Weigh the salt, or use the Morton volume the calculator shows.

Additives and iodine

America's Test Kitchen's taste test notes that Diamond Crystal has no anticaking agents and that the Morton kosher it tested contains yellow prussiate of soda as one. Its article on salt types says table salt is usually iodized. The calculator's datasheets for meat and seafood brines set no rule about iodine or anticaking agents.

For fermented vegetables, the sources do:

The University of Minnesota Extension recommends canning or pickling salt for pickles, and the University of Illinois Extension says to weigh the salt for accuracy. The guide on how to ferment vegetables covers those brines.

Dry brines and salt type

A dry brine is a small amount of salt per pound, so the salt type matters more in spoons than in grams. For the whole chicken at its standard dry brine, 4 lb (1.81 kg) takes 11.2 g of salt, which the calculator gives as 1 1/2 Tbsp of Diamond Crystal, 2 1/4 tsp of Morton kosher or 1 3/4 tsp of table salt. The dry brine for chicken guide lists the amounts for each weight and strength. It lists the volume for each salt separately. America's Test Kitchen's two swap rules for Morton disagree, and both leave Morton users with more salt by weight.

Which salt to use

For a meat brine, any of the three works if the grams are right. Dissolve the weighed salt in the water, as described in how to make brine. If you only have spoons, find your salt in the table above and read its column in the calculator or in the salt per gallon brine chart. The brine ratio chart shows the same amounts for each strength.