Calculate salt, sugar, and curing salt amounts for homemade bacon. Supports dry cure and wet brine with Prague Powder #1 safety ratios.
Making bacon at home is one of the most rewarding charcuterie projects, but getting the cure right is essential for both flavor and safety. Too little curing salt and you risk botulism. Too much and the bacon tastes chemical. This calculator gives you precise measurements for a perfect cure every time.
The standard safe ratio for bacon is 1 teaspoon (6.25g) Prague Powder #1 per 5 pounds (2.27kg) of meat, which delivers about 156 ppm sodium nitrite — the FDA maximum for bacon. Salt should be 2–3% of the meat weight. Sugar balances the salt and aids browning. This calculator handles both dry cure (rubbed directly on meat) and wet brine (submerged in liquid).
Enter your pork belly weight, choose dry or wet cure, select your flavor profile (maple, black pepper, applewood, jalapeño), and get exact measurements for every ingredient. The calculator also provides curing time estimates, smoking temperature guides, and yield predictions — you'll lose about 25–35% weight during the cure and smoke process.
Curing salt calculations must be precise for food safety. Too much nitrite is unhealthy; too little risks botulism. This calculator ensures safe, delicious homemade bacon every time. Keep these notes focused on your operational context. Tie the context to the calculator’s intended domain. Use this clarification to avoid ambiguous interpretation. Align this note with review checkpoints.
Prague Powder #1: 1 tsp (6.25g) per 5 lbs (2.27kg) meat = ~156 ppm nitrite. Kosher salt: 2.5% of meat weight (dry cure). Sugar: 1.5% of meat weight. For wet brine: dissolve cure in water at 1 gallon per 5 lbs meat.
Result: 57g kosher salt, 34g maple sugar, 6.25g Prague Powder #1, 5g black pepper
5 lbs = 2.27 kg. Salt: 2.27 × 0.025 = 57g. Sugar: 2.27 × 0.015 = 34g. Prague Powder: 1 tsp (6.25g) per 5 lbs. Cure 7 days in fridge, flipping daily. Rinse, dry, then smoke at 200°F to 150°F internal.
Dry cure produces a more concentrated flavor and firmer texture. The cure mixture is rubbed directly on the meat, which releases moisture during curing. Wet brine gives a milder, more evenly cured product. The meat is submerged in a salt-sugar-nitrite solution. Dry cure is traditional; wet brine is more forgiving for beginners.
Classic: kosher salt + brown sugar + black pepper. Maple: replace sugar with maple sugar or syrup. Applewood: classic cure + smoke with applewood chips. Jalapeño: add dried jalapeño flakes to the cure. Coffee: add ground coffee to the dry rub. All profiles use the same safety-critical amounts of Prague Powder #1.
Sodium nitrite (in Prague Powder #1) does three things: prevents Clostridium botulinum growth, creates the characteristic pink "cured" color via reaction with myoglobin, and produces the distinctive cured flavor. The FDA maximum for bacon is 120 ppm ingoing nitrite (200 ppm for other cured meats). Natural "uncured" bacon uses celery powder, which contains naturally occurring nitrates that convert to nitrite — the end result is chemically identical.
Yes, at the correct dosage (156 ppm nitrite for bacon). It prevents botulism and gives bacon its characteristic pink color and cured flavor. Never exceed the recommended amount.
Technically yes for a "fresh" unsmoked belly, but it won't be traditional bacon. Without nitrite, you lose the pink color, cured flavor, and botulism protection during smoking.
5–7 days for thin bellies (1–1.5"), 7–10 days for thick bellies (1.5–2"+). Flip daily to redistribute the cure. The bacon should feel firm throughout when done.
#1 (pink curing salt) contains 6.25% sodium nitrite — used for bacon, sausages, and anything cooked/smoked. #2 contains nitrite plus nitrate — used for dry-cured products that age for weeks/months (salami, prosciutto).
Expect 25–35% weight loss. A 5 lb belly yields about 3.25–3.75 lbs of finished bacon. Dry cure loses more than wet brine.
Cold smoke at 68–86°F for flavor without cooking, or hot smoke at 175–225°F until internal temp reaches 150°F. Most home smokers use hot smoke.