How to Brine

Soaking lean meats in a salt water solution is so easy and it makes such a difference! Here’s how to brine.

You’ve probably heard of brining, and maybe you’ve even done it with your Thanksgiving turkey. But brining is a great idea for all your favorite lean meats, like chicken breasts and pork chops. Why? Because it helps make them both juicier and more flavorful!

Let’s take a closer look at this simple kitchen trick.

What Is Brining?

It’s simply soaking food in a salt water solution. Sometimes for extra flavor, you might add other ingredients, like sugar, herbs, or spices. But all you really need for a brine is salt and water. (Of course, you could also dry brine – read about that method here. Dry brining is actually a bit simpler than traditional wet brining, and is much more convenient for large pieces. I wholeheartedly recommend that you try dry-brining a turkey, for instance. Here’s how.)

How Does Brining Work?

One, the meats that you’re soaking absorb the brine, making them more moist and juicy. All meat loses liquid during cooking, but since brined meats start out with more, they end up with more, too.

And two, brining dissolves some of the meat’s muscle fibers. The technical term for this is denaturing. But don’t worry about that. The important thing is it literally turns some of the solids into liquid, enhancing your experience of moisture.

The additional moisture makes your meat juicier. The fact that the moisture is salty makes it more flavorful. Win and win!

What Meats Should You Brine?

Because the benefits are juiciness and flavor, the best meats for brining are lean meats, because with less fat they tend to dry out and also to have less flavor. Enter brining the Thanksgiving turkey.

But also – you can brine pork chops, pork loin, and pork tenderloin. Chicken breasts (learn the best way to brine them here) or whole chickens, and even brined chicken thighs for the best flavor. And some people even brine shrimp, including me!

On the flip side, beef and lamb are not good candidates for brining because they’re fattier and they can be enjoyed rarer than chicken or pork. Both those things mean they cook up juicier and more flavorful by default.

How To Brine

See my recipe below for a basic brine solution. It’ll make enough for 4 pork chops, 4 chicken breasts or 2 pork tenderloins. If you’re making something bigger, just double, triple, or quadruple the recipe! The recipe also tells you how long to brine the different cuts.

Note that the amount of salt in the recipe depends on what kind you’re using—Diamond Crystal kosher salt, Morton’s kosher salt versus any kind of finely ground salt like table salt. Personally, I like kosher salt because it dissolves easily, but any kind will work.

As for additional ingredients, I’ve found that sugar can make a nice difference, but adding herbs and spices makes a very mild difference at best, except if you go through some extra steps to add that flavor. A lot of turkey brines, for instance, will have you boil the water with aromatics before adding the salt. That infuses the water with flavor. However, I have found a much easier and more potent way to add flavor to a brine. For my Best Turkey Brine Recipe, I discovered that putting cold water and salt in a food processor with raw garlic, onion, and fresh herbs creates a flavorful slurry that really adds flavor to the poultry.

Can You Freeze Brined Meats And Poultry?

Yes! You can brine your meats and then freeze to be cooked at a later time. Brine the meat for the recommended time, drain the excess brine, and store in the freezer. The brine gets suspended in the meat as frozen water droplets.

I suggest using the meat within six months, after that there is a chance that the ice crystals will affect the texture of the meat, especially thinner cuts. The meat could also start to take on odors from the freezer.

Podcast Episode: Brining Meats

This post originally appeared in May 2018 and was revised and republished in October 2021.