Quick answer
Morton®-style Tender Quick carries about 0.5% sodium nitrite + 0.5% sodium nitrate — roughly one-twelfth the nitrite strength of Cure #1. Its printed direction of about 1 level tsp (≈5.7 g) per pound works out to roughly 63 ppm ingoing nitrite on a meat-weight basis (plus ~63 ppm nitrate). That is a different formulation philosophy from the 156 ppm Cure #1 convention — so never swap the two products without recalculating. The calculator below runs your exact weight, target and label values.
Tender Quick Calculator
Enter your meat weight, the blend percentages from your label and a target ingoing nitrite level. The result updates as you type. Everything runs in your browser.
Calculated result only: verify the exact product label, recipe/process and applicable requirements before use.
Assumptions, units and limits
- Tender Quick composition: Morton Tender Quick is formulated with 0.5% sodium nitrite and 0.5% sodium nitrate plus salt and sugar. This tool defaults to those values but takes whatever your label prints.
- The 63 ppm default: 1 level tsp (≈5.7 g) per lb of meat × 0.5% nitrite = 28.5 mg nitrite per 453.6 g meat ≈ 63 ppm. It reflects the printed direction, not a regulatory limit.
- PPM means mg per kg of the calculation basis. Conversions: 1 lb = 453.59237 g. Results display rounded; the math is not.
- Salt and sugar in the blend: the remainder of Tender Quick is salt and a small sugar fraction — unlike Cure #1 math, plain-salt deductions need the actual blend breakdown, so treat the printed directions as controlling.
- This tool calculates formulation math only. It does not validate your process, and product directions from the manufacturer remain the authority for that product.
Comparing products? Read Tender Quick vs Cure #1, or use the Cure #1 calculator for 6.25% blends.
What is Morton Tender Quick?
Morton Tender Quick is a home-curing blend containing salt, sugar, 0.5% sodium nitrite and 0.5% sodium nitrate. It is designed for home use with spoon-level dosing — its printed direction is about 1 level teaspoon per pound of meat for dry curing, or 1 cup per gallon of water for brine solutions. That dosing style is the opposite of Cure #1 products, which are concentrated 6.25% nitrite blends dosed by the gram. Neither approach is “better”; they are different philosophies, and this calculator exists because mixing them up is one of the most common (and most consequential) curing mistakes.
Why Tender Quick math looks so different
Because the blend is 12.5× weaker in nitrite than a 6.25% product, hitting the same ingoing nitrite level needs 12.5× more product by weight. Where 5 lb of bacon at 156 ppm takes 5.66 g of Cure #1, reaching the same 156 ppm with Tender Quick would take roughly 70 g of blend — and would simultaneously deliver about 70 g × 0.5% × 1,000 ÷ 2.268 kg ≈ 154 ppm nitrate. This is why “just use more Tender Quick” is not a shortcut between products: at matched nitrite, the nitrate load skyrockets. Tender Quick’s own printed direction instead lands near 63 ppm nitrite — a level its manufacturer considers appropriate for its use cases, delivered together with a comparable nitrate contribution.
Tender Quick per pound and per kg — quick chart
Figures below follow the printed ~1 tsp per lb direction (5.7 g per lb ≈ 63 ppm nitrite). The calculator recomputes everything for your actual weights and label:
| Batch size | Tender Quick (printed direction) | ≈ tsp | Nitrite | Nitrate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb (454 g) | 5.7 g | 1 tsp | ≈ 63 ppm | ≈ 63 ppm |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 11.4 g | 2 tsp | ≈ 63 ppm | ≈ 63 ppm |
| 5 lb (2.27 kg) | 28.4 g | 5 tsp | ≈ 63 ppm | ≈ 63 ppm |
| 10 lb (4.54 kg) | 56.7 g | 10 tsp | ≈ 63 ppm | ≈ 63 ppm |
| 1 kg | 12.6 g | 2.2 tsp | ≈ 63 ppm | ≈ 63 ppm |
| 5 kg | 62.8 g | 11 tsp | ≈ 63 ppm | ≈ 63 ppm |
When Tender Quick is the right tool
- The recipe names it. Recipes written for Tender Quick (many classic Canadian bacon and corned-beef recipes) are balanced around its blend of salt, sugar, nitrite and nitrate — follow them as written.
- You want spoon-level home dosing and are using a recipe designed for it — the product is intentionally built to be hard to overdose by spoons.
- Brine curing where the printed cup-per-gallon convention is already the recipe’s language.
When it is the wrong tool: any recipe calling for Cure #1 or #2 by name, bacon formulations evaluated against U.S. method caps (a Tender Quick-based bacon will not match the 120/200 ppm framework its dose mapping assumes), and any batch where you need strict gram-level nitrite control — that is Cure #1 territory with a 6.25% calculator.
Common Tender Quick questions and mistakes
- Treating it as “weak Cure #1”: it also brings nitrate and sugar — three variables change at once, not one.
- Substituting by volume: 1 tsp Cure #1 ≠ 1 tsp Tender Quick; they differ by 12.5× in nitrite and carry different nitrate loads.
- Skipping the label check: the 0.5%/0.5% figures describe Morton’s formulation; generics and other regions differ.
- Using Cure #1 spoon directions: “1 tsp per 5 lb” is Cure #1 language — applying it to Tender Quick under-doses nitrite by an order of magnitude.
Frequently asked questions about Tender Quick
How much Tender Quick per pound of meat?
Morton’s printed direction is about 1 level teaspoon (≈5.7 g) per pound for dry-cure applications — which works out to roughly 63 ppm ingoing nitrite plus about 63 ppm nitrate on a meat-weight basis. It is a product-specific direction, not a universal rule: your recipe and the exact label control the final answer, and the calculator above converts any target into grams.
Can I substitute Tender Quick for Cure #1?
Not one-for-one. At equal weight, Tender Quick delivers about one-twelfth the nitrite of a 6.25% blend — and adds nitrate and sugar the recipe never accounted for. If the recipe says Cure #1, either use a 6.25% product or find a recipe written for Tender Quick. The side-by-side comparison shows both products’ math.
Is Tender Quick the same as pink curing salt?
No. Pink curing salt (Prague Powder #1) is a 6.25% nitrite blend — concentrated, dyed pink, dosed by the gram. Tender Quick is a 0.5% nitrite + 0.5% nitrate blend with salt and sugar built in — dosed by the teaspoon. They are different products for different recipe styles, and the search results that treat them as interchangeable are the source of a lot of mis-dosed batches.
Can I use Tender Quick for bacon?
Recipes written for Tender Quick bacon exist and work within the product’s own logic. But if you are formulating against the U.S. bacon reference caps (120 ppm pumped / 200 ppm dry-cured ingoing nitrite), note that Tender Quick’s spoon directions map to around 63 ppm nitrite — much lower than those caps — and its nitrate content means it is not equivalent to a Cure #1 formulation. Verify the recipe’s intent and your applicable requirements before choosing.
Why does the calculator show nitrate alongside nitrite?
Because every Tender Quick dose delivers both — the blend is 0.5% of each. A formulation’s nitrate contribution matters for product selection (nitrate is doing long-timeline work) and for comparing against Cure #1 products that carry none. Hiding the nitrate line would repeat the exact opacity this site exists to fix.
Does Tender Quick expire or lose strength?
Stored sealed, dry and cool, the blend keeps for years; the printed date on the package is the manufacturer’s guidance. Clumping signals moisture — caked product is harder to dose accurately — and extremely old product is cheap to replace relative to the meat it seasons. The bigger risk is storage confusion, so keep it labeled and physically separated from cooking salts.