Quick answer
They are different products, not interchangeable grades. Cure #1 is a concentrated 6.25% nitrite blend dosed by the gram (about 1.13 g/lb at 156 ppm) for standard cured recipes. Morton Tender Quick is a 0.5% nitrite + 0.5% nitrate blend with salt and sugar built in, dosed by the teaspoon (about 1 tsp/lb ≈ 63 ppm nitrite + 63 ppm nitrate). At equal weight Tender Quick delivers roughly 1/12th the nitrite plus nitrate Cure #1 does not have. Use whichever product your tested recipe was written for — converting between them means recalculating the whole formulation.
Side-by-side: every difference that matters
| Property | Cure #1 (Prague Powder #1 class) | Morton Tender Quick |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium nitrite | 6.25% | 0.5% |
| Sodium nitrate | 0% | 0.5% |
| Salt in blend | ~93.75% (rest is nitrite) | Substantial, plus sugar — a seasoning system |
| Typical dose direction | 1 level tsp per 5 lb (≈156 ppm) or recipe-set grams | 1 level tsp per 1 lb (≈63 ppm nitrite) |
| Dose per lb at printed direction | 1.13 g (156 ppm nitrite, no nitrate) | 5.7 g (≈63 ppm nitrite + ≈63 ppm nitrate) |
| Nitrate in the finished math | None | Always present — long-timeline chemistry |
| Best fit | Recipes written for Cure #1/#2-style products; gram-level control; bacon against U.S. method caps | Recipes written for Tender Quick; spoon-level home dosing; classic brine directions |
| Swappable? | Not one-for-one in either direction — the formulation must be recalculated | |
| Calculator | Cure #1 calculator | Tender Quick calculator |
The two dose philosophies, quantified
Cure #1-style products concentrate the active ingredient so the recipe controls nitrite precisely: at 156 ppm ingoing, a 5 lb batch gets 5.66 g of blend carrying 354 mg of nitrite — and nothing else beyond salt. Tender Quick dilutes the actives ~12.5× and folds in seasoning, trading precision for safety-against-gross-overdose and convenience: its 1 tsp/lb direction is hard to misapply by a factor of two, but it also fixes the nitrite level near 63 ppm and always co-delivers nitrate.
Matching nitrite across products (5 lb batch, 156 ppm)
Cure #1 route: 5.66 g of blend → 354 mg nitrite → 156 ppm, 0 nitrate. Tender Quick route to the same 156 ppm: 70.8 g of blend → 354 mg nitrite → 156 ppm, plus 354 mg nitrate (≈156 ppm) and the salt/sugar of 70.8 g of blend. The “same” nitrite target produces a completely different formulation.
Matching printed directions (5 lb batch)
Cure #1 printed-style dose: 1 tsp per 5 lb = 5.7 g → 157 ppm nitrite. Tender Quick printed dose: 1 tsp per lb × 5 = 28.4 g → ≈63 ppm nitrite + ≈63 ppm nitrate. Two products, two spoon conventions, two different ingoing chemistries — which is exactly why charts built for one are invalid for the other.
When each product is the right answer
- Choose Cure #1 when: the recipe names a 6.25% product; you are formulating against U.S. reference caps (bacon 120/200 ppm, sausage 156 ppm); you want gram-level nitrite control; the product is bacon (nitrate is out of bounds there).
- Choose Tender Quick when: the recipe was written for it (many classic Canadian bacon, corned beef and brine recipes); you prefer its spoon-level dosing; you accept its fixed ~63 ppm nitrite convention and nitrate co-delivery.
- Choose neither interchangeably: “the store was out” is a reason to find another brand of the same product class — not a reason to convert mid-recipe. Our substitute guide covers what swaps are safe.
Converting a recipe between them — the checklist
If you truly must convert, every one of these changes:
- Nitrite: recalculate the dose for the new percentage (12.5× more Tender Quick for equal nitrite, or ~1/12th the Cure #1 for equal weight).
- Nitrate: Cure #1 adds none; Tender Quick always brings some. Decide what that means for your product and timeline.
- Salt: the blends carry different salt fractions — recompute the plain-salt line or the batch runs salty or bland.
- Sugar: Tender Quick includes sugar; Cure #1 recipes add their own. Adjust.
- Process fit: a recipe’s timeline was written around its product. Brines, dry-cure days and safety assumptions do not transfer automatically.
Realistically, that checklist is “use the recipe that matches your product.” But if you are doing the conversion deliberately — with the Cure #1 and Tender Quick calculators open — those are the five lines that must move together.
Frequently asked questions: Tender Quick vs Cure #1
Is Tender Quick just weaker Cure #1?
No — the weakness is the least important difference. Beyond the 12.5× nitrite dilution, Tender Quick adds sodium nitrate (which Cure #1 lacks entirely) and carries salt plus sugar as built-in seasoning. Treating it as “watered-down Cure #1” ignores two active ingredients and the seasoning the recipe’s salt math has to account for.
Which one is safer for beginners?
Both are safe when dosed per their own conventions, and they protect beginners differently: Tender Quick’s spoon directions are hard to grossly overdose, while Cure #1’s gram dosing is precise but depends on a scale and careful reading. The genuinely dangerous path is mixing the two conventions — Cure #1 spoon directions on Tender Quick (under-cures) or Tender Quick volume swapped into Cure #1 recipes (over-concentrates salt and misses nitrite).
Can I use Tender Quick for bacon?
Recipes written for Tender Quick bacon exist. But against the U.S. bacon reference caps, Tender Quick’s 1 tsp/lb direction maps to about 63 ppm ingoing nitrite — far below the 120 ppm pumped / 200 ppm dry-cured framework — and its nitrate content is not equivalent to a Cure #1 formulation. Match the product to the recipe’s intent, and verify which framework (if any) your batch is meant to align with.
Why does Cure #1 use “per 5 lb” while Tender Quick says “per lb”?
The spoon conventions encode each product’s concentration: a 6.25% blend delivers a standard 156 ppm-ish dose with one teaspoon spread across 5 lb, while a 0.5% blend needs its teaspoon concentrated into just 1 lb to reach its intended level. Same spoon, 12.5× concentration difference — the recipes scale the “per” to make the math work at kitchen scale.
Does Tender Quick expire faster than Cure #1?
Both keep for years sealed, dry and cool. Tender Quick’s salt-sugar blend can cake with humidity, and any blend is best replaced when badly clumped because dose accuracy suffers. The bigger storage issue for both is identity confusion — label immediately, store apart from food salts.