Recipe scaling and portions
Marinade Quantity Calculator
Set marinade quantity as a controlled percentage of the food being marinated.
Set the food, rate, and clean reserve
Contact marinade and clean reserve
A weight percentage is repeatable across batch sizes and avoids the ambiguity of advice such as 'enough to cover.' Bags, shallow pans, and tumblers need different rates.
The reserve field is intentionally separate. Marinade that has contacted raw meat, poultry, seafood, or their juices should not be treated as a ready-to-serve sauce without an appropriate safety process.
More marinade does not always increase uptake. Time, salt, acidity, cut thickness, and agitation can matter more than excess liquid.
A marinating plan may rely on earlier checks to base the batch on trimmed food and estimate portions from the marinated ingredient.
Food weight as the marinade base
Method basis: Food weight is multiplied by the entered contact-marinade rate, with clean reserve added separately.
Keep finishing sauce separate
- Weigh food after trimming so the rate applies to what enters the vessel.
- Choose a tested marinade percentage for the container and cut.
- Prepare any finishing portion in a separate clean container.
Marinade for five kilograms of food
For food to marinate of 5000 g, marinade rate of 12 %, clean finishing marinade of 250 g, working capacity per marinating container of 3000 g, the worked result is marinade to prepare of 850 g and marinade in kilograms of 0.85 kg. Keep the clean reserve outside every container that holds raw food.
Marinade coverage and safe separation
Container count is calculated from food plus contact marinade, while the clean finishing reserve stays outside those raw-food vessels. This preserves the safety separation in both the arithmetic and the prep layout.
Coverage depends on container geometry. A bag or tumbler can coat food with less liquid than a broad pan. Choose the rate after testing the actual vessel rather than increasing marinade until an inefficient container looks full.
Label the clean reserve before raw-food handling begins and keep it physically separate. If contacted marinade will be cooked for another purpose, treat that as a distinct controlled process rather than silently including it in the ready-to-serve reserve.
Document vessel and contact time
The batch note should identify prepared food weight, marinade rate, vessel type, contact time, temperature control, and the clean reserve. Those details matter more than the total marinade weight alone.
Marinade handling questions
Is 12 percent always the right rate?
No. It is only the example default; test a rate for the food, cut, and marinating method.
Why is clean reserve added separately?
It prevents a finishing-sauce quantity from being confused with marinade that touched raw food.
Does the calculator predict absorption?
No. It plans mixture quantity, not how much salt, water, or flavor the food will absorb.