How much meat per person?
Plan 1/2 lb of cooked meat for each adult at a cookout with sides. For brisket and pork butt that means buying about 1 lb raw, because both lose half their weight as they cook. A child eats about half as much as an adult.
Meat per person chart
For typical adult eaters with sides, serving one meat. Weights are raw, as you buy them, rounded up to the half pound.
| Meat | Per adult | For 10 | For 25 | For 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket | 1 lb raw | 10 lb | 25 lb | 50 lb |
| Pulled pork | 1 lb raw | 10 lb | 25 lb | 50 lb |
| Pork ribs | 6 ribs | 5 racks | 13 racks | 25 racks |
| Chicken | 12 oz raw | 7.5 lb | 19 lb | 37.5 lb |
| Wings | 8 wings | 80 wings | 200 wings | 400 wings |
| Burgers | 1.5 patties | 15 patties | 38 patties | 75 patties |
| Steak | 8 oz raw | 5 lb | 12.5 lb | 25 lb |
| Sausages | 2 links | 20 links | 50 links | 100 links |
Brisket is a whole packer and pulled pork a bone-in butt, which cook down to half a pound each. Ribs are baby backs, about 12 to a rack. Chicken is bone-in pieces, wings are flats and drums at about 10 to the pound, burgers are quarter pound patties, and steak is boneless. Each figure is a rule of thumb, not a law, so adjust for the people you know.
Start with cooked weight
Half a pound of cooked meat is the number most pitmasters plan on, and it is what lands on a plate. The trouble is that you buy meat raw, and different cuts shrink by very different amounts.
Brisket and pork butt lose about half their weight to trimming, rendered fat and water, so you buy twice what you serve. A steak loses much less. Chicken, ribs and wings are eaten off the bone, so for those we plan what you buy rather than what you eat. The calculator handles each one its own way.
Serving two or three meats
When there is more than one meat, people take some of each and eat a little more in all. We give each meat 60% of a full portion when there are two, and 45% when there are three.
So for 30 adults with brisket and pulled pork, plan about 9 lb of cooked brisket and 9 lb of pulled pork. That means buying 18 lb of brisket and 18 lb of pork butt.
Light eaters and big eaters
A lunch, or a crowd with lots of sides, will eat about a third of a pound of cooked meat each. A group of hungry teenagers, or a party where meat is the whole meal, will eat three quarters of a pound. Pick the closest match in the calculator; it is the biggest single swing in the plan.
Questions people ask
- How much meat do I need for 50 people?
- About 25 lb of cooked meat. If that is all brisket, buy 50 lb raw. If you serve two meats, each one needs 60% of that, so the total you cook goes up a little but each meat goes down.
- How many wings per person?
- About 8 as a main with sides, 5 or 6 as an appetizer, and 12 for big wing eaters. For 10 adults as a main, that is 80 wings, or about 8 lb.
- How many burgers per person?
- Plan 1.5 quarter pound patties per adult: some take one, some take two. For 10 adults that is 15 patties, about 4 lb of ground beef.
- How many ribs per person?
- Half a rack of baby backs per adult, about 6 bones, when ribs are the main meat. For 10 adults that is 5 racks. Meatier St. Louis spares go a little further, at about 5 bones each.
- Do children count as a full person?
- No. A child under 12 eats about half what an adult does, which is how the calculator counts them. Teenagers count as adults, and often as big eaters.