Free tool

How much meat per person

Enter your headcount and what you’re smoking. It works out how much cooked meat that is and how much raw meat to buy to get it, using USDA’s published yields rather than a rule of thumb — and it shows you every figure it used.

Guests at the main portion

Cooked meat per guest (oz)

Leave the portion blank to use USDA’s food-label reference amount (85 g, about 3 oz of cooked meat). That is a labeling standard for one serving, not a recommendation for how much a barbecue guest will eat — if the meat is most of the meal or your crowd goes back for seconds, set your own.

Guests at a smaller portion (optional)

Their cooked meat each (oz)

For young children or light eaters. Don’t include them in the main-portion count above — the two counts are added together. You choose their portion; there is no standard figure for it, so the calculator doesn’t supply one.

Meats

With more than one meat, each plate is split between them by share: 1 and 1 is half each, 2 and 1 is two-thirds and one-third.

Cut

Know what you’re cooking? Work backward from your serve time with the cook timeline planner.

Where these numbers come from

Portions. The default is USDA FSIS’s food-label reference amount: 85 g of cooked, ready-to-serve meat or poultry per eating occasion. It is a labeling reference, used here only as a default you can replace. There is no default portion for guests counted separately — you set it. 9 CFR 317.312 — Reference amounts customarily consumed per eating occasion (meat), USDA FSIS; 9 CFR 381.412 — Reference amounts customarily consumed per eating occasion (poultry), USDA FSIS.

Yields. USDA Food and Nutrition Service — Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs, Section 1: Meats/Meat Alternates yield table, read 2026-09-28. Only cuts it publishes a yield for are offered.

Beef brisket (boneless): “BEEF BRISKET, fresh or frozen — Without bone, 1/4-inch trim — 1 lb AP = 0.46 lb cooked, lean meat”
Pork butt / Boston butt (bone-in): “PORK SHOULDER, BOSTON BUTT, fresh or frozen — With bone, 1/4-inch trim, (Like IMPS #406) — 1 lb AP = 0.52 lb cooked, boned, trimmed, sliced lean meat”
Pork butt / Boston butt (boneless): “PORK SHOULDER, BOSTON BUTT, fresh or frozen — Without bone, 1/4-inch trim, (Like IMPS #406A) — 1 lb AP = 0.60 lb cooked lean meat”
Pork spareribs: “PORK SPARERIBS, fresh or frozen — 1 lb AP = 0.39 lb cooked lean meat”
Whole chicken: “CHICKEN, WHOLE, fresh or frozen — Without neck and giblets — 1 lb AP = 0.44 lb cooked, boned, chicken meat with skin”
Chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on): “Chicken Parts, fresh or frozen, Thighs — With bone, With skin, (about 4.0 oz each) — 1 lb AP = 0.52 lb cooked, boned, chicken meat with skin”
Chicken wings (whole): “Chicken Parts, fresh or frozen, Wings — Whole, With bone, With skin, (about 3.1 oz each) — 1 lb AP = 0.34 lb cooked, boned, chicken meat with skin”
Whole turkey: “TURKEY, WHOLE, fresh or frozen — Without Neck and Giblets — 1 lb AP = 0.53 lb cooked turkey with skin”