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Does brining poultry make it unhealthy due to salt content? What is the salt content after brining?

I recently brined chicken before cooking and it was the best chicken I've ever had! It didn't taste too salty, but the brine recipe I used called for a lot of salt. Does all the sodium get soaked up by the chicken? What is the salt content after brining? Please no guesses on answers here people. But if you know the answer, I'd really like to hear it.

Public Comments

1. Salt brining has been used for centuries for preserving foods and for incorporating the salt flavor all through the meat. It does, indeed, make for a delicious tasting meat. With the excessive press about salt in foods and the idiocy of "everyone is sensitive to salt" attitude of the medical profession, I am surprised it is sold at all. Not everyone is sensitive to salt. Only about 2% of the population has a problem with it. And those of us living in the desert southwest need the salt as we sweat out all the salt we intake. Your chicken would have about 25% more sodium in it than if you didn't salt it at all before cooking. Salt makes foods taste good. Salt makes sugar stuff sweeter, sour stuff more tart, and other foods have at least some flavor. It enhances the flavor of herbs and spices too.
2. Not all the salt will be abosorbed ut yes it will have a lot of sodium in it. Don't have brined chicken a whole lot and it will be okay. Also look fo rchicken with the lowest sodium content before you start. For example boneless, skinless chicken breasts from tyson can range in sudium content from 40 mg, clear up to 180 mg of sodium per 4 oz. WOW huh. I only buy the 40 mg version and it requires looking at the back of every package because there is not difference in the packaging. It is also one of the few things I don't notice a lack of salt in it.
3. Brining works by osmosis. Basically you're making things unbalanced by combining water that is very salty and a chicken which is not salty. In order to balance things out, the salty water moves into the cells of the chicken bringing a little bit of salt, seasonings (if you used them), and moisture until equilibrium is achieved. I've said this a billion times about salt: As long as you don't have a genetic predisposition to hypertension, you can eat as much salt as you want as long as you balance it out with enough water. People don't seem to understand this for some reason and continue with their mantra of "Salt is EVIL!"
4. I'm not going to guess on the answer but your use of the word "unhealthy" has a lot of interpretations. To a person with high blood pressure, any brining is definitely not good for them and, unfortunately a lot of meat you purchase in the store today - from chicken to pork has already been brined. Not all the sodium gets soaked up by the chicken because some stays in the water it's soaked in. I've corned beef before which also requires a lot of sodium. Any brining or injecting into meat that doesn't have a lot of fat will increase the flavor. If you want to get around all that fat, then cook your chicken by using the Beer Butt Chicken recipe. They take the chicken and stand it on end, place it over a can that has the top cut off. The can is 3/4 filled with broth and herbs (or in the original recipe - Beer and herbs). The heat causes the can to steam and the steam and aroma goes into the inside of the chicken making a very very moist bird. The original recipe I believe was done over a barbecue but can also be done in an oven. My son made it with both the beer and with chicken broth and both turned out excellent. Good luck on the answer you were hoping for.
5. No, it is not salty. If you understand the concept of osmosis, you'll understand how brining works. It's a mild brine solution that also contains a bit of sugar--- not super-salty like dill pickles or sauerkraut is in! It would increase the sodium content some, yes, but it reduces the amt of salt you put on the skin (which does nothing to flavor the meat, let's face it). So I think it's a wash sodium-wise. And brined meat tastes better and is more moist. So brining wins in my book.