What Is Cure #1, and Cure #1 vs Cure #2?
Cure #1 is pink curing salt: 93.75% salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite, dyed pink so nobody mistakes it for table salt. It's also sold as Prague Powder #1, Insta Cure #1 or pink salt #1, and it's used at 1.13 g per pound of meat (0.25%). Cure #2 is the same thing plus sodium nitrate, for cures that last weeks.
Which one you need:
- Cure #1 (pink curing salt / Prague Powder #1) → anything you smoke low-and-slow or cure and eat within days to a couple weeks: summer sausage, snack sticks, hot dogs, bacon, jerky, ham.
- Cure #2 (Prague Powder #2) → anything you dry-age or ferment for weeks to months without cooking: salami, dry-cured pepperoni, soppressata, dry-cured coppa or bresaola.
Using the wrong one isn't a preference — it's a safety mistake. Here's exactly how to tell them apart.
First, a bigger point: if it's truly fresh — fresh brats or breakfast sausage you grind and cook the same day — you don't need cure at all. Cure is for products that get smoked low-and-slow (hours in the danger zone), cured, or dry-aged. Fresh, quick-cooked sausage skips it entirely.
What's actually in each
- Cure #1 = 6.25% sodium nitrite + 93.75% salt (dyed pink). The nitrite goes to work immediately — it protects the meat through a short cure and cook.
- Cure #2 = 6.25% sodium nitrite + ~4% sodium nitrate + salt. The nitrate is a time-release reservoir: it slowly breaks down into nitrite over weeks and months, so the meat stays protected the whole time it hangs and dries.
That one difference — nitrate — is the entire story.
How to choose (the one question that decides it)
Ask yourself: "Am I cooking this soon, or is it hanging to dry for weeks?"
- Cooked / smoked, eaten soon → Cure #1. The cook finishes the job; you don't need a long-term reservoir.
- Air-dried or fermented over weeks/months, never cooked → Cure #2. The meat needs protection the entire time it ages, and only nitrate's slow release covers that window.
| You're making | Use |
|---|---|
| Summer sausage, snack sticks | Cure #1 |
| Hot dogs, kielbasa, smoked sausage | Cure #1 |
| Fresh brats / fresh ground sausage (cooked same day) | No cure |
| Bacon, ham, Canadian bacon | Cure #1 |
| Jerky | Cure #1 |
| Dry-cured salami, pepperoni | Cure #2 |
| Fermented / air-dried sausage | Cure #2 |
| Dry-cured whole muscle (coppa, bresaola) | Cure #2 |
Why you can't just swap them
- Cure #1 on a long dry-cured salami: the nitrite is spent in the first few days, then the sausage hangs for weeks with no protection — prime conditions for botulism. Dangerous.
- Cure #2 on a quick cook: you're adding nitrate that has no time to do anything useful, on a product that doesn't need it. Wrong tool for the job.
Same pink color, same shelf at the store, completely different jobs. Read the label every single time.
How much do you use?
Both are used at the same rate: 1 oz (28.35 g) per 25 lb of meat — 0.25% of the meat weight, 156 ppm nitrite. (Full breakdown: How Much Cure #1 Per Pound of Meat.) The dose doesn't change — which cure changes, based on the product.
Safety, either way
- Weigh it on a gram scale. Never eyeball, never "add a little extra."
- Mix it all the way through the batch so no bite gets a hot dose.
- Keep it away from kids and pets — it's dyed pink so nobody confuses it with table salt.
- Fermented and dry-cured products carry extra rules (starter cultures, pH, temperature, humidity). That's a deeper subject — not one to freelance.
Bottom line
Cook it soon → Cure #1. Hang it for weeks → Cure #2. Same amount, different job, never interchangeable.
Common questions
What is the difference between Cure #1 and Cure #2?
Cure #1 is for products you cook, smoke, or eat within days: summer sausage, snack sticks, hot dogs, kielbasa, bacon, ham and jerky. Cure #2 is for products that hang and dry-age or ferment for weeks to months, such as dry-cured salami, pepperoni and soppressata. Cure #2 adds nitrate, which breaks down slowly into nitrite over a long cure. Never swap one for the other.
Which cure do I use for summer sausage?
Cure #1. Summer sausage is smoked low and slow and then eaten, not hung for weeks, so it needs the fast-acting nitrite in Cure #1.
Which cure do I use for salami or pepperoni?
Cure #2, for anything dry-cured that hangs for weeks. Dry curing also needs the right starter culture, pH, temperature and humidity, so the choice of cure is only one part of doing it safely.
Can I use Cure #2 instead of Cure #1?
No. Cure #2 contains nitrate that converts to nitrite slowly over a long dry cure. In a product that is smoked and eaten within days, that nitrate has no time to do its job and simply remains in the food. Use each for its intended product.
How much of each cure do I use?
Both are used at the same rate: 0.25% of the meat weight, which is 1.1 g per pound or 1 oz per 25 lb, landing at 156 ppm ingoing nitrite.
DeepWoodz Smokehouse tells you exactly which cure each recipe needs and locks the amount to USDA-safe levels — Cure #1 for smoked and cooked products, Cure #2 (with a starter culture) for fermented.
Free on iPhone and AndroidKeep the numbers handy.
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