Plan on half a pound of boneless meat per adult, raw weight, or 12 to 16 ounces when the bone is still in. That feeds a main course with a couple of sides.
Raw weight per adult
Meat is sold by raw weight and loses a fifth to a third of it on the fire. The last column shows how much of the raw weight USDA researchers measured coming off the heat.
| What you're cooking | Raw weight per adult | Cooked weight, share of raw (USDA) |
|---|---|---|
| Boneless steak: ribeye, strip, sirloin, flank | 8 oz | 80 to 84% |
| Skirt steak | 8 oz | 68 to 73% |
| Bone-in steak: bone-in ribeye, prime rib | 12 to 16 oz | 86% (bone-in ribeye) |
| Burgers | 8 oz, two quarter-pound patties | 63 to 73%; fattier blends lose more |
| Fresh sausages | 8 oz | 80% (pork, pan-fried) |
| Spare ribs, baby back ribs, beef back ribs | 12 to 16 oz | 75 to 82%, bone included |
| Brisket | 10 to 12 oz | 69% (braised flat) |
| Boneless chicken | 8 oz | Not in the USDA table |
| Bone-in chicken: thighs, drumsticks, wings | 12 to 16 oz | 67 to 80% |
| Fish fillets | 8 oz | Not in the USDA table |
On ribs and bone-in chicken the bone stays on the plate, which is why those rows start at 12 ounces. You pay for the bone by the pound.
Brisket gets its own row because it loses more than a steak: a trimmed flat kept 69% of its weight braised, against 80% or more for a grilled steak. Ten to 12 ounces of raw brisket puts the same amount of meat on the plate as an 8-ounce steak. Buy toward 12 for a whole brisket, which carries a thick fat cap you'll trim and render away.
Cooked-weight figures come from the USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry (Release 2, 2014). The per-person amounts match our Help Center guidance.
Adjust for your crowd
- Kids. Count a child under 9 as half an adult. The federal Dietary Guidelines set 2 to 4 ounces of protein a day for ages 2 to 8, against 5 to 7 for everyone 9 and older.
- Plenty of sides or appetizers. Stay at 8 ounces boneless and the low end of the bone-in range.
- Big eaters, or you want leftovers. Go to the top of each range and add one more piece of something that keeps. Tri-tip slices neatly for sandwiches the next day.
- More than one meat. Split the total instead of adding to it. Three meats for 12 adults is still 6 pounds of boneless meat, about 2 pounds of each.
A worked example: 12 adults and 4 kids count as 14 adult portions. At 8 ounces each, that's 7 pounds of boneless meat, such as two tri-tips and 3 pounds of sausages. Swap the sausages for spare ribs and that share grows to 4.5 to 6 pounds, because of the bone.
What to grill for a crowd
The cuts that feed a group best are big single pieces you cook once and slice, and the working muscles that cost less than loin steaks.
- Tri-tip. A lean 1.5 to 2.5 pound roast from the bottom sirloin, and one of the better values in beef. Smoke it or reverse sear it, then split the roast where the grain turns and slice each half across its own grain. It kept 84% of its weight roasted in USDA testing, so little of what you pay for cooks away.
- Picanha. The top sirloin cap, 2 to 3 pounds with its fat cap on. Cook it fat side up and the cap bastes the meat. Insist on at least a quarter inch of fat: trimmed bare, it's an expensive top sirloin. Picanha vs tri-tip helps you choose.
- Flank steak. One flat, lean piece with a single grain, so it carves into neat slices for a platter. Pull it at medium-rare. Past that it eats like rope.
- Skirt steak. Thinner, fattier and beefier than flank, done in about two minutes a side over high heat. It loses more weight on the grill than flank does, so buy a little extra. Flank vs skirt has the detail.
- Chuck eye steak. The ribeye muscle where it runs into the chuck, priced as chuck. Each animal has only a couple, so buy them when you see them, but don't plan a party of 20 around them. See chuck eye vs ribeye.
Cooking low and slow? A brisket or a few racks of spare ribs feeds a crowd from one load in the smoker.
How far ahead to order
Have the box arrive two or three days before the cookout. We ship Monday through Thursday, most boxes arrive one or two days after they leave our warehouse, and you pick the delivery date at checkout. How delivery works covers shipping, cost and what to do if a box arrives warm.
Thawing sets the schedule. Thaw in the fridge:
- Steaks, burgers, sausages and chicken pieces thaw overnight.
- A 3-pound roast takes about 16 hours.
- For anything bigger, the USDA's guide is about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds, so a 12-pound brisket needs two and a half to three days.
Once thawed in the fridge, steaks, chops and roasts keep 3 to 5 days, and ground meat, chicken and seafood keep 1 to 2 days. For a Saturday cookout with a Wednesday delivery, move the brisket to the fridge Wednesday night, the steaks Thursday, and the burgers, chicken and fish Friday night.
Short on time, leave the cut in its sealed package and submerge it in cold tap water, changing the water every 30 minutes. A 1-pound pack takes about an hour and a 3 to 4 pound roast 2 to 3 hours. Cook it right away. More in how to thaw frozen beef.
