How much meat for a BBQ, item by item, and how much charcoal

How the BBQ meat calculator works

It multiplies the servings by the meat per person and splits that plate between the items you grill; ribs and bone-in chicken weigh more because you pay for the bone. Servings are the adults plus each kid at half, the share The Daily Meal and Smoked BBQ Source give for children. The meat per adult is raw and boneless and depends on appetite: 6 oz for a light crowd (the baseline of the head chef quoted by Chowhound), 8 oz for a normal one (The Daily Meal) and 10 oz for a hearty one, which is 8 oz plus the 20% extra Food Republic suggests, rounded.

You split the plate with a share for each item, from burgers to veggies. If the shares don't add up to 100, the calculator scales them to 100 and says so on the receipt. Ribs and chicken get 50% on top for the bone: The Daily Meal puts 8 oz boneless against 12 oz bone-in. Fish and vegetables count by weight like boneless meat.

A worked example: a cookout for 10 adults and 4 kids

In the US. The calculator opens with 10 adults, 4 kids, normal appetite and a 22 in kettle for 3 hours. Shares: burgers 30%, hot dogs and brats 20%, pork ribs 20%, bone-in chicken 20%, steaks 10%.

• Servings: 10 + 4 × 50% = 12
• On the plate: 12 × 8 oz = 6.0 lb boneless
• Burgers 1.8 lb, hot dogs and brats 1.2 lb, pork ribs 1.8 lb, bone-in chicken 1.8 lb, steaks 0.6 lb
• To buy: 7.2 lb, about 1.2 lb of it bone
• Charcoal: one full chimney, 4 lb or about 100 briquets, one 16 lb bag

Each item is rounded up to a tenth of a pound. With hearty eaters (10 oz each) the list grows to 9.2 lb, with light eaters (6 oz) it drops to 5.6 lb.

In the UK and elsewhere in metric. The calculator opens with 8 adults and 2 children; at 230 g a head that makes 9 servings and 2.1 kg on the plate: 2.9 kg to buy, with one 4 kg bag of briquettes for a 57 cm kettle.

How much meat for 4 to 30 people

Adults only, US cookout shares, bone included.

People	Light	Normal	Hearty
4	2.0 lb	2.4 lb	3.2 lb
6	2.9 lb	3.6 lb	4.8 lb
8	3.6 lb	4.8 lb	6.0 lb
10	4.8 lb	6.0 lb	7.7 lb
15	6.9 lb	9.2 lb	11.6 lb
20	9.2 lb	12.0 lb	15.2 lb
30	13.7 lb	18.0 lb	22.8 lb

In metric, 10 adults with a normal appetite need 3.0 kg and 20 adults 5.6 kg.

Charcoal: how many bags for the cookout

Kingsford sizes direct grilling at one full chimney, about 100 briquets or a pile of about 4 lb, and Weber puts about 2 kg in a large chimney for a 57 cm (22 in) kettle, with coals that stay red hot for up to three hours. For other grills the calculator follows Weber's direct-heat chart, with 40 briquettes in an 18 in (47 cm) kettle, 50 in a 22 in and 65 in a 26 in (67 cm): in proportion that is 3.2, 4 and 5.2 lb per fire, or 1.6, 2 and 2.6 kg.

Past three hours you add briquets in proportion: a 26 in kettle running for 6 hours burns 2 × 5.2 = 10.4 lb, about 260 briquets, still one 16 lb bag. Kingsford Original comes in 4, 8, 12 and 16 lb bags; in the UK Weber sells 4 kg bags. A short cookout still takes one full fire. Change the load or the bag size in the advanced options if your grill or charcoal is different.

Common mistakes

• Counting kids as adults. Children under 12 eat about half; teenagers often eat like adults, so raise the share in the advanced options.
• Forgetting the bone. At 50% extra, a third of the ribs and chicken you buy is bone: 1.8 lb of ribs hold 1.2 lb of meat.
• Shares that don't add up to 100. The calculator scales them and flags it on the receipt. To serve fewer hot dogs, lower their share instead of dropping guests.
• One chimney for an all-afternoon party. A load lasts up to three hours, so enter how long you'll really be grilling.
• Reading the ounces as cooked meat. They are raw weights, the ones on the package.