How Much Steak Per Person? Portions in Grams, Cut by Cut

The portion table

The figures differ because bone weighs and nobody eats it. The more bone a cut carries, the more grams you need to put the same meat on the plate. That is why fillet, which is all meat, stops at 200–250 g and a chuletón climbs to 400–500 g. A pound is 454 g, so the bone-in figure is roughly a pound each.

What a 1 kg chuletón really holds

A chuletón of 1 kg, cut 4–5 cm thick, weighs what it weighs because of the bone. The meat that reaches the plate is about 750–800 g. The rest is bone and some outside fat that is trimmed or left behind. Two people sharing it eat around 375–400 g of clean meat each, which is a generous portion if steak is the whole meal.

Thickness matters more than weight

The commonest mistake when buying for a crowd is asking for thinner steaks so that there are more portions. It does not work. A chuletón needs to be 4–5 cm thick. Under 3 cm the inside is overcooked before the outside has a crust. To feed eight, the answer is not a 2 kg piece cut thin. It is four 1 kg steaks at their proper thickness, each one cooked well and each couple with their own. The method is in how to grill a chuletón.

Shopping for two, four and eight

Two people

One 1 kg chuletón. Retinto mature cow if you want the deep flavour of an older animal, retinto yearling if you prefer something milder. For a change of shape, a T-bone puts sirloin (US: striploin) and fillet on the same bone.

Four people

Two 1 kg chuletones, or one 1.7 kg tomahawk if you want a single piece in the middle of the table. The tomahawk feeds three or four: with starters, four without trouble; with no starters and good appetites, count three.

Eight or more

Four 1 kg chuletones, or a mix: a couple of chuletones, some boneless entrecot and something with more bone for the people who like to gnaw. For a barbecue (US: cookout) of this size a box is usually easier than adding up single pieces. Our two big barbecue boxes weigh approx. 5.5 kg and 5.6 kg, sausages included, and each is planned for 8–12 people.

Adjusting for the menu

The 400–500 g portion assumes steak with a bit of bread and salad. If there are real starters, such as a plate of cured meats, croquetas or a cheese board, take off 20–25%. A 1 kg chuletón then stretches from two people to nearly three. With children at the table, count 150–200 g for each. The shop’s barbecue calculator (in Spanish) does the sums with the same portions as this table.

Saying it in Spanish

• “Un chuletón de un kilo, para dos”: a one-kilo chuletón, for two.
• “Cortado grueso, de cuatro o cinco centímetros”: cut thick, 4–5 cm.
• “Dos entrecots de trescientos gramos”: two 300 g entrecots.
• “Somos seis, ¿cuánto me llevo?”: there are six of us, how much should I take?
• “Con hueso” is on the bone; “sin hueso” is boneless.

Three things not to do

• Buying by total weight and forgetting the bone. Two kilos of churrasco are not two kilos of meat.
• Cutting thin to make it go further. Under 3 cm a chuletón overcooks before it has a crust.
• Buying short for fear of leftovers. A leftover chuletón goes in the fridge, wrapped, and is eaten the next day; a chuletón that ran out cannot be fixed.