Butter: Cups to Grams, Sticks and Tablespoons

Turn cups, tablespoons and teaspoons of flour, sugar, butter and more into grams and ounces, or grams back into cups.

Butter is the ingredient where recipes mix the most units: American recipes say cups, tablespoons or sticks, while the rest of the world gives grams. A US stick of butter is 8 tablespoons, which is half a US cup, so a recipe that asks for 1 cup of butter wants 2 sticks. Using King Arthur Baking's ingredient weight chart, 1 cup of butter is 227 g (8 oz), 1 stick is about 113.5 g, and 1 tablespoon is about 14.2 g. This page opens with butter already chosen, so you can type cups, tablespoons or teaspoons and read the grams and ounces straight away. The cup matters too. A metric cup is 250 mL, a little larger than the 236.6 mL US cup, so 1 cup of butter weighs about 239.9 g if your recipe uses a metric cup. Check which one your recipe was written for. Packaged butter may be marked in grams or ounces, and its wrapper often has tablespoon lines printed on it, so you can cut the amount without measuring. Cold butter is easier to weigh than to pack into a cup, which is one more reason to bake by weight.

Butter: cups, sticks and tablespoons in grams

Common US butter amounts in grams and ounces, with the US stick (8 tablespoons) for each.

AmountGramsOunces
1 tablespoon14.2 g0.5 oz
2 tablespoons (¼ stick)28.4 g1 oz
¼ cup, 4 tablespoons (½ stick)56.8 g2 oz
⅓ cup75.7 g2.67 oz
½ cup, 8 tablespoons (1 stick)113.5 g4 oz
¾ cup, 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks)170.3 g6.01 oz
1 cup, 16 tablespoons (2 sticks)227 g8.01 oz

Based on King Arthur Baking's published ingredient weight chart, values rounded. US cup of 236.6 mL.

How it works

  1. Pick the ingredient and the cup size
  2. Type cups, tablespoons and teaspoons, or switch to grams to cups
  3. Read the weight, the common amounts table and the working

How cups are turned into grams

One cup of all-purpose flour is 120 g, so 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons, which is 2.125 cups, is 2.125 × 120 = 255 g. The page does this in two steps. It turns your cups, tablespoons and teaspoons into millilitres, then multiplies by the grams per millilitre for the ingredient you picked. A US cup is 236.588 mL, a tablespoon is one sixteenth of it and a teaspoon one forty-eighth. Metric units are an alternative: choose the 250 mL metric cup, with 15 mL tablespoons and 5 mL teaspoons, and 1 cup of the same flour becomes 126.8 g. The box How this was worked out writes out each step with your numbers.

Where the weights come from

All grams per cup are based on King Arthur Baking's published ingredient weight chart, values rounded. Examples are all-purpose and bread flour at 120 g a cup, granulated sugar at 198 g, packed brown sugar at 213 g, powdered sugar at 113 g, butter at 227 g and honey at 336 g (the chart gives 21 g a tablespoon, times 16). The chart lists water, milk and butter at 227 g per cup, a round figure, while a US cup of water holds about 236.6 g by volume. Use the chart value to follow a recipe that was written with it. Where the chart gives a smaller measure, the cup value is scaled from it: honey from 1 tablespoon, maple syrup, cocoa and long-grain rice from half a cup, cornstarch from a quarter cup and salt from 1 tablespoon. Ingredients without a value in that one chart are left out.

Why a cup of flour is not always the same weight

Weight per cup depends on how you fill the cup. Flour spooned into the cup and levelled with a knife weighs less than flour scooped straight from the bag, because scooping presses it down. Brown sugar is packed on purpose, so its figure only holds for a packed cup. Sifted, sieved or humid ingredients differ again. That is why grams are the better way to bake: 120 g of flour is 120 g however it was handled. Treat a converted weight as the chart's typical value, not a measurement of your own cup.

Grams to cups and the limits of the page

Switch to Grams to cups to go the other way: 250 g of all-purpose flour is 250 ÷ 120 = 2.083 cups, shown as about 2 ⅛ cups, which is 33.33 tablespoons or 100 teaspoons. Ounces mean weight ounces (28.349523125 g), not fluid ounces. The page converts by weight and ignores the temperature of the ingredient. It does not know brands, grind or moisture, and it does not convert ingredients not in the list. When a recipe gives both cups and grams, trust the grams.

Frequently asked questions

How many grams are in a cup of butter?

227 g, which is 8 oz, using a US cup and King Arthur Baking's chart. A half cup is 113.5 g and a quarter cup is 56.8 g. With a 250 mL metric cup, 1 cup is about 239.9 g.

How many tablespoons are in a stick of butter?

8 tablespoons. A US stick is half a US cup, so 2 sticks make 1 cup, which is 16 tablespoons. By this chart a tablespoon of butter is about 14.2 g and a stick is about 113.5 g.

How many cups is 100 g of butter?

About 0.44 US cup, or 7 tablespoons. Switch the converter to Grams to cups for any other weight. 200 g is about 0.88 cup and 250 g is about 1.1 cups.

How many grams are in a cup of flour?

120 g for all-purpose or bread flour, using King Arthur Baking's chart, and 113 g for whole wheat flour. A half cup is 60 g and a quarter cup is 30 g. Choose your flour in the Ingredient list and the table shows every common amount.

How many grams are in a cup of sugar?

198 g for granulated sugar, 213 g for packed brown sugar and 113 g for powdered sugar. Brown sugar assumes you pack the cup firmly. A tablespoon of granulated sugar is 198 ÷ 16 = 12.4 g.

How many grams is a cup of butter, and a tablespoon?

A cup of butter is 227 g, which is 8 oz, and a tablespoon is 227 ÷ 16 = 14.2 g. A US stick of butter is half a cup, so about 113.5 g by this chart.

Is a metric cup different from a US cup?

Yes. A US cup is 236.588 mL and a metric cup is 250 mL, about 5.7% larger. One cup of flour is 120 g with the US cup and 126.8 g with the metric cup. Pick the size your recipe uses.

Why does my cup of flour weigh more than 120 g?

Scooping a cup into the bag packs the flour. Spoon it into the cup and level it for a lighter cup, or weigh it. The 120 g figure is a typical value from King Arthur Baking's chart, so a scooped cup can come out above it.

Are my amounts stored or sent anywhere?

No. The numbers are processed in your browser and are not uploaded. They are not stored on your device either, and reloading the page puts the example back. The page only counts that a result was shown, without any of your numbers.