Butter conversions: sticks, cups, tablespoons and grams

In the US, one stick of butter is 1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons and 4 ounces. In grams, that's 113 g. Four sticks make a 1-pound box.

That's the short version. Below is the full chart, why you'll see both 113 g and 113.4 g, and how to turn a metric recipe into sticks.

The basic units

• 1 stick = 8 tbsp = 1/2 cup = 4 oz.
• 2 sticks = 16 tbsp = 1 cup = 8 oz.
• 4 sticks = 32 tbsp = 2 cups = 1 lb.

The King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart lists butter as 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) = 4 oz = 113 g. We use that number in our converter.

Wikipedia's butter entry describes US butter sold in one-pound packages of four sticks, each four ounces. A pound is exactly 453.59237 g, so a quarter pound is 113.4 g. The 113 g figure is that number rounded down. Over one stick it doesn't matter. Over four sticks, the rounded figure gives 452 g instead of 453.6 g, a gap of under 2 g.

Butter conversion chart

Grams and ounces calculated with 113 g per stick, the King Arthur figure, and 1 oz = 28.349523125 g.

Tablespoons	Cups	Sticks	Grams	Ounces
1 tbsp	1/16	1/8	14.1 g	0.5 oz
2 tbsp	1/8	1/4	28.3 g	1 oz
4 tbsp	1/4	1/2	56.5 g	2 oz
5 1/3 tbsp	1/3	2/3	75.3 g	2.66 oz
8 tbsp	1/2	1	113 g	4 oz
10 2/3 tbsp	2/3	1 1/3	150.7 g	5.31 oz
12 tbsp	3/4	1 1/2	169.5 g	6 oz
16 tbsp	1	2	226 g	8 oz
24 tbsp	1 1/2	3	339 g	12 oz
32 tbsp	2	4	452 g	16 oz (1 lb)

The ounce column comes out a hair under the round numbers (3.99 oz for a stick) because 113 g is itself rounded. A stick is 4 oz by definition.

A third of a cup is awkward: 5 1/3 tablespoons. Most wrappers mark tablespoon lines. Cut at 5 and add 1 teaspoon, since a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons and a third of one is 1 teaspoon.

Metric recipe, American butter

European and Australian recipes give butter in grams. Here's how common amounts land on a US stick, using 113 g per stick.

100 g butter

• 100 ÷ 113 = 0.88 stick.
• In tablespoons: 100 ÷ 14.125 = 7.08 tbsp.
• In practice: 7 tablespoons, a stick minus one tablespoon. You'll be about 1 g short.

125 g butter (half of a 250 g block)

• 125 ÷ 113 = 1.11 sticks.
• That's 1 stick plus about 1 tablespoon (113 g + 14 g = 127 g).

250 g butter

• 250 ÷ 113 = 2.21 sticks.
• That's 2 sticks plus about 1 3/4 tablespoons, or 1 cup + 1 tbsp + 2 tsp.

If you own a scale, skip the math: unwrap the stick, put it on the scale and slice until it reads right.

Melted versus solid

Volume measures for butter assume solid sticks. Melted butter has the same weight, so 113 g of solid butter is 113 g melted. Weight is the safer way to measure melted butter, because a liquid measuring cup doesn't read tablespoons well.

For coconut oil, lard and vegetable shortening, the King Arthur chart gives:

• Coconut oil: 1/2 cup = 113 g.
• Lard: 1/2 cup = 113 g.
• Vegetable shortening: 1/4 cup = 46 g, so 1/2 cup = 92 g.

Shortening is noticeably lighter than butter by volume. If you're swapping one for the other by weight, don't use a butter chart for shortening.

Two stick shapes, same weight

The Wikipedia butter entry describes two US stick shapes. East of the Rockies, the long, thin Elgin stick dominates. In the West, sticks are often shorter and wider. Both weigh a quarter pound, so the conversions above work for either.

Quick answers

• How many grams in a stick of butter? 113 g (113.4 g exactly).
• How many tablespoons in a stick? 8.
• How many sticks in a cup? 2.
• How many cups in a pound of butter? 2.
• How many sticks is 200 g? 200 ÷ 113 = 1.77 sticks, a little over 1 3/4 sticks.

Use the cups to grams converter and choose "sticks" as the unit for any amount. For flour weights, see how many grams in a cup of flour.