On this page
Sticks, cups, grams and spoons
Butter is measured in more ways than almost any other ingredient. American recipes use sticks and cups, British and European ones use grams from a block, and older recipes switch to tablespoons partway through. This converter turns any of those into all the others, so you can follow a recipe from anywhere with whatever butter you have.
It is useful to anyone baking from American recipes outside the US, or from metric recipes with US sticks in the fridge.
The measurements behind it
Everything starts from the standard US stick. One stick weighs 4 oz, which is 113 g, and holds ½ cup or 8 tablespoons. From there:
- 1 cup = 2 sticks = 227 g
- 1 tablespoon = 14.2 g
- 1 teaspoon = 4.7 g
Weights are exact. Cup and spoon amounts assume butter pressed firmly into the measure, the way the wrapper markings on a stick measure it. Soft butter scooped loosely into a cup traps air and weighs less.
Converting butter
- Type the Amount. Decimals and fractions both work, such as 1.5, 1 1/2 or ½.
- Choose what it is Measured in: Sticks (US, 4 oz), Cups, Tablespoons, Teaspoons, Grams or Ounces.
You get Grams, Ounces and Sticks at the top, with Cups, Tablespoons and Teaspoons below. When an amount lands neatly on a common measure the result shows a fraction; otherwise it says “about” with a decimal.
Examples from both sides of the Atlantic
A European shortbread recipe calls for 200 g of butter. Enter 200 as Grams:
- Ounces: 7.05 oz
- Sticks: about 1.76 sticks
- Cups: about 0.88 cup
- Tablespoons: about 14.1 tbsp
In practice that is a little over 1¾ sticks. Cutting 1¾ sticks along the wrapper lines and adding a thin slice gets you very close, though a scale is quicker.
An American cookie recipe asks for ¾ cup. Enter ¾ as Cups: 170 g, 6 oz, 1½ sticks, 12 tbsp or 36 tsp.
Two tablespoons of butter for a sauce weigh 28 g, 1 oz, a quarter of a stick. And a pie crust needing 2½ sticks comes to 283 g, 10 oz or 1¼ cups.
Why weight beats volume for butter
Butter packs unevenly. Cold butter pressed into a cup leaves gaps; softened butter squashes flat. Weighing takes all of that out of the equation, which matters in pastry and shortbread, where the ratio of butter to flour decides whether the texture is flaky, crumbly or greasy.
Butter is also not pure fat. US butter must be at least 80% fat, and many European-style butters sit a little higher, with less water. In most recipes you can swap one for the other gram for gram, but very rich pastry may come out slightly more tender with the higher-fat kind.
Practical tips
- Use the wrapper. Each stick is marked in tablespoons, so small amounts need no measuring spoon.
- Slice cold butter by weight for pastry and cut it into cubes afterwards.
- Weigh before melting. When a recipe says “½ cup melted butter” it usually means one stick, so weigh 113 g and then melt it.
- Salted and unsalted weigh the same. If you swap salted for unsalted, reduce the recipe’s salt a little.
- Scaling a whole recipe? The recipe scaler handles butter lines like “1 stick (113 g)” and scales the grams in brackets too. For flour, sugar and the rest, the cups to grams converter uses the same 227 g per cup of butter.
Butter questions
How much is a stick of butter in grams?
113 g, or 4 oz, which is the weight printed on standard US wrappers.
Are European butter blocks the same as sticks?
No. Blocks are usually 250 g, just over 2 sticks. The converter shows 250 g as about 2.2 sticks, so plan on two sticks plus a slice.
Can I measure butter in cups if I have no scale?
Yes, if you press it firmly into the cup with no air pockets. Cutting sticks along the wrapper marks is usually easier and more accurate.
Does whipped butter convert the same way?
No. Whipped butter has air beaten in, so a cup weighs much less. Convert by weight, or check the tub for its own measurements.