Butter in sticks, cups, tablespoons and grams
American recipes measure butter in sticks, British and European ones in grams, and plenty of others in cups or tablespoons. This butter converter turns any one of them into all the rest: sticks, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, grams, ounces and pounds. One US stick is 113 g, which is the same as ½ cup, 8 tablespoons or 4 ounces.
It also shows how much oil replaces the butter: about three quarters of the volume, in tablespoons, millilitres and grams. A chart underneath lists the common amounts at a glance. Everything runs in your browser.
How to use the Butter Converter (Sticks, Cups, Tbsp, Grams, Oil)
- Type the amount of butter. A fraction like 1/2 or 1 1/2 works.
- Choose its unit: stick, cup, tablespoon, teaspoon, grams, kilograms, ounces or pounds.
- Read every other unit in the list, plus the oil to use instead.
- Change the oil share if your recipe or oil needs a different ratio, and check the chart for common amounts.
Butter Converter (Sticks, Cups, Tbsp, Grams, Oil) features
Seven butter units
Sticks, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, grams, ounces and pounds in one list.
Butter to oil
Oil volume in cups, tablespoons and millilitres, and its weight, at an editable share.
Kitchen fractions
Cups and sticks come out as ½, ¾ or 1 ⅓ as well as decimals.
Quick chart
From a quarter stick to a pound, with the oil swap for each.
Butter measures at a glance
A US stick of butter is a quarter of a pound, so it weighs 4 oz, or 113.4 g, and the wrapper marks it in 8 tablespoons. That makes a tablespoon about 14 g and a teaspoon about 4.7 g, and a cup, which is two sticks, about 227 g. The USDA FoodData Central lists salted butter at 227 g per cup and 14.2 g per tablespoon, which agrees with these figures. European butter is sold in 250 g blocks, a little over a cup.
Butter is a solid, so weighing is more accurate than measuring a packed cup. For other ingredients, such as flour and sugar, use the cooking converter, which also has cups, spoons and oven temperatures.
Replacing butter with oil
Butter is about 80 per cent fat, with the rest water and milk solids, while oil is 100 per cent fat. The usual rule is therefore to use about three quarters of the butter’s volume in oil, so 1 stick (½ cup) becomes 6 tablespoons of oil. Bob’s Red Mill gives the same three-quarters rule and the example of 10 tablespoons of butter becoming 7½ of oil.
Oil works well in cakes, muffins, brownies and quick breads, where it makes a moist, tender crumb. It does not replace butter where the recipe creams butter with sugar to trap air, or relies on cold butter for flaky pastry, and it will not give the same flavour. Check the oil’s smoke point if you are frying in the smoke point of oils chart, and for other swaps, such as eggs, buttermilk or baking powder, see the ingredient substitution finder.
Worked examples
- 250 g butter in cups: 250 ÷ 226.8 = 1.1 cups, about 1 cup plus 1½ tablespoons.
- ½ cup butter as oil: ¾ × ½ cup = 6 tablespoons, or about 89 ml.
- 100 g in tablespoons: 100 ÷ 14.2 = about 7 tablespoons.
- 3 sticks in grams: 3 × 113.4 = 340 g.
Butter Converter (Sticks, Cups, Tbsp, Grams, Oil) FAQ
How many grams are in a stick of butter?
A US stick of butter is 113 g (4 oz). Two sticks, one cup, are about 227 g, and four sticks make a pound (454 g).
How many tablespoons are in a stick of butter?
Eight tablespoons, or ½ cup. The wrapper has marks for each tablespoon so you can cut off what you need.
How much oil replaces butter?
About three quarters of the butter’s volume. One cup of butter becomes ¾ cup of oil, and 1 tablespoon of butter becomes about 2¼ teaspoons.
How many tablespoons are 100 g of butter?
About 7 tablespoons, because a tablespoon of butter weighs about 14 g.
Can I use oil instead of butter in every recipe?
No. It works in cakes, muffins and quick breads, but not where butter is creamed with sugar for air or used cold for flaky pastry, and the flavour is different.
Is a cup of butter the same as two sticks?
Yes. One US cup is two sticks, 16 tablespoons or about 227 g.