Tablespoons to Cups Converter: Spoons, Cups and ML
Tablespoons to Cups Converter
There are 16 tablespoons in a US cup and 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, which makes 48 teaspoons to a cup. This converter takes any amount in spoons or cups and gives the rest, including the awkward thirds, along with millilitres, fluid ounces and what a spoonful of seven common ingredients actually weighs. It also keeps the US, metric and Australian spoons apart, because they are not the same size.
Fractions work: type 1/2, 3/4 or 1 1/2.
The same amount in spoons and cupstap a card to convert to that unitWhat this much of each ingredient weighs
How a cup divides into tablespoons
The US tablespoon is exactly half a US fluid ounce, which makes it 14.78676478125 millilitres, and the US teaspoon is a third of that, 4.92892159375. Sixteen tablespoons make a US cup of 236.5882365 millilitres and 48 teaspoons make the same cup. The metric tablespoon used in the UK, Europe, Canada and New Zealand is 15 millilitres and the metric teaspoon is 5, close enough to the US figures that no recipe will notice. The Australian tablespoon is 20 millilitres, four metric teaspoons rather than three, and that one does matter for baking powder, gelatine and salt. Weights shown here use typical densities and are close enough for cooking, not for laboratory work. The CSV, image and printed report contain the values you entered, nothing preloaded.
How to use this tool
Type the amount, pick the unit it is in and the unit you want. Fractions work, so 1/3 and 1 1/2 both do what you expect, which matters here because cup measures are almost always written as fractions.
The cards under the inputs show the same amount as tablespoons, teaspoons, cups, fluid ounces and millilitres at once, and the amber card gives the figure in Australian tablespoons, which are a different size. Below that the page draws a cup as its 16 tablespoons with every fraction marked, so you can see where your amount falls.
The weight chart is there because spoons measure volume. A tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of flour are the same spoon and very different weights, and if your recipe gives spoons for a dry ingredient it means level spoons, not heaped.
How many tablespoons in a cup
16, in a US cup. It is not a rounded figure: a US tablespoon is defined as half a US fluid ounce, and a US cup is 8 fluid ounces, so 16 tablespoons is the definition rather than a conversion. In millilitres that is 14.78676478125 per tablespoon and 236.5882365 per cup.
The fractions people actually use all land on whole spoons. Half a cup is 8 tablespoons, a quarter is 4, three quarters is 12, and an eighth is 2. That is not a coincidence either: those are the fractions recipes use because they are the ones a spoon can count out.
How many teaspoons in a tablespoon
3, in every system that matters except one. A US teaspoon is 4.92892159375 ml and a US tablespoon is exactly three of them. A metric teaspoon is 5 ml and a metric tablespoon is 15, again exactly three. That makes 48 teaspoons in a US cup.
The exception is Australia, where the tablespoon is 20 ml and holds four 5 ml teaspoons rather than three. An Australian recipe that says a tablespoon of baking powder is asking for a third more than an American one, which is enough to taste.
The awkward thirds
A third of a cup is 5 and a third tablespoons, and two thirds is 10 and two thirds. Those are the only common cup fractions that do not come out as whole spoons, because 16 does not divide by 3. In practice you use the teaspoon to finish the job: a third of a cup is 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon, and two thirds of a cup is 10 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons, both exact.
That trick works because a teaspoon is exactly a third of a tablespoon. Any measurement that lands on a third of a spoon can be finished with one teaspoon, which is why a cup measure never needs anything finer.
The cup ladder
Every cup fraction, in the units a recipe might use.
| Cup measure | Tablespoons | Teaspoons | Millilitres | US fluid ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 16 | 48 | 236.6 | 8 |
| 3/4 cup | 12 | 36 | 177.4 | 6 |
| 2/3 cup | 10 2/3 | 32 | 157.7 | 5.33 |
| 1/2 cup | 8 | 24 | 118.3 | 4 |
| 1/3 cup | 5 1/3 | 16 | 78.9 | 2.67 |
| 1/4 cup | 4 | 12 | 59.1 | 2 |
| 1/8 cup | 2 | 6 | 29.6 | 1 |
Every row is a link that opens the converter on that measure.
Tablespoons back to cups
The same ladder the other way, for when a recipe counts spoons and you want to reach for a cup measure instead.
| Tablespoons | Cups | Teaspoons | Millilitres | In measuring cups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 tbsp | 0.0625 | 3 | 14.8 | 1 tbsp |
| 2 tbsp | 1/8 | 6 | 29.6 | 2 tbsp |
| 3 tbsp | 0.188 | 9 | 44.4 | 3 tbsp |
| 4 tbsp | 1/4 | 12 | 59.1 | 1/4 cup |
| 5 tbsp | 0.313 | 15 | 73.9 | 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp |
| 6 tbsp | 3/8 | 18 | 88.7 | 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp |
| 8 tbsp | 1/2 | 24 | 118.3 | 1/2 cup |
| 10 tbsp | 5/8 | 30 | 147.9 | 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp |
| 12 tbsp | 3/4 | 36 | 177.4 | 3/4 cup |
| 16 tbsp | 1 | 48 | 236.6 | 1 cup |
| 20 tbsp | 1 1/4 | 60 | 295.7 | 1 1/4 cups |
| 24 tbsp | 1 1/2 | 72 | 354.9 | 1 1/2 cups |
| 32 tbsp | 2 | 96 | 473.2 | 2 cups |
Cups shown as fractions where they land on one. Every row is a link.
Butter, sticks and spoons
A US stick of butter is 8 tablespoons, which is half a cup, 4 ounces of weight, or 113 grams. Two sticks make a cup. The wrapper is printed with tablespoon marks so you can cut what you need without unwrapping the whole thing, which is the one place in an American kitchen where a weight, a volume and a spoon count are all printed on the same object and all agree.
Outside the US butter comes in 250 gram blocks, which is 1.1 cups rather than a round number, and that is why converted American baking recipes so often ask for a strange weight of butter.
Level spoons, not heaped
Every figure on this page assumes a level spoon: filled and swept flat with a straight edge. A heaped tablespoon of flour holds anywhere from a third to twice as much as a level one depending on who is doing the heaping, which is why no serious recipe uses the word.
For sticky ingredients, spoons measure badly whatever you do, because a fifth of the honey stays in the spoon. Weigh those, or oil the spoon first and let it slide off.
Mistakes that catch people out
Using an Australian tablespoon on an American recipe. 20 ml against 14.79 is a third more. It shows up first in anything raised with baking powder or soda.
Counting 4 tablespoons to a quarter cup and then 5 to a third. A third of a cup is 5 and a third tablespoons. Rounding it down loses a teaspoon of whatever it is.
Heaping the spoon. Level means level. For flour and cocoa the difference between level and heaped is most of a spoon.
Using a dinner spoon. A tablespoon is a measuring spoon, not the one you eat with, which holds anywhere from 7 to 14 ml depending on the cutlery.
Converting spoons of a dry ingredient to grams with one factor. A tablespoon of water is 14.8 grams, of flour about 7.8, of honey about 21. Use the grams to cups converter for those.
Popular conversions
Each opens the converter on that amount with its own address, and every value can be changed once it is open.
Cups to tablespoons
Tablespoons to cups
Cups and teaspoons
Tablespoons and teaspoons
Spoons and millilitres
Fluid ounces, metric and Australian spoons
How this was checked
The factors come from the definitions: the US tablespoon as half a US fluid ounce, the teaspoon as a third of a tablespoon, and the cup as 16 tablespoons, which makes 48 teaspoons. Those were checked against the millilitre values independently, and every unit on the page was round tripped against every other, converting a value out and back, returning the starting figure to twelve significant figures each time.
The cup fractions were checked for exactness rather than rounded: a third of a cup is 5 tablespoons plus exactly 1 teaspoon, and two thirds is 10 plus exactly 2, which the measuring cup breakdown on the page reproduces with no remainder. Fraction input was tested with halves, thirds, quarters and eighths and with mixed numbers. Every address in the lists above was then opened and checked for a distinct title, the right answer, charts that render, and clean CSV, image and print output containing only that conversion, at desktop, tablet and phone widths.
Common questions
How many tablespoons in a cup?
16 in a US cup. A US tablespoon is half a US fluid ounce and a US cup is 8 fluid ounces, so the answer falls straight out of the definitions. In a 250 ml metric cup it is 16.67 metric tablespoons of 15 ml, which is why Australian and British recipes give cup fractions rather than spoon counts.
How many tablespoons in half a cup?
8. A quarter cup is 4, an eighth of a cup is 2, three quarters is 12, and a whole cup is 16. Every one of those is a whole number of spoons, which is the reason those particular fractions turn up in recipes.
How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?
3, in the US, metric and imperial systems alike. That makes 48 teaspoons in a US cup. The exception is Australia, where the tablespoon is 20 ml and holds 4 teaspoons.
How many tablespoons in 1/3 cup?
5 and a third, which is 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon. Two thirds of a cup is 10 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons. The thirds are the only cup fractions that do not land on a whole spoon, because 16 does not divide by 3.
Is an Australian tablespoon different?
Yes, and it is the one difference worth knowing. An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml against 15 for the metric spoon used in Britain, Europe, Canada and New Zealand, and 14.79 for the US one. That is a third more per spoon. For oil or milk it rarely matters; for baking powder, gelatine, salt or yeast it does.
How many tablespoons in a stick of butter?
8, which is half a cup, 4 ounces, or 113 grams. A US stick of butter is printed with tablespoon marks on the wrapper for exactly this reason. Two sticks make a cup.
Related Calculators and Reference
- ML to Cups Converter: the same amounts in US, metric, imperial and Japanese cups.
- Oz to ML Converter: fluid ounces to millilitres, and the ounce of weight kept separate.
- Grams to Cups Converter: for turning a spoon or cup measure of a dry ingredient into a weight.
- Cups to Grams Converter: the same chart from the cup side, with fifty ingredients.
- Volume and Capacity Converter: litres, gallons and quarts, for anything bigger than a kitchen.
- Cups to Ounces Converter: fluid ounces and ounces by weight for any cup.
- NIST Special Publication 811: the primary reference for the exact US factors used here.