Butter Converter

1 US stick of butter = ½ cup = 8 tablespoons = 4 oz = 113 g. Two sticks make 1 cup (227 g); four sticks make 1 pound (454 g). Salted and unsalted convert identically.

Sticks to Cups, Tablespoons and Grams

Sticks	Cups	Tablespoons	Grams	Ounces
⅛ stick	1/16 cup	1 tbsp	14 g	0.5 oz
¼ stick	⅛ cup	2 tbsp	28 g	1 oz
½ stick	¼ cup	4 tbsp	57 g	2 oz
1 stick	½ cup	8 tbsp	113 g	4 oz
1½ sticks	¾ cup	12 tbsp	170 g	6 oz
2 sticks	1 cup	16 tbsp	227 g	8 oz
3 sticks	1½ cups	24 tbsp	340 g	12 oz
4 sticks	2 cups	32 tbsp	454 g	16 oz (1 lb)

One teaspoon of butter is about 4.7 g, and 100 g of butter is about 7 tablespoons — just under ½ cup.

Cups to Sticks

Multiply cups by two to get sticks. The two bold rows are the only common amounts that don't land on a whole tablespoon.

Cups	Sticks	Tablespoons	Grams
¼ cup	½ stick	4 tbsp	57 g
⅓ cup	⅔ stick	5 tbsp + 1 tsp	76 g
½ cup	1 stick	8 tbsp	113 g
⅔ cup	1⅓ sticks	10 tbsp + 2 tsp	151 g
¾ cup	1½ sticks	12 tbsp	170 g
1 cup	2 sticks	16 tbsp	227 g
1½ cups	3 sticks	24 tbsp	340 g
2 cups	4 sticks	32 tbsp	454 g

The Two Amounts the Wrapper Can't Give You

A US stick is printed with eight tablespoon marks, so anything that works out to whole tablespoons is one knife cut. ⅓ cup and ⅔ cup are the exceptions, and they turn up constantly in cookie and quick-bread recipes. For ⅓ cup, cut at the 5-tablespoon mark and add 1 teaspoon (or weigh 76 g). For ⅔ cup, cut a full stick plus 2 tablespoons and add 2 teaspoons (or weigh 151 g). Nothing is rounded: a tablespoon is three teaspoons, so the teaspoon closes the gap exactly.

Some brands print a ⅓-cup line beside the tablespoon marks. Check before relying on it — reading a ⅓-cup line as a tablespoon mark is a five-fold error.

Butter by Where the Recipe Came From

How it's written	Usually from	What to do
"2 sticks" / "1 cup butter"	US, Canada	Use the tables above
"250 g butter"	UK, Europe, Australia	Weigh it. 250 g ≈ 2¼ sticks — not two sticks
"200 g butter"	Continental Europe	Weigh it. ≈ 1¾ sticks
"Butter the size of an egg"	Pre-1950 American	About ¼ cup (4 tbsp, 55–60 g)
"A knob of butter"	British, informal	About 1 tbsp (14 g)
"A lump of butter"	Older British	About 2 tbsp (28 g)

The 250 g block is the trap. It looks like two sticks, but two sticks are 227 g, so treating the block as two leaves you 10% short. In cookie dough nobody notices; in shortcrust or laminated pastry, where the fat-to-flour ratio is the recipe, it changes the texture. More old terms are decoded in vintage recipe measurements.

Measuring Butter Without a Scale

• Sticks: count them — ½ cup is 1 stick, 1 cup is 2 — and use the wrapper marks for anything smaller.
• Loose or tub butter: press it firmly into a dry measuring cup to push out air pockets, then level the top.
• Melted butter: measure the stick first, then melt it. Pouring melted butter into a cup is less accurate — foam sits on top, a film stays in the pan, and an opaque meniscus is hard to read. Weight doesn't change when butter melts, so on a scale 113 g is 113 g either way.
• Whipped butter: don't substitute it by volume. It has air beaten in, so a cup weighs well under 227 g.

Softened, Melted or Cold: Same Weight, Different Ingredient

113 g of cold, softened and melted butter weigh the same and bake completely differently. Softened butter (about 65–68°F / 18–20°C) traps air when creamed with sugar, which is what makes cakes light. Melted butter can't hold air, which is why melted-butter cookies come out chewy and dense on purpose. Cold butter stays in distinct pieces that steam apart into flaky layers in pastry and biscuits. If a recipe names a state, that instruction matters as much as the amount.

To soften butter quickly, cut it into small cubes (about 15 minutes at room temperature instead of an hour) or grate it cold on a box grater. In the microwave, use 5–10 second bursts — partly melted butter no longer creams properly.

When Butter Precision Actually Matters

Precision	Recipes	Why
High — weigh it	Croissants, puff pastry, shortcrust, shortbread	The fat-to-flour ratio is the structure; 10% off changes it
Moderate	Cookies, cakes, buttercream	Affects spread and crumb, with some tolerance
Low — eyeball it	Sautéing, greasing pans, finishing sauces	Nothing structural depends on the amount

European vs US Butter, and Ghee

US butter is at least 80% butterfat; European-style butter usually runs 82–84%, with less water. Weigh-for-weigh they convert the same, but the drier European butter makes flakier pastry and cookies that spread a little less — which is why croissant and puff pastry recipes sometimes name it.

Clarified butter and ghee have the water and milk solids removed, so they are pure fat. Roughly 1 cup of butter yields about ¾ cup of clarified butter. Don't swap ghee for butter cup for cup in baking: regular butter's 15–20% water and solids are part of how the recipe was written.

Salted vs Unsalted

Same weight, same volume, same conversions. Most baking recipes use unsalted so the salt can be controlled; if you use salted butter instead, cut the recipe's added salt by about ¼ teaspoon per stick.

Butter Substitutes

Oil: use about ¾ cup of oil for 1 cup of butter, because butter is roughly a fifth water and oil is all fat. Expect a moister, denser crumb and none of the butter flavor. Margarine: stick margarine generally swaps 1:1 in cookies and cakes; soft tub spreads contain more water and can make baked goods spread. Shortening: it is 100% fat while butter is about 80%, so a 1:1 swap gives a slightly richer, more tender result with less browning and no butter flavor. More swaps are in the baking substitutions calculator.

When Something Goes Wrong

Symptom	Likely butter cause	Fix
Cookies spread into one sheet	Butter too warm, or too much	Chill the dough; weigh rather than pack a cup
Cookies didn't spread	Too little butter, or straight from the fridge	Check the stick maths; soften to 65–68°F
Dense cake	Melted or over-soft butter — no air creamed in	Use properly softened butter and cream longer
Tough pastry	Butter warmed and rubbed into the flour	Keep it cold and in visible pieces
Too salty	Salted butter in an unsalted recipe	Cut added salt about ¼ tsp per stick

Storing Butter

Butter absorbs odors, so keep it wrapped or in a closed container away from onions and garlic. USDA's FoodKeeper puts refrigerated butter at about 1–3 months and frozen at 6–9 months. Thaw frozen butter in the fridge overnight for the most even texture before softening it for baking.

Frequently Asked Questions