HowMuchIt / Tablespoons in a cup
How many tablespoons in a cup?
Sixteen. From there, the rest of the kitchen follows: 3 teaspoons to a tablespoon, 2 tablespoons to a fluid ounce, 8 tablespoons in a stick of butter.
Convert cups, tablespoons and teaspoons
16 tablespoons in a cup, 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, 2 tablespoons in a fluid ounce. Labels count a tablespoon as 15 ml and a teaspoon as 5 ml.
The in-between amounts
A quarter cup is 4 tablespoons and a half cup is 8. A third of a cup is the awkward one: 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon. When a recipe halves or thirds, those three lines save a lot of guessing. A stick of butter is half a cup, or 8 tablespoons, and most wrappers mark the tablespoons along the side, so you can cut exactly what you need.
How big is a tablespoon?
A US measuring tablespoon is a hair under 15 milliliters, and nutrition labels count it as 15; a teaspoon as 5. A spoon from the cutlery drawer is not a measuring spoon: its size changes from set to set, so for baking, use the measuring set.
Questions people ask
How many tablespoons in half a cup?
8.
How many teaspoons in a cup?
16 tablespoons times 3 teaspoons: 48.
How many tablespoons of coffee per cup?
The National Coffee Association says 1 to 2 tablespoons per 6 fluid ounces of water. The coffee calculator does the whole pot.
Good to know
- There are 16 tablespoons in 1 cup.1,2,3,4
- There are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon.1,2,4,5
- 1/4 cup equals 4 tablespoons.1,2,4
- 1/3 cup equals 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (5 1/3 tablespoons).1,2
- 1/2 cup equals 8 tablespoons.2,6
- 2 tablespoons equal 1 US fluid ounce (a tablespoon is 1/2 fluid ounce).1,5
- US nutrition labels count a tablespoon as 15 ml (a US measuring tablespoon is a hair under that).5,7
- A US teaspoon is about 4.93 ml; nutrition labels count it as 5 ml.7,8
- A stick of butter is 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup); 2 sticks make 1 cup.2,3,6,9
How we checked this page
Checked on October 27, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.
Sources
- Measurement Conversions for Recipes (HGIC 4260), Clemson Cooperative Extension
- Measure Up! (4-H Food, Fun), Purdue Extension, Lawrence County
- Cooking Measurement Chart: Common Kitchen Conversions and Equivalents, The Old Farmer's Almanac (Yankee Publishing)
- Ingredient Substitution (FN 255), Utah State University Cooperative Extension
- Tablespoon, Wikipedia (unit definition)
- In a Pinch: Food Yields (MP563), University of Missouri Extension
- 21 CFR 101.9 Nutrition labeling of food, eCFR (FDA regulation)
- Teaspoon, Wikipedia (unit definition)
- Ingredient Weight Chart, King Arthur Baking