Butter Conversion Calculator
Convert butter between sticks, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, grams, and ounces.
Essential for scaling US and metric recipes accurately.
Butter measurement conversions are one of the most frequently needed conversions in the kitchen, especially when adapting recipes across countries. American recipes use sticks and cups; European and British recipes typically use grams and milliliters; older recipes often list tablespoons or ounces.
The US stick — the anchor unit:
1 stick = 8 tablespoons = ½ cup = 4 ounces = 113 grams
All core conversion formulas:
Grams = Sticks × 113
Tablespoons = Sticks × 8
Cups = Sticks ÷ 2
Ounces = Sticks × 4
Full reference table:
| Sticks | Cups | Tablespoons | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ | ⅛ | 2 | 28 g | 1 oz |
| ½ | ¼ | 4 | 57 g | 2 oz |
| 1 | ½ | 8 | 113 g | 4 oz |
| 1½ | ¾ | 12 | 170 g | 6 oz |
| 2 | 1 | 16 | 227 g | 8 oz |
| 4 | 2 | 32 | 454 g | 16 oz (1 lb) |
Worked example: A French pastry recipe calls for 200 g of butter. 200 ÷ 113 = 1.77 sticks. In practical terms: 1¾ sticks, or 14 tablespoons, or ⅞ cup.
Important distinctions:
- US butter is 80% fat. European-style butter (such as Kerrygold) is 82–84% fat. For most recipes the difference is negligible, but in laminated doughs (croissants, puff pastry) use slightly less European butter to maintain the fat ratio.
- Salted vs. unsalted: Most baking recipes assume unsalted butter. If using salted, reduce added salt by ¼ tsp per stick.
- Clarified butter (ghee): Butter loses ~25% of its volume when clarified. Use 1.25× the recipe amount of whole butter to yield the required clarified quantity.
Volume vs. weight — why weight wins in baking: Volume measurements of butter are accurate only when the butter is at room temperature and properly packed. Weighing on a scale eliminates any ambiguity and is the professional standard.
Enter any amount in any unit below and all other values update instantly.