Butter converter
American recipes call for sticks, European ones weigh in grams, and half the world just wants cups. Enter your butter in any of them and PrepMate lays out every other measure side by side.
Butter at a glance
| Butter | Sticks | Cups | Tbsp | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 stick | 1 | ½ | 8 | 113 g | 4 oz |
| 2 sticks | 2 | 1 | 16 | 227 g | 8 oz |
| ½ stick | ½ | ¼ | 4 | 57 g | 2 oz |
| 1 tablespoon | ⅛ | 1/16 | 1 | 14 g | ½ oz |
| 1 cup | 2 | 1 | 16 | 227 g | 8 oz |
| 100 g | 0.88 | 0.44 | 7.1 | 100 g | 3.5 oz |
About measuring butter
Butter is one of the trickiest ingredients to carry between recipes, because it gets sold and measured so differently around the world. In the United States it comes in wrapped sticks marked with tablespoon lines; elsewhere it arrives as a block you weigh or slice. When a recipe assumes one system and your kitchen uses another, a quick conversion saves a lot of squinting at wrappers.
What a stick of butter is
A standard US stick weighs a quarter-pound — that's 4 ounces, or about 113 grams. It equals half a cup, or 8 tablespoons, and the wrapper is usually printed with those tablespoon marks so you can slice off exactly what you need. Two sticks make one cup, the amount a great many baking recipes call for.
Why weighing wins for baking
Butter holds its shape, so scooping it into a cup traps air and gives inconsistent amounts. Weighing in grams removes that variability completely, which is why professional and European recipes almost always specify a weight. If your recipe gives cups or sticks and you own a scale, converting to grams is the most accurate route.
Softened, melted and cold
The measures here are by amount, not by state. A stick is a stick whether it's fridge-cold, softened to room temperature or melted — the quantity doesn't change, only the texture. Melt butter in a bowl you've already accounted for, and measure before melting when a recipe lists a volume like tablespoons.
Butter questions
How many grams is one stick of butter?
A US stick of butter is about 113 grams — precisely 113.4 g. That's a quarter of a pound, or 4 ounces, and it fills half a cup.
How many tablespoons are in a stick?
Eight. A stick equals 8 tablespoons, and each tablespoon of butter weighs roughly 14 grams. That's why the wrapper is scored into eight marked sections.
How much is one cup of butter?
One cup of butter is 2 sticks, which is 16 tablespoons, about 227 grams, or 8 ounces. It's the most common quantity in American baking.
Does this work for margarine or spreads?
The volume and stick measures apply to solid margarine sold in the same sizes. Soft tub spreads have air and water whipped in, so their weight per cup can differ — weigh those in grams to be safe.
Is a UK cup the same for butter?
This tool uses the US cup and US stick, since sticks are an American format. If a British recipe lists grams, convert to grams here; if it lists a metric cup, expect a small difference.
Do you store what I convert?
No. Everything is calculated locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved, and the converter runs perfectly well offline.