How to Measure Butter: Sticks, Cups, Tablespoons & Grams

Quick Summary: This guide shows how to measure butter without scales using cups, spoons, sticks, blocks, and butter tubs, plus the water-displacement method for irregular pieces. It also explains how measurements differ between solid, melted, brown, and clarified butter, with a full conversion chart for common gram amounts.

What is butter?

Butter is a dairy product made of butterfat, milk solids, and water, and its fat content varies by region. American butter usually contains up to 86% fat, while European butter is richer with less water, which is why choosing quality butter affects your baking results.

Most recipes call for unsalted butter, though some, such as Palet Breton shortbread cookies, rely on salted butter for flavor. Melted butter separates into butterfat and milk solids, and cooking it further yields browned butter, used in French financiers. Clarified butter and ghee take this further, leaving only pure butterfat after removing the milk solids and water.

Measuring butter

Around the world, butter measurements have various forms. For example,

Canadians tend to measure butter by volume using cups or blocks of butter,
Americans use butter sticks, and
Europeans and those who live in Australia and New Zealand use weight-based calculations in the metric system.

To start cooking or baking, carefully read the recipe. For example, if the recipe calls for "1 cup butter, melted," you have to measure one cup of butter, then melt it. If it calls for "1 cup melted butter," melt it before measuring.

The same applies to measuring "1 cup flour, sifted" and "1 cup sifted flour." These are two different measurements that yield different baking outcomes.

But cooking and baking should be effortless. So stop struggling with butter in the kitchen. This quick guide teaches how to measure butter with and without a scale.

Measuring butter by weight

How to measure butter by weight? Measuring butter with a kitchen scale is the most accurate way to bake successfully. It also helps reduce the washing up of measuring cups and spoons. To measure butter by weight:

Place a kitchen scale on a flat surface.
Put a small bowl or a sheet of wax paper on a food scale.
Tare the scale to zero to remove the container's weight.
Add or remove butter until you reach the recipe amount.
Tare the scale to zero again if you need to add another ingredient.

Modern digital scales offer a convenient way to measure both liquids in fluid ounces and milliliters and dry ingredients in grams, dry ounces, and pounds.

How to measure butter without scales

If you do not own a kitchen scale, you can still measure butter accurately by reading the printed lines on the wrapper. On a standard stick, each mark shows one tablespoon, so 4 tablespoons equal ¼ cup (about 57 g), 8 tablespoons equal ½ cup (about 113 g), and a full stick equals ½ cup.

When the wrapper is missing, cut the stick into equal parts with a ruler, since one stick measures roughly 12.5 cm (5 inches). Divide it into 8 equal pieces for tablespoons, or use the water-displacement method below for irregular pieces. For exact gram amounts, see the butter conversion chart and the cup-to-gram conversions.

How to measure butter from a block

If you need to measure a butter block, take advantage of its special markings. Slice through at ¼ cup, ½ cup, or other convenient increments.

Or use a ruler or a tape measure, keeping in mind that a whole block of butter equals 2 cups (500 mL).

To make your life easier, cut the butter block into 8 equal portions, each measuring ¼ cup. Wrap each slice individually and use the butter as needed.

How to measure a stick of butter

Sticks of butter sold in the United States have butter wrapper measurements or measurement lines. Each line represents 1 tablespoon of butter. With a sharp knife, cut the butter stick into halves, quarters, or tablespoons, as the recipe requires.

You can cut the butter unwrapped or still wrapped, removing the paper wrapping pieces before use.

If you need to measure a butter stick with the wrapper removed, use a ruler to cut the stick into 8 equal parts, each measuring 1 tablespoon.

How much is a stick of butter?

One stick of butter equals ½ cup, 8 tablespoons, or 4 ounces, which is about 113 g. A full pound of butter equals 4 sticks, or 2 cups, or roughly 454 g. Knowing this makes it easy to scale recipes up or down without a scale.

How to measure butter in cups

Soft butter, softened butter, or room temperature butter is usually measured with a dry measuring cup.

Let the solid butter soften at room temperature first. Then, with a rubber spatula or spoon, fill the cup, pressing out any air, and use the flat side of a butter knife to level off the butter.

How to measure tablespoons of butter

You can measure small amounts of butter with measuring spoons, such as tablespoons or teaspoons. Fill your measuring spoon with softened butter, pressing out any air pockets, then use the flat side of a butter knife to level off the scoop.

Measuring butter using the butter twist

To measure butter with tablespoons, you can try a butter twist. This special kitchen gadget measures butter in 1-tablespoon increments by turning the cutting ring 180 degrees. It also helps when spreading butter.

How to measure butter in water

Here is a rare way to measure irregularly shaped butter, but it works when it isn't yet softened enough to measure by a cup. So, how to measure butter using the water displacement method?

Prepare at least a 2-cup (500 mL) glass measuring cup with graduated measuring marks on the side. Place it on a flat surface. Pour one cup (250 mL) of cold water.
Add the butter pieces to the container. Then press the butter down so it is below the surface of the water.
Bend over to check the new water level in the measuring container, then subtract 1 cup. This gives you the amount of butter you measure by volume (in cups or milliliters).
If you need less or more butter, remove or add a few pieces, then submerge it. For example, if you need ½ cup of butter, the measuring container should show the level at 1 ½ cups.

How to measure melted butter

Melted butter loses minimal weight while melting because water evaporates.

If the recipe calls for ½ cup of melted butter, melt more than that. Then measure ½ cup of the melted butter with a liquid measuring cup.

While minimal weight loss generally doesn't affect most recipes that require accurate fat and moisture, bakers should be careful when measuring.

This especially applies to clarified or brown butter, which should be measured as a liquid.

Both clarified and brown butter make up 75% of the volume or weight of whole butter. As a result, you will make ¾ cup of clarified or browned butter out of 1 cup.

How to measure butter from a tub

There is such a thing as a tub of butter that mustn't be confused with a stick of butter. One stick of butter equals half a cup, a quarter of a pound, 4 ounces, 8 tablespoons, or 113 g.

One tub of butter, usually containing whipped butter, may range from 8 to 45 ounces or more. Most tubs hold 16 servings, each serving equaling 1 tablespoon.

But how to measure butter in a tub? You can quickly turn one tub of butter into 16 equal slices with a bit of measuring and cutting.

To measure butter in a tub,

Check how many servings a tub of butter has; for example, 16.
Open the tub of butter.
With a knife, divide the butter into 4 equal parts.
Divide each part into 4 equal pieces; you will get 16 butter sections in total.
Take 1 small section of butter, about 1 tablespoon.
Remove as many butter parts as needed.

Whipped butter is an airy substance that contains one-third air. So if you fill ½ cup, you will use about ⅓ cup of regular butter. For new bakers, please remember that whipped butter is not the same as real butter in baking.

Butter chart

You will find this butter conversion chart useful. It will help convert butter between different units of measurement, such as sticks, cups, blocks, tablespoons, teaspoons, ounces, pounds, and grams.

Here are the answers if you have a question about how much butter is in something, in different units of measurement.

To download, print, and include it in your recipe binder, refer to the butter conversion chart post.

Sticks	Cups	Block	Tablespoons	Teaspoons	Ounces	Pounds	Grams
¼	⅛ c	1/16	2 tbsp	6 tsp	1 oz	0.06 lb	28 g
½	¼ c	⅛	4 tbsp	12 tsp	2 oz	0.13 lb	57 g
⅔	⅓ c	⅙	5 tablespoon + 1 tsp	16 tsp	2 ⅔ oz	0.17 lb	76 g
1	½ c	¼	6 tbsp	24 tsp	4 oz	0.25 lb	113 g
1 ⅓	⅔ c	⅓	10 tablespoon + 2 tsp	32 tsp	5 ⅓ oz	0.33 lb	151 g
1 ½	¾ c		12 tbsp	36 tsp	6 oz	0.38 lb	170 g
2	1 c	½	16 tbsp	48 tsp	8 oz	0.5 lb	227 g
2 ½	1 ¼ c		20 tbsp	60 tsp	10 oz	0.63 lb	284 g
3	1 ½ c		24 tbsp	72 tsp	12 oz	0.75 lb	341 g
3 ½	1 ¾ c		28 tbsp	84 tsp	14 oz	0.88 lb	398 g
4	2 c	1	32 tbsp	96 tsp	16 oz	1 lb	454 g

Conversion chart for butter: butter conversions in sticks, cups, blocks, tablespoons, teaspoons, ounces, pounds, and grams

Other baking conversions

Learning butter measurements and conversions is essential to baking. Also, enjoy other handy conversion charts on the website:

And if you ever need to learn baking basics to level up your baking, sign up for a Baking Jumpstart E-course.

How to measure butter FAQ

How to measure 125 g of butter without scales?
125 g of butter equals about ½ cup, or about 9 tablespoons. On a standard wrapped stick, that is one full stick plus one extra tablespoon, since one stick is 113 g (8 tablespoons).

How to measure 50 g of butter without scales?
50 g of butter is roughly 3.5 tablespoons, just under ¼ cup. Using the tablespoon lines on the wrapper, measure 3 tablespoons plus half of a fourth mark.

How to measure 25 g of butter without scales?
25 g of butter equals about 1.75 tablespoons. Cut just under the 2-tablespoon mark on the wrapper for a close measurement.

How to measure 75 g of butter without scales?
75 g of butter is about 5.25 tablespoons, or ⅓ cup. Measure 5 tablespoons plus a small extra amount using the wrapper lines.

How to measure butter from a tub without scales?
Since tub butter has no printed lines, scoop it into a dry measuring cup or onto a set of measuring spoons, then level the top. One tablespoon of tub butter is about 14 g.