A guide to food measurement conversions

Measurement conversions in the kitchen don’t seem like a big deal, but then one day you’re
trying to cook that party dish for a party of one and halving or quartering the recipe feels
like you’re trying to solve a quadratic equation.

Memorizing how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon or how many cups are in a gallon can
speed up your kitchen prep and make you a more confident cook. Once we've covered the
basic conversions, we'll offer pointers and answer questions, like what’s the difference
between dry and liquid measurements?

Food measurement conversions

Here are the most common measurement conversions that will help you divide or multiply
your recipe servings. All of this is useful, but knowing how many teaspoons are in a
tablespoon and how many tablespoons are in a cup as well as the butter conversions is
enough to be a game-changer for your cooking efficiency.

How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?

 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons

How many tablespoons in a cup?

 1/8 cup = 2 tablespoons

 1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons
 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons
 3/4 cup = 12 tablespoons
 1 cup = 16 tablespoons

How many ounces in a cup?

 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces

 How many cups in a pint?
 1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fluid ounces
 How many cups in a quart?
 1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups = 32 fluid ounces
How many cups in a gallon?

 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups = 128 fluid ounces

Butter conversions

 1 cup butter = 2 sticks = 8 ounces = 8 tablespoons = 230 grams

How many grams in an ounce?

 1 gram = .035 ounces

 100 grams = 3.5 ounces
 1 ounce = 28 grams

How many ounces in a pound?

 1 pound = 16 ounces

How many milliliters in an ounce?

 1 teaspoon = 5 milliliter
 1 tablespoon = 15 milliliter
 1 fluid ounce = 30 milliliters

How many milliliters in a cup?

 1 cup = 237 milliliters

How many milliliters in a pint?

 1 pint = 473 milliliters

How many milliliters in a quart?

 1 quart = .95 liter

How many milliliters in a gallon?

 1 gallon = 3.8 liters

Measuring pointers

Make sure you have the right tools. Have a set of measuring spoons, a set of measuring
cups for dry ingredients and a liquid measuring cup — we’ll get more into that below. While
it’s not absolutely necessary, a food scale is really nice to have as it allows you to make
recipes that list ingredients by weight. This is particularly useful for baking, which often
demands exact measurements.

Level off your dry ingredients for the right measurement. Unless the recipe calls for
“a heaping tablespoon” or “a generous cup,” you’ll want to level off the dry ingredients
you’re measuring. That just means taking the flat side of a butter knife and running it
across the top of the full cup or spoon, so any excess of the ingredient is sloughed off.

Use the right cups for dry and wet ingredients. Many of us at some point have dumped
flour into a liquid measuring cup or measured milk in a dry measuring cup. Some recipes
are forgiving enough that you can get away with it. But others, especially if you are baking,
can be completely ruined. A liquid measuring cup doesn’t allow you to level off your dry
ingredients, so it’s really hard to measure exactly. And measuring wet ingredients in a dry
cup is difficult, since measuring right to the rim can lead to spills.

What's the difference between an ounce and a fluid ounce? If a recipe lists dry
ingredients in ounces, you’ll need a scale to measure it. But if a recipe lists a wet ingredient
in ounces, you can measure it in a liquid measuring cup. Ounces measure weight and fluid
ounces measure volume, so they are totally different. So, while eight ounces of water can
be converted to one cup of water, the same can’t be done for eight ounces of sugar.