Butter: Cups, Sticks and Grams

1 cup of butter weighs 227 grams, which is 2 US sticks. 1 stick (1/2 cup) is 113 g and 1 tablespoon is about 14 g.

Butter is the easiest ingredient to convert, because its density barely changes and US butter comes marked in tablespoons. Use the converter, or the charts below for sticks and common recipe amounts.

Cups of butter to grams

US butter is sold in 1/2-cup sticks, each marked with 8 tablespoon lines, so this chart also gives sticks and tablespoons.

Grams of butter to cups

For recipes written in grams, such as European and Australian ones:

Sticks, blocks and tubs

• US sticks: one stick is 1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons, 4 ounces or 113 g. A 1-pound box holds 4 sticks (454 g).
• European and Australian blocks are usually 250 g, a little more than 2 US sticks (227 g). If a US recipe says 1 cup of butter, cut 227 g from the block, not the whole thing.
• Whipped butter in tubs has air beaten in, so a cup weighs much less. Measure it by weight, or use stick butter for baking.

Measuring butter

• Use the wrapper lines. Each line on a US stick marks 1 tablespoon (about 14 g). Cut through the paper with a sharp knife.
• Packing a cup: press softened butter firmly into a dry measuring cup so there are no air pockets, then level it.
• Displacement: to measure 1/2 cup, fill a liquid measuring cup to 1 cup with cold water, add butter until the water reaches 1 1/2 cups, then pour off the water.

Melted butter weighs the same as solid butter, so 1 cup of melted butter is still 227 g. Its volume is a little smaller, because the air in a packed cup is gone.

Salted or unsalted?

Salted and unsalted butter weigh the same per cup. Salted butter has about 1.5–2% salt; if you substitute it in baking, cut the recipe's salt by about 1/4 teaspoon per stick.