Ingredient Weight Converter · fat
Butter: cups to grams
1 cup of butter weighs 227 grams. Use the converter below for any other amount, or check the quick-reference table.
By Andrew Flores, Editor and publisher, Nathan Management. Last reviewed .
Density source: USDA FoodData Central, cross-checked against the King Arthur Baking weight chart. How these figures are derived and corrected is documented in our editorial standards.
Butter baseline: 1 cup = 227 g.
Common amounts
| Cups | Tablespoons | Grams | Ounces (weight) | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 4.0 | 57 g | 2.00 oz | 59 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 5.3 | 76 g | 2.67 oz | 79 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 8.0 | 114 g | 4.00 oz | 118 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 10.7 | 151 g | 5.34 oz | 158 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 12.0 | 170 g | 6.01 oz | 177 mL |
| 1 cup | 16.0 | 227 g | 8.01 oz | 237 mL |
| 1.5 cups | 24.0 | 341 g | 12.01 oz | 355 mL |
| 2 cups | 32.0 | 454 g | 16.01 oz | 473 mL |
| 3 cups | 48.0 | 681 g | 24.02 oz | 710 mL |
| 4 cups | 64.0 | 908 g | 32.03 oz | 946 mL |
Spoon weights
Derived from the same 227 g per cup — a US tablespoon is 1/16 of a cup and a teaspoon is 1/48.
| Amount | Grams |
|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 14 g |
| 1 teaspoon | 4.7 g |
| 1/2 teaspoon | 2.4 g |
| 1/4 teaspoon | 1.2 g |
Butter at a glance
- Fat
- 80% minimum (US); 82–86% for European-style
- 1 lb = 4 sticks
- 2 cups, 454 g. One stick = 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons = 113 g
- Smoke point
- about 302 °F — the milk solids burn long before the fat does. Clarified butter or ghee goes to about 485 °F
- Creaming temperature
- 65 °F. Warmer and it cannot hold air; colder and the sugar cannot cut into it
What a cup of butter actually weighs
The published 227 g assumes one specific way of filling the cup. Here is what the same cup weighs under the other common handling methods and product forms, and how far off the recipe you end up.
| How it was measured | Grams per cup | vs. published | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two US sticks, cut on the wrapper marks | 227 g | published figure | Each stick is a labeled 4 oz / 113 g, so the printed tablespoon marks are as accurate as a scale for whole tablespoons. |
| Whipped butter scooped from a tub | ~170 g | -25% | Whipped butter has gas beaten into it. It is sold by weight but a cup of it holds far less butter — never use it in a recipe written for sticks. |
A tilde (~) marks a working estimate rather than a published figure — it varies with brand, grind, or how hard the cup was packed.
Why measuring butter by cup goes wrong
American butter is at least 80 percent milkfat by law, with most of the remainder water. A cup — two sticks — weighs about 227 grams. European-style butters (Plugrá, Kerrygold, Vermont Creamery cultured) run 82–86 percent fat, which means less water. That water matters more than the weight does: it turns to steam in the oven and is what lifts and separates the layers in puff pastry, croissants, and pie crust.
Practical tips for working with butter
'Room temperature' butter means 65 °F — cool to the touch, dents under finger pressure, no oily slick. Microwave-softened butter is almost always too soft on one side and stiff in the center, which is why creamed-butter cakes made with it never quite reach full volume. Plan ahead: pull butter out two hours before baking, or grate cold butter through the large holes of a box grater to soften it evenly in 10 minutes.
Note from this ingredient's record: Two US sticks. European-style butters carry 82–86 percent fat against the American 80 percent — less water, so they brown faster and laminate better.
Substitutions that work — and what they cost you
Oil for butter
Ratio: 3/4 cup oil per 1 cup butter
Trade-off: Accounts for butter's water. Works in muffins and quick breads; fails anywhere butter is creamed for aeration or kept cold for flake.
Salted for unsalted
Ratio: 1:1, minus about 1/4 teaspoon of the recipe's salt per stick
Trade-off: Salt levels vary by brand, which is why bakeries standardise on unsalted. Fine for cookies, risky for anything delicate.
European-style for American
Ratio: 1:1
Trade-off: Less water, more fat: richer, browns faster, laminates better. Cookies will spread slightly more.
When butter ruins the recipe
| What you see | What went wrong | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Creamed-butter cake is dense and low | The butter was too warm — greasy or partly melted — so it could not hold the air beaten into it. | Bring butter to 65 °F. It should dent under a finger without smearing. If it went to liquid, start over; melted butter cannot be recovered by chilling. |
| Pie crust shrank down the sides and baked tough | The butter melted into the flour before it hit the oven, so there were no solid pieces left to make steam pockets. | Keep everything cold, rest the dough in the fridge, and freeze the shaped crust 20 minutes before baking. |
Storing butter
Wrapped, in the fridge, a few weeks — butterfat absorbs refrigerator odours readily, so keep it covered. Freeze up to six months. Salted keeps longer than unsalted because the salt suppresses spoilage.
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