How many tablespoons in a cup
1 cup is 16 tbsp.
Cups to tablespoons result
Enter an amount above 0
1 cup is
16 tbsp
237 ml
Exact: 1 US cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp = 8 fl oz = 236.6 ml · How we calculate
How many tablespoons in a cup, by cup size
A US cup holds 16 tablespoons, so to convert cups to tbsp, multiply the cups by 16. ½ cup is 8 tbsp, the same as a stick of butter (tablespoons in a stick of butter), and ¼ cup is 4 tbsp.
| Cups | Tablespoons | Teaspoons | ml | fl oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⅛ cup | 2 tbsp | 6 | 30 | 1 |
| ¼ cup | 4 tbsp | 12 | 59 | 2 |
| ⅓ cup | 5 tbsp + 1 tsp | 16 | 79 | 2.67 |
| ⅜ cup | 6 tbsp | 18 | 89 | 3 |
| ½ cup | 8 tbsp | 24 | 118 | 4 |
| ⅝ cup | 10 tbsp | 30 | 148 | 5 |
| ⅔ cup | 10 tbsp + 2 tsp | 32 | 158 | 5.33 |
| ¾ cup | 12 tbsp | 36 | 177 | 6 |
| ⅞ cup | 14 tbsp | 42 | 207 | 7 |
| 1 cup | 16 tbsp | 48 | 237 | 8 |
| 1¼ cups | 20 tbsp | 60 | 296 | 10 |
| 1½ cups | 24 tbsp | 72 | 355 | 12 |
| 1¾ cups | 28 tbsp | 84 | 414 | 14 |
| 2 cups | 32 tbsp | 96 | 473 | 16 |
| 3 cups | 48 tbsp | 144 | 710 | 24 |
| 4 cups | 64 tbsp | 192 | 946 | 32 |
Tablespoons in ⅓ and ⅔ cup
⅓ cup is 5 tbsp + 1 tsp and ⅔ cup is 10 tbsp + 2 tsp, because 16 tablespoons do not split into thirds. Measure the tablespoons first, then add the teaspoons.
Measuring a cup with a tablespoon
Counting out 16 level tablespoons works when the cup measure is missing, but it is slow. A ¼ cup measure filled 4 times is quicker. For dry ingredients a scale is quickest, because a tablespoon of flour weighs much less than one of sugar (tablespoon weights by ingredient).
Tablespoons in a metric or imperial cup
A 250 ml metric cup holds 16.91 US tablespoons and a 284 ml imperial cup 19.22. The 16-to-1 rule only holds for the US cup.
Questions people ask
How many tablespoons is 1/16 cup?
A sixteenth of a cup is exactly 1 tablespoon, because a cup holds 16 of them.
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