The numbers behind a stick
US butter is sold in 1 lb boxes of four sticks, with tablespoon marks printed on each wrapper. Both of the converter's sources agree on the stick:
- USDA FoodData Central lists a stick of butter at 113 g and a tablespoon at 14.2 g.
- King Arthur Baking's chart lists 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) at 113 g.
USDA's cup is 227 g, a gram more than two of its own sticks, because each figure is rounded separately. The converter uses 113 g per half cup, so a stick reads 113 g and a cup 226 g, matching the stick weight both sources print. A tablespoon comes out at 14.1 g. All of these figures are within 1% of each other, far below the accuracy of cutting butter along a wrapper.
Butter in other countries
Outside the US, butter usually comes in blocks sold by weight, commonly 250 g, and recipes give it in grams. Converting is a matter of turning grams into sticks or tablespoons:
- 250 g is 2.21 sticks, or 17.7 US tablespoons.
- 100 g is 0.885 sticks, or 7.08 US tablespoons.
- 1 metric tablespoon (15 mL) of butter weighs about 14.3 g.
Sticks at a glance
| Sticks | Tablespoons | Cups | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 | 2 | 2 tbsp | 28.3 | 0.996 |
| 1/2 | 4 | 1/4 cup | 56.5 | 1.99 |
| 1 | 8 | 1/2 cup | 113 | 3.99 |
| 1 1/2 | 12 | 3/4 cup | 169.5 | 5.98 |
| 2 | 16 | 1 cup | 226 | 7.97 |
| 3 | 24 | 1 1/2 cups | 339 | 12 |
| 4 | 32 | 2 cups | 452 | 15.9 |
Melted, softened and whipped butter
Melting butter does not change its weight, so 113 g of butter is still 113 g melted. Whipped butter holds air, so a cup of it weighs less than a cup of solid butter. Recipes that say "1/2 cup melted butter" usually mean a stick, measured solid and then melted. If a recipe gives butter in grams, weigh it; that skips the question entirely.
Salted or unsalted
USDA's data gives salted and unsalted butter the same weight per stick and per cup, so the converter covers both. The difference matters for seasoning: a recipe that calls for unsalted butter and gets salted butter ends up saltier.