Why do some sources say a tablespoon of butter is 15 grams?

Butter's density is about 0.959 g/ml, and a US tablespoon holds about 15 ml, so the exact math is 14.4 grams. Some references round that to 15 for simplicity. In practice the 1-gram difference is smaller than the error in most kitchen scales.

How many tablespoons in a stick of butter?

8 tablespoons. One US stick is half a cup, 4 ounces, and 113 grams. US sticks are marked with tablespoon lines, so cutting at the marks is the fastest accurate way to measure tablespoons.

Is a tablespoon the same everywhere?

No. A US tablespoon is about 15 ml (14.787 ml exactly), a metric tablespoon is 15 ml, and an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml. If you bake from Australian recipes, their tablespoon of butter weighs about 19 grams, not 14.

How Many Grams in a Tablespoon of Butter? 14, and Why Some Say 15

Q: How many grams in a tablespoon of butter?

14 grams. That is the standard culinary figure for one US tablespoon of butter. The precise density math gives about 14.4 grams, which some sources round up to 15.

Guide · Updated October 2026

14 grams. That is how many grams in a tablespoon of butter: one level US tablespoon, 14 grams on the scale. If you came for the number, you have it. But if you have seen 15 grams somewhere and felt lied to, you were not. Both numbers come from the same butter. They just round differently.

How many grams in a tablespoon of butter: why the sources disagree

Butter's density is about 0.959 grams per milliliter, and a US tablespoon holds about 15 milliliters. Multiply them and you get 14.4 grams. Most culinary references print 14. A few round up and print 15. Neither is wrong; they are the same measurement with different rounding.

The honest question is whether the 1 gram matters. A kitchen scale accurate to 1 gram cannot tell 14 from 14.4 anyway, and most butter measured with a spoon is off by more than that from heaping or scraping. For anything under 4 tablespoons, the rounding is noise. For a full cup, use the cup number instead: 227 grams, exactly 2 sticks. The tablespoon figure is a small-quantity tool, and small quantities forgive small rounding.

The quick table

Tablespoons	Grams	Also known as
1	14 g
2	29 g
3	43 g
4	57 g	1/4 cup
8	113 g	1 stick, 1/2 cup

The fastest accurate way to measure tablespoons of butter is not a spoon at all. US sticks are marked with tablespoon lines, so cut at the marks: 1 stick gives you 8 tablespoons at 113 grams, and the wrapper does the measuring for you. You are skimming this on your phone in a kitchen, so here is the version to remember: 14 grams a tablespoon, 8 tablespoons a stick, 2 sticks a cup.

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Frequently asked questions

How many grams is one tablespoon of butter?

14 grams, the standard culinary figure. The density math gives 14.4 grams, which some sources round to 15.

Why do some recipes say 15 grams per tablespoon of butter?

They are rounding 14.4 up. In practice the 1-gram difference is smaller than the error in most kitchen measurements.

How many tablespoons are in a stick of butter?

8 tablespoons. One US stick is half a cup, 4 ounces, 113 grams, with tablespoon marks on the wrapper.

Is a tablespoon the same size in every country?

No. A US tablespoon is about 15 ml, but an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml, so an Australian tablespoon of butter weighs about 19 grams. Check the recipe's origin before converting.

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