1 Cup Butter in Grams
1 cup of butter weighs 227 g (scooped, King Arthur Baking). Dairy butter, about 80% fat; one US stick is 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons. All the figures on this page are approximate conversions based on the King Arthur Baking value, so when a recipe really matters, verify with a kitchen scale.
Why weighing butter beats measuring it in cups
A cup of fat is one of the least reliable cup measures in the kitchen. Solid fats trap air when scooped, liquid fats cling to the sides of the cup, and both behave differently at different temperatures. Butter straight from the fridge packs differently from butter that has softened on the counter. Grams cut through all of that: 227 g of butter is 227 g of butter whatever the temperature, and the recipe works the same way every time.
Dairy butter, about 80% fat; one US stick is 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons. It is used for baking, frying, sauces and spreading. That range of uses is part of why the conversion comes up so often: the same ingredient appears in everyday cooking and in precise baking, and the two situations demand different levels of accuracy.
Butter cups to grams conversion table
| Cups | Grams | Tablespoons (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 56.8 g | 3.5 g |
| 1/3 cup | 75.7 g | 4.7 g |
| 1/2 cup | 113.5 g | 7.1 g |
| 2/3 cup | 151.3 g | 9.5 g |
| 3/4 cup | 170.2 g | 10.6 g |
| 1 cup | 227 g | 14.2 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 340.5 g | 21.3 g |
| 2 cups | 454 g | 28.4 g |
| 3 cups | 681 g | 42.6 g |
| 4 cups | 908 g | 56.8 g |
The tablespoon column is a bonus for recipes that call for a spoonful or two: one tablespoon of butter weighs about 14.2 g. Remember that a cup is 16 tablespoons, so the numbers in the table are just the cup weight divided by 16, rounded to one decimal place. For small amounts a scale that reads to the gram is far more reliable than a spoon, because a heaped tablespoon can weigh half as much again as a level one.
How the weight was measured
Scooped means the ingredient is firm enough to be scooped into the cup and levelled off, like butter or peanut butter. Press it into the cup to remove air pockets, then level the top with a knife. For butter, the wrapper markings are a useful cross-check: one stick is 113 g, half a cup.
The source for the 227 g figure is King Arthur Baking, and the confidence in the value is high. King Arthur Baking publishes a standard ingredient weight chart that recipe developers use as a reference, and this page follows it exactly rather than averaging across sources, because an average of two different measuring methods is a number that matches nobody's cup.
Worked examples
A double batch of brownies
Doubling brownies that use 1 cup of butter means 2 cups, or 454 g. Brownies are rich and the fat ratio decides whether they are fudgy or cakey, so weighing 454 g keeps the doubled batch identical to the original.
A pie crust with 1 cup of fat
A pie crust asking for 1 cup of butter needs 227 g. Pastry is the least forgiving place for a measuring error: too much fat and the crust slumps, too little and it turns tough. Weighing 227 g is the difference between a flaky crust and a disappointing one.
A cake that needs half a cup
A cake recipe asking for 1/2 cup of butter needs 113.5 g. Half a cup of a solid fat is hard to measure accurately in a cup, because it never fills the corners evenly. Weighing 113.5 g straight into the bowl is faster and more accurate.
When this conversion matters most
This conversion matters most in pastry and cakes, where fat is doing structural work. Shortcrust pastry, puff pastry and laminated doughs all depend on a precise ratio of fat to flour, and a cup of fat measured badly will throw that ratio off. It also matters when you are substituting one fat for another: butter, oil and shortening do not weigh the same per cup, so swapping them by volume is a mistake. Convert by weight, and the substitution behaves as expected.
Common mistakes with butter
- Measuring melted fat in a dry cup. Melted fat should be measured in a liquid jug or weighed, not scooped into a dry cup, because it clings and pours unevenly.
- Guessing a tablespoon of butter. Butter packaging is marked in tablespoons for a reason. One stick is 113 g, which is half a cup, and cutting by the marks is more accurate than eyeballing.
- Using cold butter volume for a recipe that needs softened. Cold butter packs more densely than softened butter. Weigh it instead of relying on the cup, and the temperature stops mattering.
- Leaving fat in the measuring cup. Oil and melted butter cling to the cup, so what you measured is not what reached the bowl. Weighing in the mixing bowl avoids the loss entirely.
Storage and handling
Refrigerate up to 3 months; freeze up to 6 months. Keeping butter stored properly also keeps its weight per cup stable: an ingredient that has absorbed moisture from the air weighs more per cup than a dry one, so a sealed container is not just about freshness, it is about measurement accuracy too. If a bag has been open for months in a humid kitchen, the first thing to do before a precise bake is to weigh the ingredient rather than trusting the cup.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of butter?
1 cup of butter weighs 227 g, measured scooped according to King Arthur Baking. That is the figure to use when converting a recipe from cups to grams, and it is the value the conversion table on this page is built on.
How do I measure butter without a scale?
Scooped means the ingredient is firm enough to be scooped into the cup and levelled off, like butter or peanut butter. Press it into the cup to remove air pockets, then level the top with a knife. For butter, the wrapper markings are a useful cross-check: one stick is 113 g, half a cup. That gives the closest result to 227 g per cup, but it is still an estimate: the honest answer is that a scale is the only way to know the exact weight, and a basic digital kitchen scale costs less than a bag of good flour.
Does butter always weigh the same per cup?
No. Brand, grind, moisture and how settled the container is all shift the weight by a few grams, and for flour the swing can be 20 g or more. The 227 g figure is the standard King Arthur Baking value for butter measured scooped, and it is the right default, but when a recipe is precise, weigh the ingredient and trust the scale over the cup.
Can I use the same conversion for a different brand of butter?
Yes, as a starting point. The 227 g figure is a standard average for butter, and most brands sit within a few grams of it. If you bake with one brand all the time, weigh one cup of it once and note the number on the bag, and you will have a conversion tuned to your own kitchen.
How should I store butter?
Refrigerate up to 3 months; freeze up to 6 months. Good storage keeps the ingredient fresh and keeps its weight per cup consistent, because moisture absorbed from the air adds grams that the recipe did not ask for.
What is butter used for?
Baking, frying, sauces and spreading. Dairy butter, about 80% fat; one US stick is 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons.
Related conversions
Use the cups to grams converter or the butter stick converter for instant answers, or browse the cups to grams hub for the full ingredient list. Related pages: Olive Oil in cups to grams, Vegetable Oil in cups to grams, Coconut Oil in cups to grams, 227 g of butter in cups. More tools: cups to grams converter, butter stick converter, butter to oil converter, weight converter. See also our disclaimer about approximate conversions.