1 Cup Peanut Butter in Grams
1 cup of peanut butter weighs 270 g (scooped, King Arthur Baking). Ground peanuts, usually with salt and a little oil. 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 peanut butter beats measuring it in cups
Small-quantity dry ingredients are where cup measures are at their worst. Nobody measures a cup of baking soda for a normal recipe, but when you are scaling a recipe up for a bake sale, or converting a commercial recipe down, you suddenly need to know what a cup of it weighs. The same applies to spices and leaveners: a few grams too many of baking soda leaves a soapy taste, and a few grams too few leaves a flat cake. Grams give you control that cups simply cannot.
Ground peanuts, usually with salt and a little oil. It is used for sandwiches, cookies, sauces and satay. 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.
Peanut Butter cups to grams conversion table
| Cups | Grams | Tablespoons (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 67.5 g | 4.2 g |
| 1/3 cup | 90 g | 5.6 g |
| 1/2 cup | 135 g | 8.4 g |
| 2/3 cup | 180 g | 11.2 g |
| 3/4 cup | 202.5 g | 12.7 g |
| 1 cup | 270 g | 16.9 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 405 g | 25.3 g |
| 2 cups | 540 g | 33.8 g |
| 3 cups | 810 g | 50.6 g |
| 4 cups | 1080 g | 67.5 g |
The tablespoon column is a bonus for recipes that call for a spoonful or two: one tablespoon of peanut butter weighs about 16.9 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 270 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 large batch of seasoned flour
A seasoned flour mix using 1 cup of peanut butter needs 270 g. When you are making a big batch to keep in the pantry, weighing 270 g means every future use of the mix tastes the same as the first.
Converting a commercial recipe down
A commercial recipe that uses 2 cups of peanut butter needs 540 g, and you want a home-sized batch. Dividing by weight is exact, while dividing cups by eye is guesswork, so weighing 540 g and then halving it gives a reliable home version.
A brine or cure
A brine calling for 1/2 cup of peanut butter needs 135 g. Brines and cures are chemistry, and the salt concentration decides whether the food is seasoned or spoiled. Weighing 135 g is the safe way to get the concentration right.
When this conversion matters most
This conversion matters most when you are scaling a recipe. A teaspoon of a spice or a leavener is easy to measure, but a cup of one is a large amount, and the difference between a level cup and a heaped one can be tens of grams. That difference is enough to make a cake taste of soap, a curry taste of nothing but chilli, or a brine too salty to eat. Weighing is the only reliable way to scale dry ingredients up or down.
Common mistakes with peanut butter
- Using another ingredient's weight. Dry ingredients range from 48 g to 288 g per cup, so borrowing a number from a different ingredient is the fastest way to ruin a recipe. Always use the table for the ingredient you have.
- Measuring leaveners by the cup. Baking soda and baking powder are powerful in tiny amounts. A cup measure is far too coarse for them, so weigh them when scaling recipes up or down.
- Not levelling the spoon. A heaped teaspoon of a spice can be twice the weight of a level one. Level dry ingredients with a knife every time.
- Storing spices in a damp cupboard. Ground spices absorb moisture and clump, which changes both their weight per cup and their flavour. Keep them sealed and dry.
Storage and handling
Cool cupboard; stir natural peanut butter before use. Keeping peanut 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 peanut butter?
1 cup of peanut butter weighs 270 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 peanut 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 270 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 peanut 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 270 g figure is the standard King Arthur Baking value for peanut 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 peanut butter?
Yes, as a starting point. The 270 g figure is a standard average for peanut 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 peanut butter?
Cool cupboard; stir natural peanut butter before use. 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 peanut butter used for?
Sandwiches, cookies, sauces and satay. Ground peanuts, usually with salt and a little oil.
Related conversions
Use the cups to grams converter or the tablespoons to grams converter for instant answers, or browse the cups to grams hub for the full ingredient list. Related pages: Salt in cups to grams, Baking Soda in cups to grams, Baking Powder in cups to grams. More tools: cups to grams converter, tablespoons to grams converter, weight converter, spice substitute finder. See also our disclaimer about approximate conversions.