One cup of butter weighs 227 g, scooped, according to King Arthur Baking. Butter is the most precisely packaged ingredient in the kitchen: one US stick is exactly 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons, and the wrapper is marked in tablespoons, so you can cut it without a scale. The cup weight of 227 g is two sticks, and it is the number you need when a recipe is written in grams, when you are scaling a batch, or when you are buying butter for a big bake. All weights on this page are approximate only in the sense that butter is sold by weight and the figure is exact for a standard US stick; verify with a scale when precision matters.
Butter: weight and measurement table
The table below gives the weight of butter in every measure you will use, from a teaspoon up to 2 cups, all derived from the King Arthur Baking figure of 227 g per cup, scooped. Every figure is approximate — scooped is a technique, not a machine setting — so when the recipe matters, weigh the ingredient on a kitchen scale instead.
| Amount | Weight (approx.) |
| --- | --- |
| 1 teaspoon | 4.7 g |
| 1 tablespoon | 14.2 g |
| 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) | 56.8 g |
| 1/3 cup | 75.7 g |
| 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) | 113.5 g |
| 3/4 cup (12 tbsp) | 170.2 g |
| 1 cup (16 tbsp) | 227 g |
| 2 cups | 454 g |
| 100 g | 0.4 cups |
There are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon and 16 tablespoons in a cup, so you can move between any of these measures by multiplying or dividing. If a recipe calls for 100 g and you only have measuring cups, that is about 0.4 cups. Keep the cups to grams converter open while you cook and you will never need to do the arithmetic in your head.
What is Butter?
Butter is dairy butter, about 80 percent fat, with the rest water and milk solids. It is made by churning cream until the fat separates from the buttermilk, then working the butter to remove excess liquid. That 80-20 split is what makes butter behave the way it does in baking: the fat tenderises and adds flavour, the water turns to steam and gives lift, and the milk solids brown to give colour and a nutty taste. Butter is used for baking, frying, sauces and spreading, and it is the fat that most recipes are written around — its melting point, its ability to trap air when creamed with sugar, and its flavour are all part of the recipe's design. It keeps for up to 3 months in the fridge and 6 months in the freezer, and it absorbs odours easily, so keep it wrapped. Salted and unsalted butter weigh the same per cup, but unsalted is the standard for baking because it lets you control the salt.
How to measure Butter correctly
Butter is measured scooped, and the method matters more than most cooks realise. For dry ingredients, spoon the ingredient into the measure with a smaller spoon, letting it fall loosely, then sweep a knife across the top to level it — never dip the measuring cup into the bag, because dipping compresses the ingredient and adds up to 20 percent. For liquids, pour into a liquid measuring jug and read the level at eye height, or weigh directly into the bowl, which is the most accurate method of all. The King Arthur Baking figure used on this page is 227 g per cup, and it is the figure the site's converters use, so the numbers here and the numbers in the tool always agree. Confidence in this figure is high.
Worked examples
A shortbread for a gift tin
A shortbread recipe uses 1 cup of butter — 227 g, or two sticks — creamed with 100 g of sugar and 300 g of flour. The weight matters because shortbread is a ratio recipe: 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour by weight, and the butter is the ingredient that makes the biscuit melt in the mouth. Weighing 227 g of butter keeps the ratio exact, and using butter at room temperature is essential — cold butter will not cream with the sugar, and melted butter makes a greasy dough that spreads in the oven. The dough is pressed into a tin, pricked with a fork, and baked until just golden at the edges.
A beurre blanc for fish
A beurre blanc for four uses 1 cup of butter — 227 g — whisked a piece at a time into a reduction of white wine and shallots. The weight matters because the sauce is an emulsion: the butter must be added gradually, cold, while whisking, so that the fat stays suspended in the liquid instead of separating into oil. Adding the butter too fast, or letting the sauce boil, breaks the emulsion and leaves a greasy puddle. Weighing the butter in advance and cutting it into cubes makes the process smooth — you add a cube, whisk until it melts, add the next, and the sauce thickens into a glossy, pale gold that coats the fish.
Scaling a croissant dough
A croissant dough uses 2 cups of butter — 454 g — laminated into the dough in layers. The weight is critical because lamination is geometry: the butter block must be exactly the right size and weight relative to the dough, or the layers will be uneven and the croissants will bake up lopsided. Weighing 454 g of butter and shaping it into a square of the right dimensions is the professional method, and it is what separates a croissant with distinct, flaky layers from one that is just a buttery roll. The butter must be cold but pliable — too cold and it shatters, too warm and it melts into the dough.
Butter temperature and why it matters
Butter's temperature is as important as its weight, and it is the variable that most home bakers get wrong. Cold butter, straight from the fridge, is for pastry: it is cut into the flour in pieces, and the pieces stay solid until the oven, where they melt and leave pockets of steam that make the pastry flaky. Room-temperature butter, soft enough to leave an indent when pressed but not so soft that it is greasy, is for creaming: it traps air when beaten with sugar, and that air is what lifts a cake. Melted butter is for brownies and sauces, where it adds richness without structure. Using the wrong temperature is the most common reason a bake fails: creaming cold butter gives a dense cake with no lift, because the butter cannot trap air; using melted butter in a cookie recipe gives flat, greasy cookies, because the butter has already lost its ability to hold air. The practical rule is to take butter out of the fridge 30 to 60 minutes before baking for creaming, and to keep it cold for pastry. And always weigh it — a stick is 113 g, two sticks are 227 g, and the wrapper markings are accurate enough for most recipes, but a scale is exact.
What to use instead
If you run out of butter, these are the tested substitutes from our substitution data, with the ratio and the case where each one does not work. Use the ratio by weight where it is given, and check the warning before you commit the batter.
Butter to Olive oil: 3/4 cup oil per 1 cup butter. Do not use in recipes that rely on creaming butter with sugar, laminated pastry, or shortbread. — see the full guide: Butter to olive oil
Butter to Vegetable oil: 3/4 cup oil per 1 cup butter. Do not use in recipes that rely on creaming butter with sugar, laminated pastry, or shortbread. — see the full guide: Butter to vegetable oil
Butter to Coconut oil: 1:1, melted. Do not use in recipes that rely on creaming butter with sugar, laminated pastry, or shortbread. — see the full guide: Butter to coconut oil
Butter to Margarine: 1:1. Do not use in recipes that rely on creaming butter with sugar, laminated pastry, or shortbread. — see the full guide: Butter to margarine
The golden rule for any substitution is to match the job, not just the ingredient: a substitute that works in a sauce may fail in a cake, because the two recipes ask different things of the ingredient. When in doubt, use a recipe written for the substitute rather than adapting one written for the original.
Storage
Refrigerate up to 3 months; freeze up to 6 months. That is the headline, but the details matter. Store butter in an airtight container, away from heat, light and strong smells — dry ingredients absorb odours readily, and a bag of flour stored next to the spices will taste of them within a week. Label the container with the date you opened it, so you know how long it has been there, and check it before you bake: if it smells off, tastes bitter, or shows any sign of moisture or insects, discard it. Buying in smaller quantities and using it promptly is better than buying in bulk and storing it for a year, because every ingredient loses flavour with time, even the ones that never truly go bad.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of butter?
One cup of butter weighs 227 g, scooped, according to King Arthur Baking. One US stick is 113 g, which is half a cup or 8 tablespoons. One tablespoon weighs 14.2 g.
How many sticks of butter are in 500 g?
There are about 4.5 sticks in 500 g of butter (500 divided by 113 is 4.4). In cups, 500 g is about 2.2 cups. A standard 250 g European block is just over 2 sticks.
Can I use salted butter instead of unsalted butter?
Yes, but reduce the added salt. Salted butter contains about 1 to 2 percent salt, so for every cup of salted butter, reduce the recipe's salt by about 1/4 teaspoon. For baking, unsalted butter is preferred because it lets you control the salt exactly.
Can I use oil instead of butter?
Yes, but not 1:1. Use 3/4 cup of oil per cup of butter, because oil is 100 percent fat while butter is 80 percent fat. Do not use oil in recipes that rely on creaming butter with sugar, laminated pastry, or shortbread — oil cannot trap air the way butter does.
How long does butter last?
Butter keeps for up to 3 months in the fridge and 6 months in the freezer. Keep it wrapped, because it absorbs odours easily. Discard it if it smells rancid or tastes sour. Softened butter left at room temperature should be used within a day or two.
Related pages
If you cook with this ingredient regularly, these pages will help: the cups to grams converter for any amount, the ingredient density lookup for the full table of 120 ingredients, the Butter cups to grams page for cup conversions, the Butter grams to cups page for working backwards from grams, and the Butter tablespoons to grams page for spoon measures. You may also want Coconut Oil, Olive Oil.