100 grams of butter is about 7 tablespoons. One tablespoon of butter weighs about 14.2 g, and one teaspoon is about 4.7 g. One US stick is 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons, which makes butter the easiest fat to measure without a scale, and 100 g is just short of 7 tablespoons.
All figures on this page are approximate, and they come from King Arthur Baking, measured scooped. Dairy butter, about 80% fat; one US stick is 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons. Baking, frying, sauces and spreading. When a recipe has to work the first time, verify with a kitchen scale.
How the measurement works
The figure on this page comes from King Arthur Baking, measured scooped. One US cup is 16 tablespoons, so every figure here is the cup weight of 227 g divided by 16, rounded to one decimal place. Dairy butter, about 80% fat; one US stick is 113 g, half a cup or 8 tablespoons. Baking, frying, sauces and spreading.
All results on this page are approximate. Ingredient weights vary with brand, humidity, temperature and how firmly you pack the spoon, so when a recipe has to work the first time, weigh the ingredient on a kitchen scale and use the numbers here as a guide.
Conversion table
| Amount | Grams of butter |
|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 4.7 g |
| 1 tablespoon | 14.2 g |
| 2 tablespoons | 28.4 g |
| 3 tablespoons | 42.6 g |
| 4 tablespoons | 56.8 g |
| 5 tablespoons | 70.9 g |
| 6 tablespoons | 85.1 g |
| 8 tablespoons | 113.5 g |
| 10 tablespoons | 141.9 g |
| 12 tablespoons | 170.2 g |
| 1 cup (16 tablespoons) | 227 g |
| 100 g | 7 tablespoons |
One tablespoon is one sixteenth of a cup, so every figure above is simply the cup weight divided by 16, rounded to one decimal place. The last row is the headline figure for this page: 100 g of butter is about 7 tablespoons. All figures are approximate; verify with a kitchen scale when it matters.
Three real kitchen examples
A shortcrust pastry for a fruit tart
A shortcrust pastry for a fruit tart uses 8 tablespoons of butter, about 113.5 g, rubbed into the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Cold butter is the secret: it stays in small pieces in the dough, and those pieces melt in the oven to leave the flaky layers that make pastry crisp. Cut the butter straight from the fridge and work fast, because warm butter melts into the flour and the pastry turns tough.
Brown butter for a batch of cookies
Brown butter cookies start with 6 tablespoons of butter, about 85.1 g, melted in a pan until it foams and the milk solids turn golden and smell nutty. Browning the butter first gives the cookies a toffee flavour that plain melted butter never achieves, and the water in the butter cooks off, so the dough is a little drier and the cookies chewier. Watch the pan closely: brown butter turns to burnt butter in seconds.
A butter sauce for steamed fish
A simple butter sauce for steamed fish uses 4 tablespoons of butter, about 56.8 g, melted with lemon juice and chopped parsley. The sauce should be spooned over the fish at the table, while it is still warm and liquid, because butter solidifies as it cools and a cold butter sauce looks greasy instead of glossy. Four spoonfuls is enough for four portions of fish.
Getting it right in your kitchen
Butter matters in baking because it does three jobs at once: it adds flavour, it creates texture, and it carries other flavours. In pastry, cold butter makes flaky layers; in cakes, creamed butter traps air and helps the cake rise; in cookies, melted butter makes them chewy while softened butter makes them cakey. At 227 g per cup, a tablespoon weighs about 14.2 g, so 100 g is about 7 tablespoons, or just short of a US stick. Butter also contains about 15 percent water, which matters in pastry and frying: the water turns to steam and helps pastry rise, but it also means butter cannot be swapped gram-for-gram with pure oil without changing the recipe.
Scaling with tablespoons is easy once you know the weight of one spoon. To measure 100 g of butter, count out about 7 tablespoons, and for 50 g, about 3.5 tablespoons. Halving a recipe that calls for 100 g means using 50 g, and doubling it means 200 g, or about 14.1 tablespoons. The key is to scale every ingredient by the same factor, because changing one ingredient without changing the others throws the recipe out of balance. For large amounts, switch to a cup measure or a scale: counting out more than 16 tablespoons is slow and error-prone, and a cup is faster and more accurate.
Storage. Refrigerate up to 3 months; freeze up to 6 months.
- Use the wrapper markings on a butter block; one stick is 113 g or 8 tablespoons.
- Cold butter for pastry, softened for creaming, melted for brownies.
- Freeze butter for up to 6 months; it keeps far longer frozen than chilled.
Frequently asked questions
How many tablespoons is 100 grams of butter?
100 grams of butter is about 7 tablespoons, scooped, using the King Arthur Baking value of 227 g per cup. One tablespoon weighs about 14.2 g, so 7 tablespoons is roughly 99 g. The figure is approximate, so verify with a kitchen scale when the recipe matters.
How many grams is 1 tablespoon of butter?
One tablespoon of butter weighs about 14.2 g, and one teaspoon is about 4.7 g. A US stick of butter is 113 g, which is 8 tablespoons, so a tablespoon is one eighth of a stick.
How many sticks of butter is 100 grams?
100 grams of butter is just under one US stick, since a stick weighs 113 g. It is about 7 tablespoons, or just under half a cup. For baking, weigh the butter rather than cutting by eye, because a stick cut slightly off can be several grams out.
Can I use oil instead of butter in baking?
You can, but the result changes: butter is about 80 percent fat and 15 percent water, while oil is pure fat, so a cake made with oil is denser and moister but less flavoursome. As a rule, use three quarters as much oil as butter by volume. For pastry and cookies, where butter's solid fat creates structure, oil is a poor substitute.
Should butter be cold or soft for baking?
It depends on the recipe. Pastry needs cold butter, cut straight from the fridge, so it stays in pieces and makes flaky layers. Cakes need softened butter, beaten until pale, so it traps air. Brownies and some cookies use melted butter for a chewy texture. Always follow the recipe's temperature, because it is part of the method, not a suggestion.
Common mistakes to avoid
The most common mistake is using butter at the wrong temperature: cold butter for pastry, softened butter for creaming, melted butter for brownies, and each recipe fails in a different way if the temperature is wrong. The second mistake is measuring butter by eye from a block: a tablespoon cut from a block is rarely a tablespoon, and the wrapper markings are the reliable guide. The third mistake is swapping butter for oil spoon-for-spoon in a cake: oil has no water and no milk solids, so the cake turns out denser and less flavoursome. Finally, do not leave butter out on the counter for days in a warm kitchen, because it goes rancid faster than most cooks expect.