How to Measure Butter

Am I the only person who curses almost every time a recipe calls for butter and lists the amount in cups? You’d think that I’d have this whole butter thing down pat by now (no pun intended), but I never remember. Ever. And without fail, I turn to Google… “How many cups in one stick of butter?” or some variation of that. I’ve finally remembered that 1 pound of butter is four sticks, so weight I’m good with. Give me a gold star sticker for my refrigerator, thankyouverymuch. But yikes, shouldn’t there be a standard of some sort when it comes to how cookbooks list the amount of butter? I’d be so happy. And I’d prefer that it be listed by weight (if some higher up cookbook authority gave me a vote, that is). I’ve gone on before about how great it is to measure using a kitchen scale, so I won’t go into it again here. I’ve grown weary of Googling, so I finally took the time to make myself a little cheat sheet for butter measuring. Maybe I’m the only person in the world who has this problem, but in case I’m not I figured I’d share my crib notes with you.
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And in case you want to print that baby out and stick it on your fridge (or in your recipe binder), here is a pretty printable version.
Happy Baking!




Although I know how to measure butter, the chart is wonderful. Just got a digital scale.
I was reading about compound butter and was wondering how many sticks of butter you use to start a roll and how much honey?
Hi: ย Quick question – when a recipe calls for melted butter – do you measure the butter unmelted, or melt it and then put it in a recipe?
Thanks
Rhonda
That is good, but I have a pineapple cookie filling recipe from my grandmother that calls for a lump of butter, how does someone measure that you recon?
Thank you so much for this chart! In France we weight the butter. There are so many American recipes I wanted to try but was too afraid to get the amount of butter wrong. I’ll give it a try with your chart :)
Morning ย Michelle:
I’ve always been confused with butter measurements.
If a recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter – is it the same as the 1/2 measured on the butter wrapper? ย It seems that the 1/2 cup measuring cup is less than the butter in the package. ย Can you clarify for me.
Thanks
Rhonda
Thanks so much for this – I love to try recipes I have found online, and always have to Google the butter equivalents (our butter doesn’t come in sticks!). This will save such a lot of time!
I’m just going to say this before I ask my question so it isn’t taken the wrong way. I don’t want to sound insulting or downplay that you put forth the time and effort into either finding or making the measurements for butter chart listed above. (Mind you that I asked the almighty google how many tablespoons and cups were in a half stick of butter while attempting to convince my girlfriend that if butter were put into a quarter cup out of a tub of butter that it is indeed the same amount that would be in a half a stick of butter out of the fridge…… She still hasn’t grasped the whole concept though ๐คจ๐)…. So my question is this,
If confused or unsure of the amount of butter the instructions called for couldn’t you simply consult the wrapper that your sticks of butter come packaged in? I just checked my fridge and concur that at least my sticks of butter have both the tablespoons as well as cups printed on the individual wrappers. Not only that but there are these conveniently placed lines to show you exactly where each measurement falls on that particular stick of butter.
Regardless I must say thank you for taking the time to post the measurements of butter chart because in any other kitchen it sure would have saved any other guy the same time, effort, and frustration that I just went through….
Thank you SO much for these measurements! I live in Malaysia and most recipes call for measurements we’re not really used to here in the metric system haha! This is going to make my life so much easier! <3
Thank you so much for taking the time to create this chat! You are amazing and a true blessing for simple bakers like me.
Stay healthy.
Stay happY .
Much appreciated ,
Rev. Mary
Thank you! I’ve always felt inadequate because A.) I could never remember how much a stick of butter was, and B.) I didn’t know if it was volume or weight. I will use your chart into eternity! (And I doubt I could eve memorize it)
Many thanks, Brown-Eyed Baker Michelle, for your life-saving “How to Measure Butter – Cheat Sheet.”
I was having a mini-meltdown whilst making – or attempting to make – Earl Grey Tea Cookies from a recipe with an ambiguous butter measurement.ย
Kudos on your website, BTW.
Thank you so much for your cheat sheet! My sister and I were having a discussion about this just tonight and … suddenly we came across your cheat sheet. It is done so complete and with US/Imperial and metric so it is VERY helpful. We made several copies – for the fridge, cookie recipes, & other recipes. Thanks again.ย
I a,ways gave to look up to see his many sticks is in 1/2 cup of melted butter. I just found out it is the same, melted or not. 4 oz is a stick is 1/2 cup. Period. That was helpful.
Thanks so much for clarifying the butter measurements. I couldn’t agree more about your comments on recipes having no standard on measuring butter. Yesterday I attempted to make cookies but didn’t have the butter wrapper for the measurements. Guess what? It wouldn’t stick together so I questioned whether I had used the correct amount of butter. Now I am able to know the amount of butter required, which just so happens to be twice the amount that I used.
Same. Who puts butter in a cup to measure it anyway :/
Huh I donโt get it. The wrappers ย on the sticks of butter I buy are already marked w/ measurements showing a tablespoon, 1/2 cup etc
Yes, but the measurements are always off. ย How do you know for sure your getting the proper amount.
My recipe calls for WT butter. What does WT mean?ย
I have the same question and after some searching, I *think* it distinguishes between the two types of ounce that can be used in a recipe (fluid ounces versus mass ounces).
It’s been a while, but I hope that helps!
“On packaged goods, volume ounces are listed as ‘NET OZ FL’ where FL stands for fluid and weight ounces are listed as ‘NET WT OZ’ where WT stands for weight.”
Thank you so much for the conversion table. I too have problems when it comes to measuring butter!!
Thank you so much, you made my baking so much easier. Thanks again.
This drives me insane. The table is useful, but it’d be alot nicer if everyone would just come to they’re senses and stop giving volumetric units of measure (only used for fluids in science) for a solid block ingredient. “Two table spoons of melted butter” – No worries ill just melt my entire block, measure out two table spoons and throw the rest away.
Butter packages outside the U.S. are certainly marked with weights & they have a sale down the side for quantity . America get metric
This was the most useful site I have seen. Thank you so much brown eyed baker, from another brown eyed baker! Truly helpful are you!
how many cups is a pat of butter?
Hi Carson, Depending on how large you slice the “pat” of butter, I would estimate anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon. After Googling, some sites estimate it at 1.5 teaspoons, so pretty much in the middle of my estimate.
Good day! Iโm a newbie in baking who doesnโt have any idea about measurements. ย Thatโs why when I chanced upon your butter measurement guide,itโs such a relief, believe me and let me thank you wholeheartedly for that. ย Now my next question is when the recipe calls for GRAMS and the ingredient is in paste form(i.e. local brand here in Phils. wherein the label says โwhipped topping pasteโ) and i only have my measuring cups and spoons..hope you can answer my query. ย Thank you in advance..;)
Thank you so much this helps alot in baking โค
Can I just say ” I love you!” I’ve been wanting to do this for so long and just hadn’t gotten around to it. Thank you! I will be placing this in my cabinet next to my baking supplies. And I totally agree there should be a standard in cookbooks for such things.
I just came across this article – THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!
You are most definitely NOT the only one who curses when a recipe calls for a cup of butter, the air is often blue when I find a great recipe and bam! it calls for butter in cups!!! I am definitely going to print this off and keep it on my fridge :-)
I like your chart, but you left out 1/3 cup.
1/3 cup of butter is approximately 5 tblsp.ย