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!



No, you’re definitely not the only person with that problem! Thank God, the rest of the world (i.e. outside the US ) knows how to deal with the International System of Units in recipes. ;)
Hi! Thanks for this, it’ll come in handy. I assume this is for melted butter? But what about when the recipe calls, for example, for 1 cup of CUBED butter? What would that be equivalent to? And of course the size you cube the butter into will affect the weight!!!
Cheers!
Hi Valeria, This is true for melted or solid, as you would measure the butter before you melt it. 1 cup of cubed butter will be 8 ounces. Hope that helps!
Ur the best! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!
You are a saint, thank you for this!
Thank you so very much for this!! I am now ready to bake for Christmas 2016,God Bless!!?
You saved my sanity with this time and again! Thank you! You would think people would just say “1/2 a stick” of butter instead of 1/4 cup. But I guess its up there with 12 buns and hotdogs…
Supposed to say 8 hotdogs…darn phone.
YOU are the best even after many years
Thank you so much for this chart. I printed it and taped it inside the cupboard by where I do my baking, because I’ve moved from the US to the UK and now need to convert everything all the time. I was using an online calculator but then always had to go to my computer, so your chart is faster, easier, and always right there inside the cupboard door.
Thank you so much, being in the UK and following US recipes I often have to “google ” the cup to ounces conversion. Now I have them pinned on my fridge!
Thank you soooooooooo much ! :D
Thank you so much. Went onto other sites, not helful at all. Based in Africa we do not use the stick measurements, so your cheat table was fantastic.
Oh my goodness, thank you SO much!
My girlfriend and I have been getting the huge Amish loaves of butter recently and it has been difficult getting the butter converted each time! Time saver!
Thank You!
Just what I needed to know right this minute.
Thankyou so much, this was driving me mad!! Weights I can deal with, everything else a fiddle!!!!!!
Bless your heart! You have saved me yet again. When I get a free moment I will sign up for your rss. May the baking gods smile broadly upon you and all of your baking efforts. :)
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! LIVE IN KENYA AND UNLESS I START PACKING BUTTER IN STICKS,THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TO HELP US!
Thanks so much! As an American living in France, I am always struggling with how much butter to use, and the 25g. markings on the butter block are not always a big help! I’ve printed out this chart and put it in my cookbook with my cake recipes!
Thankyou so much for this chart! I live in New Zealand and im constantly coming across recipes that require sticks of butter. Our butter comes in 250gram blocks with 50g markings across the wrapper so its easy if the recipe states grams but if not….. im always stuck, so thankyou soooo much!
Thank you so much! I always used scales as that’s the standard in the UK, but recently tried cups as all the recipes I find online seem to be American…I could just never get my head around measuring butter in cups.
This is a lifesaver thank you! Back to my trusty salter scales I go :D x
This is great. I just don’t use American recipes because of their measurements. Can you do the same for American crochet patterns? The rest of the world have the same description of “double” “treble” but the Americans have created a language all their own. I have googled for recipes and patterns and just ignored anything from america because of their measurements.
Thanks so much for this! I’m not alone ….. also, I live in South Africa and we do not have STICKS of butter … it is sold in 250g blocks. And yep, EVERY TIME I bake, out comes my smartphone with “how much does a stick of butter weight in GRAMS” :) Got this printed and filed in my recipe book :)
Hi! I don’t want to sound silly, but when a recipe calls for a cup of butter – does it call for a cup of butter in it’s solid form or a cup of butter when it’s melted? And if the recipes calls for “1 cup of melted butter”, do you melt the butter and then measure it? I hope that this makes sense, but I just always get confused by this as I’m from England and we use ounces or grams! Thank you so much for your help – I love your website and recipes! x
Hi Sophie, A cup in solid form, which is always 8 ounces (you can use the table above to convert). 1 cup of melted butter would mean to measure out 1 cup of butter and then melt it. I hope that helps!
Thanks such a lot!!! Even I keep googling everytime and it sure is a hassle! I’m getting this printed out!!!
Thanks you thank you thank you!!!!! :)
You are the best. Thank soooooo much.
Thank you so much for always sharing such great receipes and information.
FINALLY!!!!!! THank you
Many thanks, I’m in France and there aren’t sticks of butter. I’m able now to cook US recipes easily :)
I see it says that 16oz is 1 pound which is 454g which confuses me because here in New Zealand 1 Pound of butter is 500g.
Hi Sophie, I can’t comment on how things are packaged or labeled, but I know that with the conversion rate of 1 ounce = 28.3495 grams, 16 ounces calculates to 454 grams.
Just wanted to say “Thank you”. Woke up this morning (Christmas Eve) with myself thinking “how much is a stick of butter in grams” (I’m in Australia – the land of no sticks of butter). Thank you, you had it sorted for me no matter what I wanted to measure butter into.
I’ve printed it out and there it sits on my fridge.
I was just searching on Google “how measure cup butter”, I am in France and sticks of butter don’t exist here !
Thank you for the metric measure !