Grams: The base weight unit for butter. Most international recipes and professional bakers measure butter by weight in grams for accuracy.
Sticks: One US stick of butter is 113.4 g (4 oz or ½ cup). Most US grocery butter comes pre-scored into tablespoon marks on the wrapper.
Cups: One cup of butter equals two sticks (226.8 g). Common in American home baking recipes.
Tablespoons: Useful for smaller amounts — one stick equals 8 tablespoons. Handy when a recipe calls for a few tablespoons of melted butter.
Milliliters: The volume equivalent using butter's density (approximately 0.911 g/mL). Slightly less common but used in some European recipes.
How This Calculator Works
You enter an amount and select its unit. The tool first converts to grams using the standard US butter density (1 stick = 113.4 g, 1 cup = 226.8 g, 1 tbsp = 14.175 g, 1 oz = 28.35 g, 1 mL = 0.911 g). It then divides the gram value by each unit's conversion factor to produce every other measurement. All results assume standard US butter density at room temperature.
Quick Questions
Why does the milliliter value differ from grams?
Butter is denser than water, so 100 g of butter occupies roughly 110 mL rather than 100 mL. The converter uses a density of 0.911 g/mL, which is the standard density of US salted butter at room temperature.
Is one stick of butter really half a cup?
Yes. A US stick of butter is defined as ½ cup, or 8 tablespoons, or 4 ounces, or 113.4 grams. These are exact equivalences used by the US dairy industry.
Can I use this for margarine or plant-based butter?
Stick margarine has nearly the same density as dairy butter, so the conversions are close enough for cooking. Tub-style spreads and whipped butter are less dense and will not convert accurately with these factors.
My European recipe calls for 250 g of butter — how many sticks is that?
About 2.2 sticks. Enter 250 in grams and the converter shows the exact equivalent in every unit. You can use two sticks plus about 3 tablespoons.