Butter Converter — Sticks, Grams, Cups & Tablespoons

What is a Stick of Butter?

A stick of butter is the standard retail unit for butter in the United States and Canada. One stick weighs exactly one quarter of a pound — 113.4 grams, or approximately 113 grams when rounded. Each stick measures half a US cup (½ cup = 120 mL) and contains exactly 8 tablespoons. American and Canadian butter packages come four sticks to a one-pound box, and each wrapper is printed with tablespoon marks at every 14.2-gram interval to make measuring easier directly from the wrapper.

The stick format has been standard in North America since the late 19th century. The convenience of pre-portioned, clearly marked sticks made it easy for home bakers to follow American recipes without needing a kitchen scale. This contrasts sharply with the rest of the world, where butter is sold in 200 g or 250 g blocks with no pre-printed markings.

How Many Grams in a Stick of Butter?

One US stick of butter equals exactly 113.4 grams. This figure comes from the imperial-to-metric relationship: 1 stick = ¼ pound = ¼ × 453.592 g = 113.398 g ≈ 113.4 g. In recipes and on nutrition labels, this is typically rounded to 113 g or 114 g.

Why not a round number like 100 g? Because the stick is defined in pounds, not grams. The US never switched to metric for retail butter portions, so the gram value is an irrational conversion of the historical ¼-pound unit. If you are scaling a US recipe for a European kitchen, our converter makes it straightforward — just type the gram amount you need and read off the sticks (and tablespoons) required.

Stick to Tablespoon Conversion

One stick of butter contains exactly 8 tablespoons. This is one of the most useful butter facts to memorise for everyday baking. The printed lines on US butter wrappers divide each stick into 8 equal portions, each representing one tablespoon (14.2 grams). Half a stick is therefore 4 tablespoons (57 g), a quarter stick is 2 tablespoons (28 g), and so on.

The tablespoon markings were standardised on US butter wrappers in the 1960s. Prior to that, cooks had to estimate or use measuring spoons. Today, if you need "3 tablespoons of butter," you can simply cut to the 3-tablespoon mark on the wrapper without getting out any measuring tools at all.

International Butter Measurements

Outside of the United States and Canada, butter is not sold in sticks. European butter comes in 200 g or 250 g rectangular blocks. UK butter is typically sold in 250 g packs. Australian butter also comes in 250 g portions. None of these come with tablespoon markings, and none are called "sticks." If you are following a European recipe that calls for 250 g of butter, that is equivalent to approximately 2.21 US sticks — easily calculated with this converter.

In France, Germany, and most of Europe, recipes specify butter in grams. British recipes often use grams too, though older cookbooks may use ounces. When working across international recipes, the safest approach is always to convert to grams and weigh on a kitchen scale.

How to Measure Butter Without the Wrapper

If your butter stick has lost its wrapper or you are working with bulk butter, there are two reliable methods to measure it accurately. The first is the water displacement method: fill a liquid measuring cup with cold water to a known level (say, 1 cup), then add butter until the water rises to the desired mark. For example, to measure ½ cup (1 stick) of butter, start with ½ cup of water and add butter until the water reaches 1 cup. The butter added equals ½ cup.

The second method — and by far the most accurate — is to use a digital kitchen scale. Simply place a bowl on the scale, zero (tare) it, and add butter until you reach the required gram weight. For 1 stick, that is 113 g. For 2 sticks, 227 g. This method eliminates all guesswork and is standard practice in professional bakeries and pastry kitchens worldwide.

Salted vs Unsalted Butter Weight

Salted and unsalted butter weigh exactly the same for the purposes of cooking and baking conversions. Salt makes up less than 2% of salted butter by weight, so one stick of salted butter is still 113.4 grams — the same as unsalted. The salt does not meaningfully change the mass. When substituting one for the other in a recipe, adjust the additional salt the recipe calls for, but do not change any butter weight measurements.

Butter Conversion Chart

Sticks	Grams	Cups	Tablespoons	Ounces	Pounds
¼	28 g	⅛	2	1	0.0625
½	57 g	¼	4	2	0.125
1	113 g	½	8	4	0.25
2	227 g	1	16	8	0.5
3	340 g	1½	24	12	0.75
4	454 g	2	32	16	1