The US stick system
A standard US stick of butter weighs 113 g — a quarter pound — and is marked into eight tablespoons. Two sticks make a US cup, or 227 g. One tablespoon of butter therefore weighs about 14.2 g. Many recipes are written entirely in sticks and tablespoons because the wrapper doubles as a measuring tool.
Because the stick is a fixed weight, US butter measurements are effectively weight measurements in disguise. Half a cup is one stick and 113.5 g; a quarter cup is half a stick and about 57 g. This makes US butter recipes unusually reliable compared with flour-heavy ones.
European blocks and fat content
European-style butter is typically churned to at least 82 percent butterfat, while standard US butter is about 80 percent. The extra fat and lower water content produce flakier pastry and a richer flavor, but it also means a 250 g European block is not a cup. A cup by weight is 227 g, so using the whole block adds about 23 g of butter — roughly 10 percent.
That difference matters in laminated doughs, shortbread, and buttercreams where the fat-to-flour ratio is tight. For sautéing or spreading, it is irrelevant. If a recipe was developed with European butter and you are using US butter, the water difference can also affect browning and gluten development.
Australian and metric cups
Australia uses a 250 ml cup. Butter's density is about 0.911 g per milliliter, so 250 ml of butter weighs roughly 228 g — within a gram of the US 227 g stick convention. This is a happy coincidence: a metric cup of butter and a US cup of butter are close enough to use interchangeably.
That is not true for flour or sugar, where the metric cup is about 5.7 percent larger. Butter is the exception because its density happens to make the two cup sizes land on nearly the same weight. Our butter factor follows USDA FoodData Central.
Measuring butter without a scale
Use the tablespoon markings on the wrapper: one stick is eight tablespoons, so six tablespoons is three-quarters of a stick, or about 85 g. For a cup, use two full sticks. If your butter comes in a solid block, cut it by volume with a dry measuring cup packed firmly, then level the top.
Melted butter is harder to measure by volume because it expands and settles differently. A cup of melted butter is not the same as a cup of solid butter in terms of the original amount. Weigh it, or melt it after measuring the solid amount the recipe specifies.
Browned butter loses weight
When butter is browned, water evaporates and milk solids toast. The process removes roughly 15–20 percent of the original weight, so 227 g of butter yields about 185–195 g of browned butter. Recipes that call for browned butter usually specify the starting weight for this reason.
If a recipe says “brown 1 cup of butter,” start with two sticks and accept the yield. If it says “use 150 g browned butter,” start with about 175–180 g of solid butter and brown it down.
Quick reference for common amounts
These are the amounts most recipes call for, converted from the US stick convention. Keep them handy for recipes that list butter in cups while your block is sold by weight.
- 1 tablespoon = 14.2 g
- 2 tablespoons = 28.4 g
- 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) = 56.8 g
- 8 tablespoons (½ cup, 1 stick) = 113.5 g
- 12 tablespoons (¾ cup) = 170 g
- 16 tablespoons (1 cup, 2 sticks) = 227 g