Cups to Tablespoons Converter
Enter a number of cups and read it as US or imperial tablespoons or teaspoons. Both sides are volumes, so the ingredient does not affect the answer.
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Created by the Reeliy Editorial Team. Last updated: Oct 19, 2026
Why a cup is not always 16 tablespoons
Most cooks remember that a cup holds 16 tablespoons. That is true for the US customary cup (236.59 ml) and a US tablespoon of 14.787 ml. The US legal cup used on nutrition labels is 240 ml, a little bigger, so it holds a fraction more:
240 ÷ 14.787 = 16.231 US tablespoons
The imperial system is tidier. An imperial cup (284.13 ml) divided by an imperial tablespoon (17.758 ml) gives exactly 16 tablespoons. Mixing the two systems is where errors creep in: one imperial cup is 19.215 US tablespoons.
How to convert cups to tablespoons
- Type the number of cups in the Convert box and choose US Legal Cups or Imperial Cups.
- Pick US Tablespoons, Imp. Tablespoons, US Teaspoons or Imp. Teaspoons in the To menu.
- Read the answer, rounded to three decimals.
US tablespoons = US legal cups × 240 ÷ 14.7868
imperial tablespoons = imperial cups × 284.130625 ÷ 17.7582Teaspoons are one third of a tablespoon, so multiply by 3 for the teaspoon answer.
Worked examples
- 2 cups to US tablespoons: 480 ÷ 14.7868 = 32.461.
- Half an imperial cup to imperial tablespoons: exactly 8.
- 3 cups to US teaspoons: 720 ÷ 4.9289 = 146.077.
- 1 imperial cup to US tablespoons: 284.13 ÷ 14.7868 = 19.215.
Cups to tablespoons chart
| Cups | US tablespoons | US teaspoons | Imperial tablespoons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/8 | 2.029 | 6.087 | 2 |
| 1/4 | 4.058 | 12.173 | 4 |
| 1/3 | 5.41 | 16.231 | 5.333 |
| 1/2 | 8.115 | 24.346 | 8 |
| 2/3 | 10.82 | 32.461 | 10.667 |
| 3/4 | 12.173 | 36.519 | 12 |
| 1 | 16.231 | 48.692 | 16 |
| 1 1/2 | 24.346 | 73.038 | 24 |
| 2 | 32.461 | 97.384 | 32 |
| 3 | 48.692 | 146.077 | 48 |
| 4 | 64.923 | 194.769 | 64 |
Know which spoon your recipe means
A tablespoon is not the same size everywhere. A US tablespoon is 14.8 ml, nutrition labels round it to 15 ml, the older imperial tablespoon is 17.8 ml and the Australian tablespoon is 20 ml. An Australian 250 ml cup holds 12.5 of its 20 ml tablespoons, whereas a US legal cup holds about 16.2 of the smaller US spoons, so recipes written for one system do not carry over to the other without conversion.
Spoon and cup sizes give a close answer for most cooking, but for yeast, baking powder or salt in a small bake, level the spoon and keep to one system throughout. Turn the answer into weights with grams to tablespoons, or resize a whole recipe with the recipe scaler.
Frequently asked questions
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
A US customary cup holds 16 US tablespoons. The 240 ml legal cup holds 16.231, and an imperial cup holds exactly 16 imperial tablespoons.
How many tablespoons are in half a cup?
Half a legal cup is 8.115 US tablespoons, which most cooks treat as 8.
How many tablespoons are in a third of a cup?
A third of a legal cup is 5.41 US tablespoons, or 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon when you round to the nearest teaspoon.
Does the ingredient change the answer?
No. Cups and tablespoons both measure volume, so flour, water and honey convert identically. The ingredient only matters when a unit measures weight.
References
- NIST Special Publication 811, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI)
- U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 101.9, Nutrition labeling of food (household measures)
Cite this converter and page
If you use this page in your work, you can cite it as:
Reeliy Editorial Team. (2026). Cups to Tablespoons Converter. Reeliy. https://reeliy.com/converters/convert-cups-to-tbsp“Cups to Tablespoons Converter.” Reeliy, 2026, https://reeliy.com/converters/convert-cups-to-tbsp.