Oil to Butter Conversion
Enter the amount of oil a recipe calls for and pick the butter unit you want. The converter works out how much butter gives you the same result, as you type.
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Created by the Reeliy Editorial Team. Last updated: Oct 19, 2026
Substituting vegetable oil with butter
Plenty of recipes for cakes, muffins, brownies and quick breads list vegetable oil, and plenty of cooks would rather use butter for its flavour. The two are not equal quantity for quantity. Oil is essentially 100% fat. Butter is roughly 80% milk fat, with the remainder mostly water and a little milk protein and sugar, so you need more butter than oil to deliver the same amount of fat.
Butter is also a solid at room temperature and contains water, which turns to steam in the oven. In practice this means baked goods made with butter tend to taste richer and brown more deeply, while those made with oil stay moist and soft for longer. For frying, remember that butter's milk solids scorch at a lower temperature than oil starts to smoke, so use moderate heat or clarify the butter first.
Oil to butter conversion
The converter uses a weight ratio of 4 parts butter to 3 parts oil, which is the usual "use three quarters as much oil as butter" rule turned around. It then uses the typical density of each ingredient (about 918 kg/m3 for vegetable oil and 959 kg/m3 for butter) to move between weight and volume.
butter weight = oil weight × 4 ÷ 3
butter volume = butter weight ÷ butter density
Because butter is a little denser than oil, the volume multiplier is slightly smaller than the weight multiplier: 4/3 × 918/959 ≈ 1.276. So one cup of oil is replaced by about 1.28 cups of butter, and conversely one cup of butter corresponds to about 0.78 cups of oil. If you apply the simple 4:3 rule to cups instead, you will use about 4 to 5% more butter than this tool suggests, which rarely matters in a muffin but is worth knowing.
Oil to butter conversion examples
The four examples below use the same ratio but different units. Every figure can be reproduced by typing the amount into the converter above.
Cups of oil to sticks of butter
One US legal cup (240 ml) of oil weighs 240 × 0.918 = 220.32 g. Multiplying by 4/3 gives 293.76 g of butter, and a stick of butter is about 113.4 g, so the answer is 293.76 ÷ 113.4 ≈ 2.59 sticks. Half a cup of oil is therefore a little over 1¼ sticks (1.295).
Ounces of oil to ounces of butter
Weights scale directly by the ratio: 8 oz of oil × 4/3 = 10.667 oz of butter. A pound of oil (16 oz) calls for 21.333 oz of butter, which is 5.33 sticks.
Tablespoons of oil to tablespoons of butter
For small amounts, volume is what you measure. Three US tablespoons of oil convert to 3 × 1.276 = 3.83 tablespoons of butter. In everyday terms, that is just under 4 tablespoons.
Grams of oil to grams of butter
100 g of oil becomes 100 × 4/3 = 133.3 g of butter. If you only have a volume, 120 ml of oil (about half a cup) converts to 146.9 g of butter.
Oil to butter conversion table
| Oil (US cups) | Butter (grams) | Butter (sticks) | Butter (US tablespoons) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 | 73.44 | 0.648 | 5.179 |
| 1/3 | 97.92 | 0.864 | 6.905 |
| 1/2 | 146.88 | 1.295 | 10.358 |
| 2/3 | 195.84 | 1.727 | 13.811 |
| 3/4 | 220.32 | 1.943 | 15.537 |
| 1 | 293.76 | 2.591 | 20.716 |
| 1 1/2 | 440.64 | 3.886 | 31.074 |
| 2 | 587.52 | 5.181 | 41.432 |
What one US butter stick holds
A stick sold in American shops weighs 4 ounces, about 113 g, and its wrapper marks off 8 tablespoons, so one stick equals 8 tablespoons or roughly half a cup. For weight purposes the converter treats a stick as a quarter of a pound. Outside the US, butter is more often sold in blocks of 250 g or 500 g, so grams are the easier unit there.
Tips for baking with the swap
- Melt it when the recipe uses oil. Oil-based batters are usually mixed with liquid fat, so melt the butter and let it cool slightly before combining.
- Expect a firmer, richer crumb. Butter sets as it cools, so cakes made with it are a little less springy than oil cakes.
- Trim extra liquid only if the batter looks wet. The water in butter adds a small amount of moisture, normally too small to need an adjustment.
- Going the other way? Use the butter to oil converter, and the butter converter for sticks, cups and grams.
For other ingredients, the recipe converter handles cups, grams and ounces, and the yeast converter helps when a bread recipe uses a different type of yeast.
Frequently asked questions
How much butter replaces 1 cup of oil?
About 1.28 US cups, which is roughly 294 g or 2.6 sticks of butter. The converter applies a 4:3 weight ratio and then adjusts for butter being slightly denser than oil.
Can I use butter instead of vegetable oil in any recipe?
In most cakes, muffins, brownies and quick breads, yes. The texture will be richer and a little firmer. It is less suitable for deep frying, and for high-heat pan frying the butter can burn unless clarified.
Should the butter be melted?
If the recipe used oil, melt the butter and let it cool a little so it mixes into the batter like oil would. Use it softened or cold only if the recipe's method calls for creaming or rubbing in.
Why is a stick shown in the butter units?
Sticks are the standard way butter is sold and measured in the United States. One stick is 4 ounces (about 113 g), so the converter uses it as an optional unit.
Cite this converter and page
If you use this page in your work, you can cite it as:
Reeliy Editorial Team. (2026). Oil to Butter Conversion. Reeliy. https://reeliy.com/converters/oil-to-butter-converter“Oil to Butter Conversion.” Reeliy, 2026, https://reeliy.com/converters/oil-to-butter-converter.