How Many Tablespoons in a Cup? US, Metric & Australian Guide
How many tablespoons are in a cup? The answer depends on the measurement system used by the recipe.
US cups and tablespoons
In U.S. customary cooking measurements, 1 cup equals 16 tablespoons. A U.S. tablespoon is about 14.79 milliliters, while a U.S. cup is about 236.59 milliliters.
Metric cups and tablespoons
A common metric cooking cup is 250 milliliters and a metric tablespoon is 15 milliliters. That makes 1 metric cup approximately 16.67 metric tablespoons.
Australian tablespoons are different
Australian recipes commonly use a 20 milliliter tablespoon. With a 250 milliliter cup, 1 Australian cup equals 12.5 Australian tablespoons. This difference is important when following baking recipes from another country.
Why recipe origin matters
A tablespoon is not universally identical. Small differences may not matter much in some savory recipes, but repeated measurement differences can affect baking results.
Convert measurements instantly
Use the free TasteWiser Cooking Measurement Converter to switch between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, milliliters, grams and ounces. You can also choose US, metric, UK, European or Australian settings.
Quick reference
- US: 1 cup = 16 tablespoons
- Metric: 1 cup β 16.67 tablespoons
- Australia: 1 cup = 12.5 tablespoons
Source: NIST Metric Kitchen measurement equivalencies.
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