Tablespoons to grams

A US tablespoon of all-purpose flour weighs about 7.8 g, of granulated sugar 12.5 g and of butter 14.2 g. The ingredient decides it: a tablespoon measures space, not weight.

1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

About 7.8 grams

A level teaspoon of it holds about 2.6 g.

USDA weighs a US cup of all-purpose flour at 125 g. A tablespoon is 1/16 of that cup, so it holds about 7.8 g.

Use plain all-purpose flour. A cup changes with how you fill it; use the recipe's gram weight when it gives one.

Going the other way? Grams to tablespoons →

Common amounts

Level US measuring spoons; each answer is rounded and the cup weight behind it is USDA’s.

1/2 tablespoon to grams

All-purpose flour: about 3.9 grams
Granulated sugar: about 6.3 grams
Butter: about 7.1 grams
Honey: about 11 grams
Olive oil: about 6.8 grams

1 tablespoon to grams

All-purpose flour: about 7.8 grams
Granulated sugar: about 13 grams
Butter: about 14 grams
Honey: about 21 grams
Olive oil: about 14 grams

2 tablespoons to grams

All-purpose flour: about 16 grams
Granulated sugar: about 25 grams
Butter: about 28 grams
Honey: about 42 grams
Olive oil: about 27 grams

3 tablespoons to grams

All-purpose flour: about 23 grams
Granulated sugar: about 38 grams
Butter: about 43 grams
Honey: about 64 grams
Olive oil: about 41 grams

4 tablespoons to grams

All-purpose flour: about 31 grams
Granulated sugar: about 50 grams
Butter: about 57 grams
Honey: about 85 grams
Olive oil: about 54 grams

Grams in a tablespoon, by ingredient

35 ingredients measured by the spoon or the jug. The converter above takes all 86, from nuts to chopped onion.

Find in this table

35 of 35 rows

Grams per level US tablespoon, from USDA cup weights; other columns rounded
Ingredient	1 tbsp weighs	2 tbsp in grams	3 tbsp in grams	4 tbsp in grams
All-purpose flour	7.8 g	16	23	31
Bread flour	8.6 g	17	26	34
Whole-wheat flour	7.5 g	15	23	30
Self-rising flour	7.8 g	16	23	31
Granulated sugar	12.5 g	25	38	50
Brown sugar, packed	13.8 g	28	41	55
Powdered sugar, unsifted	7.5 g	15	23	30
Butter, unsalted	14.2 g	28	43	57
Butter, salted	14.2 g	28	43	57
Water	14.8 g	30	44	59
Whole milk	15.3 g	31	46	61
Heavy cream, unwhipped	14.9 g	30	45	60
Plain whole-milk yogurt	15.3 g	31	46	61
Coconut milk, canned	14.1 g	28	42	57
Honey	21.2 g	42	64	85
Molasses	21.1 g	42	63	84
Olive oil	13.5 g	27	41	54
Canola oil	13.6 g	27	41	55
Table salt	18.3 g	37	55	73
Cocoa powder, unsweetened	5.4 g	11	16	22
Cornstarch	8 g	16	24	32
Rolled or quick oats, dry	5.1 g	10	15	20
Long-grain white rice, raw	11.6 g	23	35	46
Almonds, ground	5.9 g	12	18	24
Chickpea flour	5.8 g	12	17	23
White rice flour	9.9 g	20	30	40
Brown rice flour	9.9 g	20	30	40
Semolina, enriched	10.4 g	21	31	42
Yellow cornmeal, degermed enriched	9.8 g	20	29	39
Sesame kernels, dried, hulled	9.4 g	19	28	38
Flaxseed, whole	10.5 g	21	32	42
Peanut butter, smooth, unsalted	16.1 g	32	48	65
Ricotta, whole milk	15.4 g	31	46	62
Pumpkin, canned, unsalted	15.3 g	31	46	61
Semisweet chocolate chips, mini	10.8 g	22	32	43

Measuring by the spoon

These are level US measuring spoons: a tablespoon is 14.8 mL and a teaspoon 4.93 mL, three to the tablespoon. Fill the spoon and sweep it flat with the back of a knife: a heaped spoon holds more than the figures here. A flatware soup spoon or teaspoon is not a measuring spoon.

Spoons mean different things in different countries. NIST notes that metric cups and spoons are slightly larger than US ones and can often stand in for them. When a recipe gives its spoon in mL, the unit converter turns milliliters into US spoons.

The spoon and mL figures are worked out from USDA’s weight for a whole US cup of each ingredient, divided by the size of the tablespoon, so a cup, its spoons and its milliliters always agree. Salt is table salt; flaky and coarse salts pack differently, so weigh those. For yeast, go by the packet: how much yeast is in a packet.

Cup weights: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy release 2018-04. Cup, spoon and mL sizes: NIST Handbook 44. How the conversions work.