US recipes, UK kitchens
How much is a US stick of butter in grams?
At Cupstograms, we use 113g for one standard US stick of butter. That's the amount to weigh out when an American recipe calls for one stick.
You don't need to buy American butter or find a special type of packaging. Just weigh out 113g from your usual block of butter.
If your recipe calls for two sticks, you'll need about 227g.
What exactly is a stick of butter?
In America, butter is commonly sold in individually wrapped sticks, rather than the larger blocks we're used to in Britain.
Each standard US stick contains:
- 113g of butter, approximately
- 4 ounces in weight
- 8 US tablespoons
- ½ US cup
It's simply a convenient way of measuring butter. The shape of the packaging doesn't matter when you're following the recipe in the UK.
US sticks of butter to grams: quick conversion table
Here are the amounts you'll need for common American recipes.
| American recipe says | Butter to weigh |
|---|---|
| ¼ stick | 28g |
| ½ stick | 57g |
| 1 stick | 113g |
| 1½ sticks | 170g |
| 2 sticks | 227g |
| 3 sticks | 340g |
| 4 sticks | 454g |
We've rounded these figures to the nearest gram to make them easier to use with ordinary kitchen scales.
You might see 113.4g in our calculator or on other conversion charts. It's the same US stick, just shown with an extra decimal place.
Can I use half a 250g block of butter instead?
Not quite. Half a 250g block is 125g, which is about 12g more than one American stick.
That might not matter much if you're adding a little butter to a savoury dish, but it could make a difference in baking, where the proportions of ingredients are more important.
Here's what to do with a typical 250g block:
- For 1 stick: Weigh out 113g. That's a little less than half the block.
- For 2 sticks: Weigh out 227g. That's almost the whole block, leaving about 23g.
The easiest method is to put a bowl or plate on your kitchen scales, set them to zero, then cut off the amount of butter you need.
And if your butter comes in a different-sized pack, that's fine. Just follow the gram measurement rather than guessing how much of the block to use.
What if my American recipe uses cups or tablespoons of butter?
American recipes often describe butter in cups or tablespoons because the wrappers have markings that make these quantities easy to cut.
For UK cooks, weighing the butter is usually simpler.
Here are three useful equivalents:
- ½ US cup of butter = 1 stick = about 113g
- 1 US cup of butter = 2 sticks = about 227g
- 1 US tablespoon of butter = about 14g
So if a recipe asks for four tablespoons of butter, you can weigh out about 57g instead of trying to squeeze solid butter into a measuring spoon.
Remember that these are butter conversions. A cup of flour or sugar won't weigh the same as a cup of butter.
Should I use salted or unsalted butter?
The conversion is the same for both. One stick is the same weight whether the butter is salted or unsalted.
For the best results, follow what your recipe asks for.
If it doesn't specify, unsalted butter is usually a sensible choice for baking, because it lets you control how much salt goes into the recipe.
If you only have salted butter, you can often use it instead, although you may want to reduce any additional salt. The amount of salt already in butter varies between brands.
For most baking recipes, use ordinary block butter rather than assuming a reduced-fat or spreadable product will behave the same way.
Does it matter if the recipe says melted or softened butter?
The weight stays the same, but how you prepare the butter can affect your baking.
If a recipe asks for one stick of melted butter, weigh out about 113g and melt it as instructed.
If it asks for softened butter, use the same weight but let it soften until it's easy to mix without being liquid.
This distinction matters particularly in cakes and biscuits. Softened butter beaten with sugar behaves differently from melted butter stirred into a mixture.
So use the same gram conversion, but follow the recipe's instructions for preparing it.
Where our figures come from
Cupstograms uses the standard American butter-stick measurement of approximately 113.4g per stick, rounded to practical kitchen amounts where appropriate.
Our references include:
- Land O'Lakes' butter conversion chart (opens in a new tab), which confirms the standard stick, cup and tablespoon equivalents.
- NIST's weight conversion reference (opens in a new tab), which supports the underlying conversion from US weight ounces to grams.
- BBC Good Food's butter guide (opens in a new tab), covering types of butter and their uses in cooking and baking.
For other quantities, try our Cups to Grams converter. Choose Butter, select the butter-sticks option and enter the amount from your recipe.
The important thing to remember: when an American recipe says one stick of butter, reach for your kitchen scales and weigh out about 113g. That's all you need to do.