How Many Grams in a Tablespoon? (By Ingredient)

“1 tablespoon = 15 grams” is a rule of thumb you’ll see everywhere, but it is only true for water-like liquids. A tablespoon is a volume (about 15 ml), so how much it weighs depends on what’s in it. Here are the real numbers.

Grams in a tablespoon and teaspoon

Ingredient	1 tablespoon	1 teaspoon	Tablespoons in 100 g
All-purpose flour	7.5 g	2.5 g	13.3
Whole wheat flour	7.1 g	2.4 g	14.2
Granulated sugar	12.4 g	4.1 g	8.1
Brown sugar, packed	13.3 g	4.4 g	7.5
Powdered sugar	7.1 g	2.4 g	14.2
Butter	14.2 g	4.7 g	7.0
Water	14.8 g	4.9 g	6.8
Milk	15.2 g	5.1 g	6.6
Vegetable oil	13.6 g	4.5 g	7.3
Honey	21 g	7 g	4.8
Peanut butter	16.9 g	5.6 g	5.9
Cocoa powder	5.2 g	1.8 g	19.0
Rolled oats	5.6 g	1.9 g	18.0
Rice, uncooked	12.4 g	4.1 g	8.1
Chocolate chips	10.6 g	3.5 g	9.4
Table salt	18 g	6 g	5.6
Baking powder	12 g	4 g	8.3
Baking soda	18 g	6 g	5.6

Level US tablespoons (14.8 ml) and teaspoons (4.9 ml). Find any other ingredient with the cups to grams converter.

How the numbers are worked out

There are 16 tablespoons in a cup and 48 teaspoons. So one tablespoon weighs the cup weight ÷ 16. For flour: 120 g ÷ 16 = 7.5 g. More on spoon sizes in how many tablespoons in a cup.

Level, heaped and rounded spoons

All the weights above are for level spoons: fill the spoon, then scrape across the top with a knife. A heaped tablespoon of flour can easily weigh twice as much. If a recipe says “heaped” or “rounded”, expect roughly 1.5 to 2 times the level weight.

Is a tablespoon the same everywhere?

US tablespoon: 14.8 ml
UK and metric tablespoon: 15 ml (practically the same)
Australian tablespoon: 20 ml, a third more. Australian recipes that say “1 tbsp” mean noticeably more.

When to use grams instead

For small amounts of leavening, salt and spices, spoons are accurate enough and easier than weighing 3 g on a kitchen scale. For anything more than about 3 tablespoons, weighing is faster and more accurate. 100 g of sugar is 8 tablespoons; one trip to the scale beats eight scoops.

Quick answers

How many grams is 1 tablespoon of sugar? About 12.4 g.
How many grams is 1 tablespoon of flour? 7.5 g.
How many grams is 1 tablespoon of butter? About 14 g.
How many tablespoons is 100 g of flour? About 13 1/3.