You’re standing over a bowl of softening flour and sugar, your hands are probably covered in a fine dusting of white powder, and you realize the recipe calls for exactly one-third of a cup of butter. You look at your stick of butter. The wrapper is torn. Or maybe you’re using one of those giant tubs from Costco because, honestly, who has the patience for individual sticks when you bake this much? You need to know the conversion. Right now.
The short answer is that there are 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of butter in 1/3 cup.
It’s one of those weird, "why is American measurement like this?" moments that makes you want to switch to a metric scale immediately. While most baking measurements feel like they fit into neat little boxes—4 tablespoons in a quarter cup, 8 in a half—the one-third cup is the rebellious middle child of the culinary world. It doesn't divide evenly into tablespoons. It leaves you with that awkward leftover teaspoon that can actually ruin a delicate pastry if you ignore it.
The Math Behind Tablespoons in 1/3 Cup Butter
Let’s break this down so you never have to Google it while your oven is preheating again. A standard US cup is 16 tablespoons. If you try to divide 16 by 3, you get 5.3333. Math is rarely that clean in the kitchen. Since there are 3 teaspoons in a single tablespoon, that ".333" represents exactly one teaspoon.
So, when you're measuring out tablespoons in 1/3 cup butter, you are looking for 5 full tablespoons and 1 level teaspoon.
If you are using the standard sticks of butter common in the United States (like Land O'Lakes or even the store brand from Kroger), look at the wrapper. Most people forget that the wrapper is basically a cheat sheet. One full stick of butter is 1/2 cup, which equals 8 tablespoons. To get your 1/3 cup, you aren't cutting the stick in half. You’re cutting it just past the five-tablespoon mark.
Why Precision Actually Matters Here
In cooking, like making a beef stew or a pan sauce, you can totally eyeball a "knob" of butter. It doesn't matter. But in baking? Baking is chemistry. If you’re making shortbread or a flaky pie crust, the ratio of fat to flour is everything.
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If you only use 5 tablespoons because you didn't feel like grabbing a teaspoon, you’re short-changing your recipe by about 6% of the required fat. That sounds small. It’s not. In a batch of cookies, that missing teaspoon of butter can be the difference between a soft, chewy center and a crumbly, dry mess that falls apart before it hits the cooling rack.
The Weird History of the US Cup
Ever wonder why we use such a clunky system? Most of the world looks at us like we have three heads because we don't just weigh everything in grams. The "cup" as we know it was popularized by Fannie Farmer, the legendary principal of the Boston Cooking-School. Before her 1896 cookbook, recipes used vague terms like "a teacup of lard" or "a walnut-sized piece of butter."
Fannie wanted precision. She standardized the level cup and the level spoon. But even she couldn't fix the fact that a third of sixteen isn't a whole number.
Interestingly, if you’re using a "scant" 1/3 cup, you might be following an older family recipe where the cook knew their flour was particularly thirsty. But for modern, standardized recipes—think King Arthur Baking or Sally’s Baking Addiction—they expect you to hit that 5 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon mark exactly.
Converting Butter by Weight (The Pro Way)
If you want to stop guessing about tablespoons in 1/3 cup butter, buy a digital scale. Seriously. It’s a game changer.
A standard stick of butter weighs 113 grams (4 ounces). Since a stick is 1/2 cup, and you want 1/3 cup, you’re looking for roughly 75.3 grams of butter.
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- 1 cup of butter = 227 grams
- 1/2 cup of butter = 113.5 grams
- 1/3 cup of butter = 75.7 grams (Let’s just call it 76 and save the headache)
- 1/4 cup of butter = 56.7 grams
When you weigh your butter, you don’t have to worry about whether you packed the tablespoon correctly or if there are air bubbles in your measuring cup. You just cut a chunk, toss it on the scale, and keep going. It’s faster, cleaner, and honestly makes you feel like a professional pastry chef.
What If the Recipe is International?
Here is where it gets tricky. If you are reading a British or Australian recipe, their "tablespoon" might actually be different. In the UK, a tablespoon is traditionally 15ml, which is the same as the US. However, an Australian tablespoon is often 20ml (4 teaspoons instead of 3).
If you're making a recipe from a Melbourne-based food blogger and it asks for 1/3 cup, their cup is likely 250ml, whereas a US customary cup is about 240ml. It’s a tiny difference, but when you’re multiplying it across a whole cake, it adds up. Always check the "About" page of a blog to see where the author is based if the measurements feel a bit wonky.
Common Mistakes When Measuring Butter
The biggest mistake people make? Using a liquid measuring cup for butter.
You know those glass Pyrex jugs with the red lines? Those are for milk, water, and oil. For butter, especially solid or softened butter, you should use "dry" measuring cups—the ones that look like little scoops—and level them off with a knife. Or, better yet, use the tablespoon markings on the wrapper.
If you've melted the butter first, then yes, use the liquid measuring cup. But keep in mind that melting butter can sometimes change its volume slightly due to aeration or water evaporation if you boil it too long. If the recipe says "1/3 cup butter, melted," measure it while it's solid, then melt it. If it says "1/3 cup melted butter," melt a bunch and then measure out the liquid. That distinction is a secret handshake among bakers.
The "Cold Butter" Dilemma
When a recipe for biscuits or pie crust calls for 1/3 cup of cold, cubed butter, don't try to mash cold butter into a measuring cup. You'll create air pockets.
Instead, use the displacement method if you're stuck without a scale or a wrapper. Fill a liquid measuring cup with 1 cup of water. Add chunks of butter until the water level reaches 1 and 1/3 cups. Boom. You have exactly 1/3 cup of butter submerged. Pour out the water, pat the butter dry, and you're good to go. It sounds like a middle school science experiment, but it works every single time.
Dealing With Softened vs. Melted Ratios
Sometimes you're halfway through a recipe and realize your butter is too hard. You microwave it. Suddenly, it’s half-liquid. Does tablespoons in 1/3 cup butter change if it's melted?
Technically, no. The mass remains the same. However, the volume can shift. 1/3 cup of solid butter contains a certain amount of fat, water, and milk solids. When melted, the air that was whipped into the butter during the manufacturing process escapes.
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If you are making something like brownies, it doesn't matter much. If you're making a sponge cake that relies on the "creaming method" (beating sugar and butter together to trap air), melted butter will give you a flat, dense cake. No amount of correct measuring can fix the wrong texture of fat.
A Quick Reference for the Frantic Baker
If you are in the middle of a mess, here is the "cheat sheet" you can pin to your brain:
- Need 1/3 Cup? Use 5 Tbsp + 1 tsp.
- Need 2/3 Cup? Use 10 Tbsp + 2 tsp.
- Only have a scale? Aim for 76 grams.
- Using a stick? It’s a little over five of those printed lines.
How to Scale a Recipe Up or Down
If you're doubling a recipe that calls for 1/3 cup, the math gets easier. Two-thirds of a cup is 10 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons.
If you're tripling it? Congratulations, you've hit a whole number. Three times 1/3 cup is exactly 1 cup, or two full sticks of butter. That is 16 tablespoons. This is why professional bakers often work in larger batches; the math starts to smooth itself out the higher you go.
On the flip side, if you're trying to halve a recipe that calls for 1/3 cup... just don't. Or use a scale. Half of 1/3 cup is 1/6 cup, which is 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons. At that point, you're better off just weighing out 38 grams of butter and calling it a day.
Final Thoughts on Kitchen Accuracy
Precision isn't about being a perfectionist; it's about consistency. If you use 5 tablespoons today and 6 tablespoons tomorrow, your "famous" chocolate chip cookies will never actually be the same twice.
Kitchen tools are notoriously inaccurate. I’ve seen cheap measuring spoons that vary by as much as 15% in volume. If you find that your bakes are consistently coming out too greasy or too dry, the culprit might not be your oven—it might be your 1/3 cup measure.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your butter wrapper. Look at the markings next time you open a fresh stick. See where the 1/3 cup mark falls relative to the tablespoon lines. It's a visual cue that will stay with you.
- Buy a $15 kitchen scale. Stop washing measuring cups. Place your mixing bowl on the scale, hit "tare" to zero it out, and add 76g of butter. It's the single best way to improve your baking overnight.
- Check your teaspoons. Make sure you have a real measuring teaspoon, not just a "spoon" you use for stirring coffee. A "coffee spoon" can hold anywhere from 3ml to 7ml, which is way too much variance for baking.
- Practice the 5+1 rule. Memorize it: 5 tablespoons, 1 teaspoon. Say it out loud. It’s the "8x8=64" of the culinary world.
By mastering the small stuff like tablespoons in 1/3 cup butter, you remove the guesswork from your kitchen. You can focus on the flavors, the technique, and the joy of sharing a meal, rather than stressing over a math problem while your timer is ticking away. No more "scant" scoops or "heaping" guesses. Just good, reliable baking.