Teaspoons to Tablespoons Converter
3 teaspoons per tablespoon, 48 teaspoons per cup
There are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon, and 48 teaspoons in 1 US cup.
Three teaspoons make one tablespoon. Forty-eight make one cup. Those two numbers cover every teaspoon conversion you are likely to need in a kitchen.
Teaspoons matter more than their size suggests, because they are the unit for the ingredients that do the most work per gram — baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, yeast, extracts. Getting a teaspoon wrong changes a bake in a way that getting a cup of flour slightly wrong does not.
Reference table
| teaspoons | tablespoons | cups | millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ tsp | 0.083 tbsp | 0 cup | 1.23 ml |
| ½ tsp | 0.167 tbsp | 0 cup | 2.46 ml |
| ¾ tsp | 0.25 tbsp | 0 cup | 3.7 ml |
| 1 tsp | 0.333 tbsp | 0 cup | 4.93 ml |
| 1½ tsp | 0.5 tbsp | 0 cup | 7.39 ml |
| 2 tsp | 0.667 tbsp | 0.04 cup | 9.86 ml |
| 3 tsp | 1 tbsp | 0.06 cup | 14.79 ml |
| 4 tsp | 1.33 tbsp | ⅛ cup | 19.72 ml |
| 6 tsp | 2 tbsp | ⅛ cup | 29.57 ml |
| 9 tsp | 3 tbsp | 0.19 cup | 44.36 ml |
| 12 tsp | 4 tbsp | ¼ cup | 59.15 ml |
| 24 tsp | 8 tbsp | ½ cup | 118.3 ml |
| 48 tsp | 16 tbsp | 1 cup | 236.6 ml |
The numbers worth knowing
- 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
- 1½ teaspoons = ½ tablespoon
- 6 teaspoons = 2 tablespoons = ⅛ cup
- 12 teaspoons = ¼ cup
- 24 teaspoons = ½ cup
- 48 teaspoons = 1 cup
- 1 teaspoon = 4.93 ml (5 ml everywhere metric)
Level, rounded and heaped are three different amounts
Unless a recipe says otherwise, a teaspoon means a level teaspoon: fill the spoon and sweep a straight edge across the top. That is the assumption every published recipe makes.
A rounded teaspoon holds roughly one and a half times as much. A heaped teaspoon can hold twice as much or more, depending on how the ingredient piles. With baking soda, doubling the amount is not a small error — it produces a soapy, metallic taste and a cake that rises fast then collapses.
The one exception is that measuring spoons themselves vary. Cheap sets can be off by 10% or more. If you bake often, weighing leaveners in grams removes the problem entirely.
Grams per teaspoon for the ingredients that matter
| Ingredient | Grams per tsp | Typical recipe amount |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 4.8 g | 1–2 tsp per 250 g flour |
| Bicarbonate of soda | 4.8 g | ¼–½ tsp per 250 g flour |
| Table salt | 5.7 g | ½–1 tsp |
| Fine sea salt | 5.4 g | ½–1 tsp |
| Instant yeast | 3.0 g | 1–2 tsp per 500 g flour |
| Vanilla extract | 4.3 g | 1–2 tsp |
| Granulated sugar | 4.2 g | — |
Salt is the one where the spoon lies to you
Salt crystals differ enormously in size, so a teaspoon of one salt is not a teaspoon of another. Fine table salt packs densely. Coarse kosher salt has big flat flakes with air between them, so the same spoon holds far less salt by weight.
Swapping one for the other teaspoon-for-teaspoon is the most common way a dish ends up too salty or flat. If a recipe specifies a salt type, that specification is doing real work. When in doubt, weigh it.
Frequently asked questions
How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?
There are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon in the US, UK and metric systems. Australia is the exception, with 4 teaspoons in its 20 ml tablespoon.
How many teaspoons are in a cup?
There are 48 teaspoons in one US cup.
How many teaspoons is half a tablespoon?
Half a tablespoon is 1½ teaspoons.
How many grams is a teaspoon?
It depends on the ingredient. A teaspoon of water is about 4.9 g, baking powder about 4.8 g, table salt about 5.7 g and instant yeast about 3.0 g.
Should a teaspoon be level or heaped?
Level, unless the recipe explicitly says heaped. A heaped teaspoon can hold twice as much, which matters a great deal for baking soda and salt.