Dairy & Eggs
Butter Conversion
Butter weighs 227g per US cup.
| Amount | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 227.0 g | 8.01 oz |
| 1/2 cup | 113.5 g | 4.00 oz |
| 1/4 cup | 56.8 g | 2.00 oz |
| 1 tbsp | 14.2 g | 0.50 oz |
| 1 tsp | 4.7 g | 0.17 oz |
| 100 g | 100.0 g | 3.53 oz |
Need a different amount? Use the full Ingredient Converter tool.
Butter's 227g-per-cup conversion is one of the few genuinely exact figures on this entire site rather than a measured average — it's built directly from the standard US manufacturing convention of four sticks to a pound, so a cup (two sticks) is simply half a pound, 227 grams, by definition rather than by measurement.
Standard US butter runs about 80% milkfat, with the remaining roughly 20% split between water and milk solids — that water content is exactly why butter isn't interchangeable 1:1 by weight with a 100%-fat product like vegetable oil without changing a baked good's final moisture, and it's also what separates when butter is clarified into ghee, leaving behind pure fat.
European-style butter is churned to a higher fat percentage, typically 82-84%, with correspondingly less water — a real, if usually subtle, difference that can make pastry (croissants especially) noticeably flakier, since less water means less steam generated in the oven to soften and blur a laminated dough's distinct butter layers.
Butter's 227g-per-cup weight (two standard US sticks) is one of the most useful conversion anchors in baking specifically because butter is sold in pre-measured stick form with volume markings printed on the wrapper — this site's dedicated Butter Converter tool handles the stick-to-cup-to-gram-to-tablespoon math directly, since sticks, not loose cup measures, are how most US bakers actually portion butter day to day.
European-style butter carries a higher butterfat percentage (82-85%) than standard US butter (about 80%), which changes both its density slightly and its behavior in laminated doughs like croissants, where that extra fat content produces flakier, more distinct layers.
Salted and unsalted butter weigh the same per cup; the difference is purely the added salt, which is why recipes calling for unsalted butter are simply asking for control over total salt content.
Out of Butter?
See real substitutes with ratios →
How long does it last?
Storage & shelf life →
Frequently asked questions
Is butter's 227g-per-cup figure an estimate or exact?
It's effectively exact — US butter is manufactured to the standard stick weight (four sticks per pound), so a cup (two sticks) is defined as half a pound by that manufacturing convention, not measured after the fact the way most of this site's density figures are.
Why does European butter behave differently in pastry than US butter?
Standard US butter runs around 80% fat, while the European style is churned to 82-84%, leaving noticeably less water behind in the stick — with less water to turn to steam in a hot oven, a laminated dough like croissant pastry puffs into cleaner, more defined layers.
Does salted butter weigh the same per cup as unsalted?
Yes — the salt content in salted butter is too small a percentage to meaningfully change the overall weight per cup; the two are interchangeable for conversion purposes, with the difference mattering for flavor and recipe salt content instead.
How long can butter sit out at room temperature?
Only 1-2 days for salted, covered butter — genuinely perishable despite feeling shelf-stable, since it's roughly 20% water and milk solids, not pure fat; refrigeration (1-3 months) or freezing (6-9 months) is the safer choice beyond that window.
Is ghee the same conversion as regular butter?
No — ghee is butter with the water and milk solids removed through clarification, leaving pure butterfat; that changes its density enough that it needs its own conversion figure rather than sharing regular butter's 227g/cup.