Measuring can be fun. Especially when you do it for an impressive baking project in the kitchen. The feeling of estimating and keeping things precise makes you feel like a scientist in the lab, am I right?!
Now, measuring isn’t always easy, especially when you don’t have the tools in hand.
If you’re here, chances are you are about to cook or bake something amazing which recipe calls for a cup of ingredients and you don’t have those pretty set of measuring cups in your kitchen, so all you can do is estimate the amount using a tablespoon.
Hey, that is actually a smart idea! We don’t always have tools for a certain activity, but there is almost always a substitute that you can use to do the job.
Now if you are trying to measure ingredients and converting the amount from tablespoon to cup, be sure to read this post till the end!
How To Measure Without Measuring Spoons
A simple set of measuring spoons is very essential in the kitchen, especially when you love baking and your recipe mentions the ingredients with “cup” as the only unit. Now, if in a special case when you have no access to any measuring spoons, you can always use something else.
Several items that you can use for measuring without measuring spoons are:
- tablespoon
- teaspoon
Yes, you can use those items for replacing the measuring cup. But remember that teaspoons and tablespoons are smaller in sizes compared to a cup therefore the volume of those units are smaller and if you want to find the equal amount you need to multiply.
When you want to replace the measurement cup with a tablespoon or teaspoon, make sure that you count it right (because you need to scoop the ingredients multiple times if using tbsp or tsp).
So, how many times should you scoop the ingredients? Check out this explanation below.
How Many Tablespoons Are In A Cup?
Normally, there are 16 tablespoons in 1 cup.
An example to use this conversion is when your recipe calls for “1 cup of flour” and you don’t have a measurement cup at home, simply grab a tablespoon and scoop your flour 16 times using the tbsp into the bowl.
How many tablespoons are in 1/2 cup?
8 tablespoons are equal to 1/2 cup.
How many tablespoons are in 1/3 cup?
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon equals 1/3 cup
How many tablespoons are in 1/4 cup?
4 tablespoons are equal to 1/4 cup.
How many tablespoons are in 1/8 cup?
2 tablespoons are equal to 1/8 cup.
Tablespoon to Cup Conversion Chart
Basically, when a recipe calls for a cup and you want to convert it to tablespoon, you can just multiply or divide the number according to this rule: 1 cup=16 tbps, or simply check out this table of conversion:
| Tablespoons | Cup |
| 32 tbps | 2 cups |
| 24 tbsps | 1 1/2 cup |
| 16 tbsps | 1 cup |
| 12 tbsps | 3/4 cup |
| 10 tbsps | 5/8 cup |
| 8 tbsps | 1/2 cup |
| 4 tbsps | 1/4 cup |
| 2 tbsps | 1/8 cup |
| 1 tbsp | 1/16 |
How Many Teaspoons Are In Tablespoon?
Now you know that 1 cup equals to 16 tablespoons. But maybe you’re also curious of how many teaspoon are in a tablespoon. Maybe you’re have a situation where you don’t have tablespoon and measurement cup at hand and all you have is a teaspoon.
That’s alright! Because you can use it too for measuring! You just need to be a little bit patient.
So, how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?
Normally, 1 tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons in recipes. So, 1 cup equals to 16 tablespoons equal to 48 teaspoons.
US Customary Units of Capacity
Converting a measuring unit can be a bit tricky. Especially when the units come from different system (Imperial system vs metric system). For example, when you want to convert ounces to cup, which is a little bit intimidating because ounce is metric while cup is from US customary measurement system.
Fortunately, in this case tablespoon and cup comes from the same system, which is US Customary measurement system.
In the US Customary measurement system, there are different categories according to what you want to measure, i.e. length, mass, and capacity.
More specifically, there is also a category specialized for capacity units which is commonly used in cooking. Units that belongs to this category are:
- teaspoon
- tablespoon
- cup
FAQs
Does 8 tbsp equal 1 cup?
No, 8 tbsp equals to 1/2 cup since 1 cup equals 16 tbsps.
Does 4 tbsps equal 1/4 cup?
Yes, 4 tbsps equals 1/4 cup since 1 cup equals 16 tbsps.
Does 16 tbsps equal 1 cup?
yes, 16 tbsp equals 1 cup.
Does 2 teaspoon make 1 tablespoon?
No, it doesn’t. 2 teaspoon equals 2/3 tbsp since 1 tbsp equals 3 teaspoons.
