How Many Grams Are in a Cup of Butter?

How many grams are in 1 cup of butter?

According to King Arthur Baking's ingredient weight chart, 1 cup of butter weighs exactly 227 grams (8 ounces or 1/2 pound). This is one of the cleanest weight conversions in baking because butter density is consistent (around 0.96 g per ml). Two sticks of US butter (each 113 g) make 1 cup at 227 g total. A pound of butter (4 sticks) equals 2 cups or 454 g. European butter is sold in 250 g blocks, which is slightly more than 1 US cup; if a recipe calls for 'a cup of butter' and you're using a European block, you'll have about 10 percent more than needed. The 227 g per cup figure stays constant across salted and unsalted varieties, since the salt content doesn't change the volume measurement significantly.

How do butter grams scale to other measurements?

For US butter: 1 tsp is 4.7 g, 1 tbsp is 14 g, 1/8 cup (2 tbsp) is 28 g, 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) is 57 g, 1/3 cup is 76 g, 1/2 cup (1 stick) is 113 g, 2/3 cup is 151 g, 3/4 cup is 170 g, and 1 cup (2 sticks) is 227 g. Going larger: 2 cups (1 lb) is 454 g, 4 cups (2 lb) is 907 g. The 113 g per stick figure is the most useful baseline because butter packaging marks each stick at tablespoon intervals, making partial-stick measurements easy. For European recipes using 250 g blocks, knowing 250 g equals about 1.1 cups (or 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) helps with conversion.

How does melted butter compare to solid butter by weight?

By weight, melted butter and solid butter are identical: 227 g of butter is 227 g whether solid or melted. The phase change doesn't affect mass. By volume, however, melted butter takes up slightly more space than solid butter (about 5-7 percent more). One cup of solid butter (227 g) becomes about 1.07 cups when melted. For recipes that specify 'melted butter' by volume, melt the butter first and then measure. For recipes that specify 'butter, melted,' measure the solid butter first and then melt. The order matters because of the volume change. For weight-based recipes (227 g of butter), the order doesn't matter; the gram measurement stays constant regardless of phase, which is one of the reasons gram measurements are more reliable for baking.

When does the butter cup-to-gram conversion matter most?

International baking recipes are the main case. European, Australian, and Asian recipes universally use grams for butter; converting from US cup measurements requires the 227 g per cup figure. Precise baking benefits significantly: cookie spread, cake tenderness, and pastry texture all depend on accurate butter quantity. Restaurant and commercial baking standardizes on grams for consistency across batches. Pastry work (croissants, puff pastry, laminated doughs) requires gram precision because the butter-to-flour ratio determines the final structure. Substituting between salted and unsalted butter is easy by weight: 227 g of either type works the same. For everyday US home baking with stick measurements, the gram conversion appears mainly when adapting international recipes.