Is it confusing to know the sticks of butter in 1 cup? Do not be as this article will give some insights about the butter stick, how it weighs and how to measure the butter in terms of cups and not just tablespoons.
Measuring butter or butter conversion in cups is essential for baking, and adding the wrong amount of butter could lead to incorrect output that can vary the dish’s taste.
Using butter without measuring creates a lot of difference in whichever dish we make, mainly baking a cake or making a pastry dough.
The crispy texture or the crunchiness of the dough used in baking is because of the butter used, and adding the wrong amount can make or break the recipe we make.
Therefore, let us see how to weigh butter in terms of cups, how many cups is one stick of butter, how the stick divisions take place for the cups, and how easy it is to divide by knowing their measurements.
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How is butter made and sold?
Butter with more butterfat is suitable for achieving a creamier and rich texture and taste. It is made by churning the milk cream, and the more it is stirred, the more fat the butter has.
The fat butter percentage in the butter depends on the churning process. If using butter as a spread or for regular cooking, using butter with less butterfat works fine.
Countries produce butter differently; some countries process butter with more fat and others with less fat.
Most of the time, butter is packed in boxes in the form of sticks and usually comes in 8 oz or 16 oz packaging.
Butter is highly used in all parts of the world and is an essential ingredient when baking various sweets, cakes, biscuits, cookies and many more.
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How is butter divided while selling?
Butter comes in packages packed in the form of sticks in the box. Each box is 16 oz, and sometimes they come in 8 oz boxes too.
If a packet is 16 oz, there are 4 sticks, each weighing 4 ounces. If the box is of 8 oz packaging, there are 2 sticks in it, and the weight of each stick is again 4 ounces.
The difference is that 8 oz boxes contain 2 bars, and 16 oz butter boxes contain four(4) bars.
How many cups in 1 stick of butter?
We all have sticks of butter at home, and most of the time, the butter sticks have measurements written on the parchment paper on which the butter is wrapped.
The measures mention each butter stick with tablespoons and the cups division.
It can be unclear sometimes, even if the measurements are mentioned, and sometimes the divisions may not appear in some brands.
The reason can be whatever but understanding the measurements of the sticks of butter gives us a clear idea of how to use butter with correct measurements.
Therefore, the answer is one stick of butter is half a cup, and it is easy to tell that one cup is two sticks of butter.
½ cup = 1 butter stick
1 cup = 2 butter sticks
To be precise, two butter sticks of 4 oz each weigh 1 cup of butter and 8 oz in total.
How to measure butter sticks?
Let us write it in a simple way below to understand it better.
1 stick of butter = ½ cup = 8 tablespoon = 4 oz = ¼ lb or 0.25 lb = 113 g
2 sticks of butter = 1 cup = 16 tablespoon = 8 oz = ½ lb or 0.50 lb = 227 g
1 cup of butter = 2 sticks = 227 g
4 sticks of butter = 2 cups = 454 g
Each butter stick comes with eight divisions, which are tablespoons( tbsp), and a total of 8 markings showing every tablespoon in each butter stick.
Now, 4 tbsp, i.e. half a stick, makes it ¼ cup of butter, and 8 tbsp, that is, one stick makes it for ½ cup of butter.
¼ cup of butter or 0.25 cup = ½ stick of butter = 56.7 g = 4 tbsp
½ cup of butter or 0.5 cup = 1 stick of butter = 113.4 g = 8 tbsp
Data table show Cups of butter for different number of sticks of butter
| Cups | Sticks of butter | Grams |
| ¼ cup | ½ stick of butter | 56.7 g |
| ½ cup | 1 stick of butter | 113.4 g |
| ¾ cup | 1 ½ stick of butter | 170.1 g |
| 1 cup | 2 sticks of butter | 226.8 g |
| 1 ¼ cup | 2 ½ sticks of butter | 284 g |
| 1 ½ cup | 3 sticks of butter | 341 g |
| 1 ¾ cup | 3 ½ sticks of butter | 398 g |
| 2 cups | 4 sticks of butter | 453.6 g |
To calculate more sticks, follow the method below.
1 cup = 2 sticks of butter
Formula to calculate more sticks of butter will be.
number of cups * 2 = Sticks of butter
For example,
½ cup of butter is
½ cup * 2 = 1 stick of butter
2 cups of butter are,
2 cups * 2 = 4 sticks of butter
3 cups is 3 * 2 = 6 sticks of butter
4 cups is 4 * 2 = 8 sticks of butter
5 cups is 5 * 2 = 10 sticks of butter
6 cups is 6 * 2 = 12 sticks of butter.
Calculating using the formula mentioned above will give the number of sticks for the number of cups.
Table to show how many cups in a stick of butter
| Sticks of butter | cups | tablespoons |
| ½ stick of butter | ¼ cup | 4 tbsp |
| 1 stick of butter | ½ cup | 8 tbsp |
| 1 ½ stick of butter | ¾ cup | 12 tbsp |
| 2 sticks of butter | 1 cup | 16 tbsp |
| 2 ½ sticks of butter | 1 ¼ cup | 20 tbsp |
| 3 sticks of butter | 1 ½ cup | 24 tbsp |
| 3 ½ sticks of butter | 1 ¾ cup | 28 tbsp |
| 4 sticks of butter | 2 cups | 32 tbsp |
How many sticks of butter is ⅓ cup?
Some recipes have ⅓ cup in the ingredients measures, and the butter bar does not show all the measurements.
It just shows for ¼ cup and ½ cup. Therefore, for ⅓ cup, it will be 5 ⅓ tablespoons; that is, it is complete five (5) tablespoons plus ⅓ tablespoon.
How many sticks of butter is a pound?
To answer the question, how many sticks are in a pound? It is four sticks.
1 pound or 1 lb = 4 sticks of butter = 16 oz = 2 cups = 32 tbsp
¼ lb or 0.25 lb = 1 stick of butter = ½ cup = 8 tbsp
½ pound or 0.5 lb = 2 sticks of butter = 1 cup = 16 tbsp
0.75 lb or ¾ pound = 3 sticks of butter = 1 ½ cup = 24 tbsp
Table to show sticks of butter in cups, ounces and pounds
| Sticks of butter | Ounces (oz) | Pounds (lb) | Cups |
| ½ stick of butter | 2 oz | ⅛ lb | ¼ cup |
| 1 stick of butter | 4 oz | ¼ lb/0.25 lb | ½ cup |
| 1 ½ stick of butter | 6 oz | 0.375 lb | ¾ cup |
| 2 sticks of butter | 8 oz | ½ lb/0.5 lb | 1 cup |
| 2 ½ sticks of butter | 10 oz | 0.625 lb | 1 ¼ cup |
| 3 sticks of butter | 12 oz | ¾ lb | 1 ½ cup |
| 3 ½ sticks of butter | 14 oz | 0.875 lb | 1 ¾ cup |
| 4 sticks of butter | 16 oz | 1 lb | 2 cups |
How many ounces of butter are in a cup?
1 cup of butter = 2 sticks and 1 stick = 4 oz.
1 cup = 2 sticks = 8 oz
Therefore 1 cup of butter = 8 oz.
½ cup butter = 4 oz
2 cups of butter = 16 oz
3 cups = 24 oz
4 cups = 32 oz
6 cups = 48 oz
How to measure the sticks of butter in grams?
With scale:
Most baking does require a scale where the ingredients are mentioned in ounces or grams or fluid ounces.
To make the work easier, measure butter in grams using a scale. It is an excellent choice to make while doing a lot of cooking.
If there is a food weighing scale, add the butter to the cup and weigh it by choosing to weigh in ounces or grams depending on the recipe, as it can be tough to calculate the grams in mind.
The scale shows the gram or ounce value and makes cooking easier.
Without scale:
If you do not have a food scale to measure food items, this post has all the details to tell you how many grams each 4 oz block of butter or how much each bar weighs in ounces or grams.
A 4 oz butter bar weighs 113.4 g, and each bar has 8 tbsp. Dividing each bar into 8 tablespoon and knowing how many grams each tablespoon makes it easy to calculate the butter in grams without a scale.
For example :
Grams measurement from a 16 oz butter to 1 tablespoon butter without a scale
4 sticks of butter = ~ 453.6 g
1 stick of butter = 453.6/4 = ~ 113.4 g
each stick of butter = 113.4 g = 8 tbsp
1 tablespoon of butter = 113.4 g/8 = ~14.175 g = ~ 14.2 g
Therefore, each tablespoon weight is approximately 14.2 g.
Calculating grams for cups of butter in the stick
¼ cup butter in grams from the stick
½ stick of butter = ¼ cup = 4 tbsp
When 1 tablespoon = 14.2 g then ¼ cup or 4 tablespoon will be 4 * 14.2 = ~ 56.8 g
To measure ½ cup butter in grams from the butter bar
1 stick of butter = ½ cup = 8 tbsp
When 1 tablespoon = 14.2 g then ½ cup or 8 tablespoon will be 8 * 14.2 = ~113.4 g approximately or 113 g
Therefore, 4 sticks of butter will be
4 * 113.4 = ~ 453.6 g
Thus by knowing 1 tablespoon or 1 cup in grams, it is easy to get the measure of butter in the metric system too.
How to use the butter sticks?
Usually, the packaging comes in sticks or blocks, and the butter is not sold loose. The blocks are rectangular blocks or bars or sticks.
Sticks make it easy to pack and trade, and this is how most countries follow to sell butter.
If you look at their casings, all the measurements are written outside, making them easy to use.
Cut the butter as the recipe instructions mention, leave the rest of the butter packed in the fridge or freezer, and wrap them properly with aluminium foil or the same wax paper in which the butter is packed.
For ½ cup butter, use a complete stick and do not melt the butter unless the recipe mentions using it in melted form.
Try to soften the butter by naturally allowing it to rest at room temperature for a few minutes without microwaving it.
Which butter to use, salted or unsalted?
Salted butter usage in the recipes can give different results as the recipe already mentions salt in most recipe instructions.
Already added salt in butter adds to the salt quantity and can give different results; too much sodium is bad for health.
Therefore, always use unsalted butter and salt when a recipe demands it.
What to do with the leftover butter?
Do not discard the leftover butter. Store the butter in the fridge or the freezer by wrapping it in an aluminium foil, or store it airtight in the freezer or fridge.
If left in the freezer, bring it back to the fridge section before using it so that the butter defrosts well and makes it easy to cut before use.
Do not store it without wrapping as the butter catches all fridge smells and leaves a bad taste.
Faq’s
One whole stick of butter makes a half cup or ½ cup equal to 8 tbsp.
1 ½ stick of butter is a three-fourth cup or ¾ cup, equal to 12 tbsp.
Two sticks of butter are 1 cup, equivalent to 16 tbsp.
½ stick of butter equals ¼ cup, equal to 4 tbsp.
There are four(4) sticks of butter in 1 lb or 1 pound, and each stick is ¼ lb or quarter pound.
Each stick of butter is of 4 oz block and is 113 g approximately by rounding it to a whole number.
It is approximately 227 g of butter in a cup.
Source: Yummy Indian Kitchen – Indian and International Recipes
