How many teaspoons equal a tablespoon? The answer is 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon, if you are using United States standard measurements. Get a FREE downloadable conversion cheat sheet for easy reference.
You may need to know how many teaspoons equal a tablespoon if you scale a recipe (make it larger or smaller). Teaspoons to tablespoons is an easy conversion you will probably need all the time. So … memorize, memorize and you won’t ever be stuck.
Or you can download this FREE conversion cheat sheet. Hang it on your refrigerator for easy reference. These conversions are based on the United States standard measurements.
Teaspoons measure volume (the length, width, and height of the spoon), not the weight.
Measuring by Volume
Ingredients can be measured by mass (weight), volume (length, width, height) or by count (number).
Volume is the measure of space occupied by object. Remember calculating volume in high school algebra? You may recall that volume is calculated by multiplying length, width, and height.
When you measure ingredients with measuring spoons or cups, you are measuring volume.
Liquids are usually measured by volume since air generally cannot be trapped between particles to change the volume.
However, dry ingredients should be measured by weight for precision. Read more about how to eliminate baking disasters with a simple kitchen scale.
Ingredients such as salt, leaveners, and spices are usually added to a recipe in small amounts. Measure these ingredients with measuring spoons. Since they are added to recipes in such small amounts, it is ok to be less precise. Being a little bit off will not make much of a difference in recipes.
Most home kitchens do not have a scale with the precision to weigh teaspoons and smaller amounts. Using measuring spoons is your best option.
However, if you scale the recipe up by a significant amount, you will find that weighing these ingredients will be beneficial.
How Many Teaspoons Equal Half a Tablespoon?
Frequently when baking and cutting a recipe in half, I need to know how many teaspoons are in a ½ tablespoon.
This is another common measurement to memorize. There are 1½ teaspoons in a ½ tablespoon.
How Many Teaspoons in a Quarter Tablespoon?
Another common conversion is how many teaspoons are in ¼ tablespoon. There are ¾ teaspoons in a quarter tablespoon.
Teaspoons Cup Conversions
Do you need to know how many teaspoons are in cup sizes. Here is the answer.
There are:
- ¾ teaspoons = ¼ tablespoon
- 1 ½ teaspoons = ½ tablespoon
- 2 ¼ teaspoons = ¾ tablespoon
- 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
- 6 teaspoons = ⅛ cup
- 12 teaspoons = ¼ cup
- 24 teaspoons = ½ cup
- 36 teaspoons = ¾ cup
- 48 teaspoons = 1 cup
What is the Difference Between Standard and Legal Measurements in the United States
In the United States, there are two measuring standards – the standard and the legal.
Virtually all recipes made in a home kitchen in the United States are based on the customary or standard units. The American standard teaspoon equals 4.93 ml and the legal teaspoon equals 5 mL.
The United States legal unit is the measurement the FDA mandates be used in nutrition labeling.
The standard teaspoon and the legal teaspoon are not quite the same size.
Are the Unit Measurements for Tablespoons and Cups the Same Around the World?
No. Unfortunately no. The United States teaspoons and tablespoons are not equal in volume to the teaspoons and tablespoons used in other countries.
This can create problems when you use a recipe from one country with the measuring equipment from another country.
Here are the teaspoon measurements by volume in some English speaking countries. United States standard measure is listed, not the legal measure.
Volume Measures in milliliters for the teaspoon:
- United States standard (used by home cooks): 1 teaspoon = 4.93 mL
- United States legal (nutrition labeling) 1 teaspoon = 5 mL
- Australia, Canada, United Kingdom: 1 teaspoon = 5 mL
The volume in millilitres for the tablespoon by country are:
- United States standard tablespoon: 14.79 mL
- United States legal tablespoon: 15 mL
- United Kingdom tablespoon: 17.76 mL
- Australia tablespoon: 20 mL
You will notice Australia’s teaspoon volume is equal to Canada and the United Kingdom. However, the volume for their tablespoon is different.
That is because Australia has 4 teaspoons in their tablespoon. So be aware of this fact if you use a recipe from Australia.
FAQ
Since 3 teaspoons equal 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon is 33% of 1 tablespoon.
A teaspoon is smaller than a tablespoon. The volume of a teaspoon is 4.93 mL and the volume of a tablespoon is 14.78 mL.
A tablespoon is 3 times bigger than a teaspoon.
Tsp is an abbreviation for teaspoon and tbsp is an abbreviation for tablespoon. A tbsp is bigger than a tsp.
Hopefully you have learned more than how many teaspoons equal a tablespoon in this article. For more articles on conversion check out how many tablespoons in 1 cup, how many tablespoons in half a cup, or how many teaspoons in one cup.
