Teaspoons to Tablespoons (tsp to tbsp)

Common questions

How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?

Three exactly, in US measure, which is why this page divides by 3. Read the other way, 1 tsp is 0.333333333333 tbsp as the converter prints it, a third of a tablespoon. The counts asked for next most often: 1.5 tsp is exactly 0.5 tbsp, 2 tsp is 0.666666666667 tbsp, 4 tsp is 1.33333333333 tbsp, 4.5 tsp is exactly 1.5 tbsp, 6 tsp is 2 tbsp, 9 tsp is 3 tbsp, 12 tsp is 4 tbsp and 48 tsp is 16 tbsp, which is one US cup. Type any of them into the From box and the headline changes without pressing anything.

What is half a tablespoon in teaspoons, and a third of one?

Half a tablespoon is 1.5 tsp and a third is 1 tsp exactly, since the tablespoon is three teaspoons. A quarter tablespoon is 0.75 tsp and two thirds is 2 tsp. The Swap units button between the two boxes turns this page into a tablespoons to teaspoons converter without reloading it: 0.25 tbsp then reads 0.75 tsp, 0.5 tbsp reads 1.5 tsp, 0.75 tbsp reads 2.25 tsp, 1.5 tbsp reads 4.5 tsp and 2.5 tbsp reads 7.5 tsp. Nothing in that direction needs rounding, because multiplying by three always terminates.

Is a tablespoon three teaspoons everywhere?

Almost. The US pair converted here is 4.92892159375 mL and 14.78676478125 mL, a ratio of exactly 3. The metric spoons sold in the UK, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand are 5 mL and 15 mL, also exactly 3, so a recipe written for them keeps the same spoon counts even though each spoon is about 1.4 percent larger. Australia is the exception: its tablespoon is 20 mL, four metric teaspoons rather than three, so an Australian line of 1 tbsp is 4 tsp anywhere else. Neither metric spoon is a unit in this menu, so convert them as millilitres: choose Millilitre (mL) in the From box and 15 mL reads 3.04326204317 US teaspoons or 1.01442068106 US tablespoons, while 20 mL reads 4.05768272422 teaspoons.

How do I scale a recipe up or down in spoons?

Work in teaspoons and let the headline give you the tablespoons, because teaspoons are the smaller unit and the counts stay whole there. Doubling 2.5 tsp gives 5 tsp, which the converter reads as 1.66666666667 tbsp and a measuring set scoops as 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp. Halving 3 tbsp means 4.5 tsp, which is exactly 1.5 tbsp. Tripling 1 tsp is 1 tbsp on the nose. The chart above these questions carries that mixed spoon wording for every common count, the ratio calculator solves the proportion when a recipe is being scaled by an awkward factor, and the fraction calculator takes mixed numbers like 1 3/4 directly.

Why does the answer read 0.333333333333 instead of 1/3?

Because the converter prints decimals, to twelve significant digits, and a third never finishes as a decimal. Those digits are the division carried out honestly rather than a rounded factor: the ratio itself is exactly 3. Counts that divide by three come out clean with no trailing digits at all, so 3 tsp is 1, 4.5 tsp is 1.5, 12 tsp is 4 and 48 tsp is 16. If you would rather see thirds than decimals, the fraction calculator works in fractions from end to end and prints a repeating decimal with its period, so a third shows as 0.(3). The Copy result button under the stage copies the headline as it stands, without thousands separators, ready to paste into a spreadsheet.

How many teaspoons are in a cup, and in a quarter cup?

Forty-eight in a US cup, because the cup is 16 tablespoons and every tablespoon is 3 teaspoons. Half a cup is 24 tsp, a third is 16 tsp, a quarter is 12 tsp and an eighth is 6 tsp. The Cup (US) row sits in the list under every answer, so 12 tsp shows there as exactly 0.25 cups while the headline reads 4 tbsp. A US fluid ounce is 6 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons, which is why 1 tsp also reads 0.166666666667 fl oz in that same list.

Can I type a fraction like 1/2 into the box?

Not as a fraction. The From box takes digits, one decimal point and an optional minus sign, so a typed 1/2 raises a message saying it is not a number instead of guessing at what you meant. Use the decimal: 0.25 tsp is 0.0833333333333 tbsp, 0.5 tsp is 0.166666666667 tbsp and 0.75 tsp is exactly 0.25 tbsp. Thousands separators are the one extra character the field accepts, so 1,000 reads as a thousand and comes back as 333.333333333 tbsp.

Is this the dry teaspoon or the liquid one, and are the figures exact?

There is one spoon, not two. A teaspoon of flour and a teaspoon of milk occupy the same 4.92892159375 mL, and what people mean by dry against liquid is the weight, which is a density question rather than a unit conversion. This converter keeps Volume and Mass in separate categories and never turns one into the other, so for grams the grams to cups tool asks which of its 92 ingredients you mean and names the density it used. The volume figures themselves are exact by definition: the teaspoon and the tablespoon are both fixed fractions of a gallon of exactly 231 cubic inches, so the only rounding on this page happens when a repeating decimal is printed.

Does this page keep the pair, and does anything leave my browser?

The pair belongs to this page: it opens on Teaspoon (US) into Tablespoon (US) even when the main converter remembers kilometres into miles, and it leaves that remembered pair alone. Only the amount you typed and the switch marked Show 5 more carry between the two pages, and the Start over button above the heading clears them. Nothing is uploaded, because the conversion is one division against a table of factors that ships with the page, so it needs no account and keeps working with the network off.