For something so fundamental to good cooking, butter comes with a surprising amount of confusion.
Sticks, tablespoons, cups, grams, pats — it’s a mess of measurements that can trip up even the most experienced cook. Let’s sort it out once and for all.
The Basics
The basic American butter equation is as simple as they come:
1 stick = 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup = 4 ounces = 113 grams
Memorize this. It will solve 90% of your butter-related problems.
As for the elusive “pat” of butter: It’s typically about 1 teaspoon (5 grams), but this isn’t standardized. The term comes from the small portion served in restaurants, which varies wildly.
In recipe terms, the pat is mostly useless — stick to measurements you can count on.
What Pats and Sticks Look Like
A pat looks like those tiny foil-wrapped butters at hotel breakfasts and diner lunches, roughly the size of your thumbnail. But seriously, just use a measuring spoon.
When a recipe calls for “a stick of butter,” you should know that a stick:
- Resembles a slim deck of cards
- Is usually scored into 8 tablespoon segments on the wrapper
- Weighs 1/4 pound
The Coastal Butter Divide
Here’s something they don’t teach you in cooking school: American butter comes in regional shapes.
East Coast/Elgin style: Long, thin sticks (4.75″ x 1.25″) in rectangular boxes. This is the national standard.
West Coast/Western Stubby: Shorter, wider sticks (3.5″ x 1.5″) in more square-shaped boxes. This started in California and confuses tourists and transplants alike.
Both contain exactly 1/4 pound per stick. The difference only matters when you’re looking at the tablespoon markings on the wrapper or trying to fit it into a butter dish from the opposite coast.
Melted Matters
Solid and melted butter don’t measure the same by volume. The differences:
- 1 tablespoon melted butter = 14 grams
- 1/4 cup melted butter = 56 grams
- 1/2 cup melted butter = 113 grams
- 1 cup melted butter = 226 grams
More importantly, pay attention to wording: “1/2 cup melted butter” means measure after melting. “1/2 cup butter, melted” means measure solid, then melt.
This seemingly small distinction has ruined countless batches of cookies and cakes where precision matters.
European Butter: Worth the Splurge?
European-style butter contains more fat (82% vs. American’s 80%) and less water. This makes a significant difference in:
- Laminated doughs (croissants, puff pastry)
- Buttercreams and frostings
- High-heat sautéing (less spattering)
For everyday cooking and baking, the difference is noticeable but not transformative. Use it when butter is the star, save it when it’s just part of the ensemble.
Salted vs. Unsalted Butter
The weight difference between salted and unsalted butter is negligible for measurement purposes, but the taste difference is like night and day. Unless specified otherwise, recipes assume you’re using unsalted butter — especially in baking where controlling salt content matters.
A stick of salted butter contains roughly 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Not much, but enough to throw off a delicate pastry or compound butter.
Butter Storage and Handling
While not strictly about conversion, it’s worth noting:
- Cold butter grates easily for pastry
- Room-temperature butter (65-67°F) is ideal for creaming in baking
- Clarified butter or ghee weighs about 20% less than whole butter (water and milk solids removed)
When Precision Matters (And When It Doesn’t)
For everyday cooking — think sautéing vegetables, finishing a pasta dish, or making a quick pan sauce — eyeballing butter amounts is perfectly acceptable. A knob here, a pat there; stir, brown, and serve.
For baking, pastry, or any recipe where chemistry matters more than taste preferences, break out the scale. Weighing in grams is always more accurate than volume measurements and will produce more consistent results.
One Last Trick: Score Your Own Butter
Here’s something professional kitchens do that home cooks should steal: pre-score your butter when you unwrap it.
For a standard 1-pound block (or even for sticks):
For tablespoon portions:
- Unwrap the butter and place it on a cutting board
- Using a sharp knife, score lines lengthwise, dividing the stick into 8 equal segments
- Make your marks deep enough to see but not deep enough to cut through
- Rewrap the butter and refrigerate
For pats (crosswise):
- With the stick lying flat, score perpendicular to your tablespoon lines
- Make 3-4 marks across each tablespoon section
- This creates small, uniform pats for serving or topping dishes
Just break off what you need along the score lines. It’s especially useful for butter you keep at room temperature for spreading, as the lines remain visible.