How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?
There are 3 teaspoons in 1 US tablespoon, and 48 teaspoons in a cup.
A US teaspoon is 4.93 ml and a tablespoon is 14.79 ml. Metric recipes round them to 5 ml and 15 ml, and the ratio stays the same: three to one.
That makes half a tablespoon 1½ teaspoons, and a third of a tablespoon exactly 1 teaspoon.
Converter
Measure it as 1 tbsp.
| Tablespoons | Teaspoons | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|
| ¼ tbsp | ¾ | 3.7 ml |
| ⅓ tbsp | 1 | 4.93 ml |
| ½ tbsp | 1½ | 7.39 ml |
| ⅔ tbsp | 2 | 9.86 ml |
| 1 tbsp | 3 | 14.79 ml |
| 1½ tbsp | 4½ | 22.18 ml |
| 2 tbsp | 6 | 29.57 ml |
| 3 tbsp | 9 | 44.36 ml |
| 4 tbsp (¼ cup) | 12 | 59.15 ml |
| 16 tbsp (1 cup) | 48 | 236.6 ml |
Calculated from the exact unit definitions (1 US cup = 236.5882365 ml, 1 oz = 28.349523125 g) and rounded for the kitchen.
The Australian tablespoon is bigger
In Australia a tablespoon is 20 ml, which is 4 teaspoons. Recipes from Australian sites and cookbooks are written for it. For most ingredients the extra teaspoon won't matter, but for baking soda, baking powder, salt and gelatin, measure 4 teaspoons for each tablespoon the recipe lists.
Capital T, lowercase t
Recipes abbreviate teaspoon as tsp or a lowercase t, and tablespoon as tbsp, Tbsp, tbs or a capital T. That last convention trips people up: “1 T salt” is three times as much as “1 t salt”. When a handwritten card is ambiguous, think about the dish. A tablespoon of salt in a batch of cookies is a mistake; in a pot of pasta water it isn't.
Spoons from the cutlery drawer
The spoons you eat with aren't measuring spoons, and their size varies a lot from one set to the next. For seasoning a soup you'll taste anyway, any spoon will do. For baking, where a teaspoon of baking soda is chemistry rather than flavor, use a measuring set and level it.
British and Australian recipes sometimes call for a dessertspoon. It sits between the two: 10 ml, or 2 teaspoons.
ReelMeal writes down the amounts a creator says out loud in a cooking video, spoons included, so you can measure from a list instead of rewinding to hear whether it was a teaspoon or a tablespoon.
Download on theApp StoreQuestions
How many teaspoons is half a tablespoon?
1½ teaspoons.
How many teaspoons are in a cup?
48: 16 tablespoons of 3 teaspoons each.
How many teaspoons are in ¼ cup?
12 teaspoons, which is the same as 4 tablespoons.
Is a dessertspoon the same as a tablespoon?
No. A dessertspoon is 10 ml, two teaspoons, while a tablespoon is 15 ml (20 ml in Australia).