Quick answer: A stick of butter weighs 113 g (113.4 g exactly), which is a quarter of a pound or 4 oz. It also equals half a US cup or 8 tablespoons. Two sticks make 227 g, and four sticks make a pound. A 250 g British block holds about 2.2 sticks’ worth of butter.
“A stick of butter” is a purely American measure. Butter in the US is usually sold as a one-pound box of four individually wrapped sticks, so recipes count in sticks the way British ones count in grams. This explainer converts sticks for UK kitchens, and the UK cooking measurements guide covers every other cup and spoon conversion.
How many grams are in a stick of butter?
One stick of butter is 113 grams. The figure comes straight from the pound: UK and US law both define 1 lb as exactly 453.59237 g, and a stick is a quarter of that, 113.398 g. Recipes and packaging round it to 113 g, and you will occasionally see 115 g in looser conversions.
| US sticks | Grams | Ounces | Tablespoons | US cups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ stick | 28 g | 1 oz | 2 tbsp | ⅛ cup |
| ½ stick | 57 g | 2 oz | 4 tbsp | ¼ cup |
| 1 stick | 113 g | 4 oz | 8 tbsp | ½ cup |
| 1½ sticks | 170 g | 6 oz | 12 tbsp | ¾ cup |
| 2 sticks | 227 g | 8 oz | 16 tbsp | 1 cup |
| 3 sticks | 340 g | 12 oz | 24 tbsp | 1½ cups |
| 4 sticks | 454 g | 16 oz (1 lb) | 32 tbsp | 2 cups |
Half a stick of butter is 57 grams, and one and a half sticks are 170 grams. For conversions starting from cups rather than sticks, the cups to grams butter chart shows the same figures the other way round.
Why do American butter sticks come in two shapes?
It is a regional packaging difference; the weight is the same. East of the Rocky Mountains, most butter comes in long, slim “Elgin” sticks, about 121 mm long. West of the Rockies, butter is more often packed in shorter, chunkier sticks of about 83 mm, a legacy of the different butter-cutting and packing machines adopted in each region. Both hold 4 oz, so a recipe’s stick count does not change with the shape.
How do you measure a stick from a British block?
Weigh 113 g, or cut just under half (45%) of a 250 g block. British butter is sold by weight, usually in 250 g blocks, and has no stick markings. Scales are the quickest route. Without scales, measure the length of a neat, cold block, multiply by 0.45 and cut straight down; that piece is one stick.
Two sticks (one cup) come to 227 g, which leaves 23 g of a 250 g block spare. If a recipe calls for “a stick and a half”, weigh 170 g. The full step-by-step process for adapting American bakes, including flour, sugar and oven temperatures, is in the guide on how to convert American recipes to UK measures.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 stick of butter?
One US stick of butter is 113 g, or 113.4 g to one decimal place. It is a quarter of a pound.
How many sticks of butter are in 250 g?
A 250 g block holds about 2.2 sticks. Two sticks use 227 g, leaving 23 g.
Is a stick of butter half a cup?
Yes. One stick is half a US cup, or 8 US tablespoons, so two sticks make one cup.
How many grams is 2 sticks of butter?
Two sticks of butter are 227 g, equal to one US cup or half a pound.
Sources
- Weights and Measures Act 1985, Schedule 1 (the pound defined as 0.45359237 kg)
- King Arthur Baking: ingredient weight chart (8 tablespoons of butter = 113 g)
- NIST: US customary to metric conversions