Metric Tablespoon (tbsp)

Cooking & barCurrent unit

Exactly 15 mL, used in most countries.

1 metric tablespoon = 0.015 liters (exactly).

About the metric tablespoon

Fifteen milliliters is the working size of the tablespoon in most of the world, and it is a rounded figure. Older customary values were about 14.8 mL for the US and about 14.2 mL for the UK, and modern UK and US measuring spoons are both treated as 15 mL in most contexts. The tablespoon itself dates to the early 1700s, when it first appeared in place settings for soup.

The 15 mL spoon is a staple in recipes everywhere. Three metric teaspoons make a tablespoon, and 16 and two thirds make a 250 mL metric cup. Australia is the notable exception, using a 20 milliliter tablespoon and counting four teaspoons to it, so a recipe from one country can taste off in another. Check which spoon a cook has in mind: scoops of oil, honey or baking powder amount to a third more in Australia.

Sources: Wikipedia: Tablespoon; Wikipedia: Metric cup

Metric Tablespoon conversion chart

1 metric tablespoon expressed in every other volume unit:

More Cooking & bar units

• jigger (volume)
• pinch (volume)
• dash (volume)
• metric cup (volume)
• metric teaspoon (volume)
• Australian tablespoon (volume)
• wine bottle (volume)
• magnum (volume)
• jeroboam (volume)
• methuselah (volume)
• nebuchadnezzar (volume)

All Cooking & bar units

Browse all volume units.