US Cups to Metric Tablespoons (cup to tbsp)
1 US cup equals 15.7725491 metric tablespoons exactly.
How to convert US cups to metric tablespoons
To convert US cups to metric tablespoons, multiply the number of US cups by 15.7725491. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply metric tablespoons by 0.06340129257 (rounded).
metric tablespoons = US cups × 15.7725491
Example: 10 US cups = 157.725491 metric tablespoons.
Pints, quarts, gallons and fluid ounces differ between the US and the UK. Units are labeled 'US' or 'imperial' to avoid confusion.
About these units
US Cup (cup)
One sixteenth of a US gallon, 236.588 mL (8 US fluid ounces). The standard US recipe cup.
Cups began as household drinking vessels, not scientific units, which is why they remain the messiest measures in the kitchen. The US customary cup was defined by slicing up the gallon: half a pint, or eight US fluid ounces, about 236.6 milliliters. Unlike the larger units, nobody ever fixed it to a physical vessel, so it exists only as a fraction of the gallon.
The customary cup is not the only American cup. For nutrition labels, US regulation defines a cup as exactly 240 milliliters, a rounder figure that sits slightly above the customary size. Packaged foods therefore list a serving in the legal cup while a measuring cup from the hardware store follows the customary definition. The gap is 3.4 milliliters, which hardly matters for soup but can matter in baking. Cup measures also hide the weight of dry ingredients, since a cup of sifted flour and a cup of packed flour differ substantially, which is why much of the world prefers grams.
1 US cup = 0.2365882365 liters (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Cup (unit); NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors for volume; 21 CFR 101.9: nutrition labeling household measures
Metric Tablespoon (tbsp)
Exactly 15 mL, used in most countries.
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.
1 metric tablespoon = 0.015 liters (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Tablespoon; Wikipedia: Metric cup
Related conversions
- Metric tablespoons to US cups (reverse)
- US cups to liters
- US cups to milliliters
- US cups to US gallons
- US cups to US fluid ounces
- US cups to cubic meters
- US cups to cubic centimeters
- US cups to US quarts
- US cups to US pints
- US cups to US tablespoons
- US cups to US teaspoons
- US cups to metric cups
- US cups to metric teaspoons
- Liters to metric tablespoons
- Milliliters to metric tablespoons
- US gallons to metric tablespoons
- US fluid ounces to metric tablespoons
- Cubic meters to metric tablespoons
- Cubic centimeters to metric tablespoons
- US quarts to metric tablespoons
- US pints to metric tablespoons
- US tablespoons to metric tablespoons
- US teaspoons to metric tablespoons
- Metric cups to metric tablespoons
- Metric teaspoons to metric tablespoons
See all volume units.