Tablespoons to Cups
1 tablespoon = 0.06 cups
To turn tablespoons into cups you divide by 16, since a US cup holds exactly 16 tablespoons. This comes up when a recipe lists an ingredient in tablespoons but you want to scale it up, or when you're checking that a string of tablespoon additions adds up to the cup a recipe expects. The common landing points are clean: 4 tbsp = ¼ cup, 8 tbsp = ½ cup, 12 tbsp = ¾ cup and 16 tbsp = 1 full cup.
Tablespoons to Cups table
| Tablespoons | Cups |
|---|---|
| 0.25 tablespoons | 0.02 cups |
| 0.5 tablespoons | 0.03 cups |
| 1 tablespoon | 0.06 cups |
| 2 tablespoons | 0.12 cups |
| 3 tablespoons | 0.19 cups |
| 4 tablespoons | 0.25 cups |
| 5 tablespoons | 0.31 cups |
| 6 tablespoons | 0.38 cups |
| 8 tablespoons | 0.5 cups |
| 10 tablespoons | 0.62 cups |
| 12 tablespoons | 0.75 cups |
| 14 tablespoons | 0.88 cups |
| 16 tablespoons | 1 cups |
| 18 tablespoons | 1.12 cups |
| 20 tablespoons | 1.25 cups |
| 24 tablespoons | 1.5 cups |
| 32 tablespoons | 2 cups |
Convert a specific amount
Straight to the answer for the quantities people look up most:
- 1 tbsp to cups
- 2 tbsp to cups
- 3 tbsp to cups
- 4 tbsp to cups
- 5 tbsp to cups
- 6 tbsp to cups
- 7 tbsp to cups
- 8 tbsp to cups
- 9 tbsp to cups
- 10 tbsp to cups
- 11 tbsp to cups
- 12 tbsp to cups
- 13 tbsp to cups
- 14 tbsp to cups
- 15 tbsp to cups
- 16 tbsp to cups
- 18 tbsp to cups
- 20 tbsp to cups
- 24 tbsp to cups
- 32 tbsp to cups
How to convert tablespoons to cups
To convert tablespoons to cups, multiply by 0.06. This is a volume conversion, so it applies to any liquid or dry ingredient measured by volume, water, oil, milk, flour, and more.
Common conversions: 2 tablespoons = 0.12 cups · 4 tablespoons = 0.25 cups · 8 tablespoons = 0.5 cups · 16 tablespoons = 1 cups.
Tablespoons to cups: quick answers
One US cup holds 16 tablespoons, so to convert tablespoons (tbsp, tbs, tbls or T) to cups you divide by 16. Here are the amounts people ask about most:
- 1 tbsp to cups ≈ 0.0625 cup (one sixteenth)
- 2 tbsp to cups = ⅛ cup (0.125) — two tablespoons
- 3 tbsp to cups ≈ 0.19 cup — three tablespoons
- 4 tbsp to cups = ¼ cup (0.25) — four tablespoons
- 5 tbsp to cups ≈ 0.31 cup
- 6 tbsp to cups = ⅜ cup (0.375)
- 8 tbsp to cups = ½ cup (0.5) — eight tablespoons
- 10 tbsp to cups ≈ 0.625 cup
- 12 tbsp to cups = ¾ cup (0.75) — twelve tablespoons
- 14 tbsp to cups = 0.875 cup (⅞)
- 16 tbsp to cups = 1 cup — sixteen tablespoons
- 18 tbsp to cups = 1.125 cups (1⅛) — eighteen tablespoons
- 20 tbsp to cups = 1.25 cups (1¼)
- 24 tbsp to cups = 1.5 cups (1½) — twenty-four tablespoons
- 32 tbsp to cups = 2 cups
The same maths works in reverse: to find how many tablespoons are in a cup, multiply the cups by 16. So ¼ cup = 4 tablespoons, ⅓ cup ≈ 5⅓ tablespoons, ½ cup = 8 tablespoons and 1 cup = 16 tablespoons. These are US measures; an Australian tablespoon is slightly larger (20 ml), so 1 Australian cup is about 12.5 of them.
Tip: US tablespoons are 15 ml; an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml, so 1 Australian cup is about 12.5 of them rather than 16. Check which system your recipe uses.
For ingredient-specific weight conversions (like cups to grams of flour or rice), see our ingredient converters.
Tablespoons to Cups: frequently asked
How many cups is 4 tablespoons?
4 tablespoons is exactly ¼ cup.
How many cups is 8 tablespoons?
8 tablespoons is exactly ½ cup.