How Many Sticks Are In A Cup Of Butter

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If y'all're holding a recipe that's speaking almost butter in terms of pounds and cups, you may be left scratching your head. Butter comes in sticks—or blocks, depending on where you lot live—only definitely not cups. Plus, it's a solid, not a liquid, so measuring cups aren't much assist.

Then how do you measure out butter in terms of cups, tablespoons, and sticks? And how tin can you convert butter measurements into something you easily understand? It'due south like shooting fish in a barrel; we'll show you.

Why Is Butter Sold in Sticks?

Butter is most commonly sold in square or rectangular sticks or blocks. You might run into some rolled butter in dairy cases from time to fourth dimension, but the squared off edges of butter sticks or blocks make them easier to package, easier to ship, and a whole lot easier to stack in cooler shelves at the grocery store.

Stick butter is also easier to manage and measure out than scoopable spreads like margarine. These butter alternatives are meant more for smearing on corn on the cob or spreading on toast, not creaming with carbohydrate for pound cake or blending into flour for homemade biscuits.

How Many Sticks Are in I Cup of Butter?

In near parts of the state, butter is sold every bit square quarter-pound sticks. I of these sticks is eight tablespoons, or half (1/2) a cup.

That ways two sticks are in i cup of butter.

1 stick of butter is 1/2 (half) cup. Ii sticks of butter is i loving cup. Iv sticks is one pound, and y'all'll come across a lot of pound cake recipes call for four sticks, or a whole box of butter.

Elsewhere in the country, butter is sold in 1/two pound rectangular blocks. These blocks of butter accept 16 tablespoons, or 1 cup. Imported butter, such every bit Irish gaelic or French butter, is typically sold in these half-pound blocks.

It is possible to buy one-pound blocks of butter, too. While these are mostly sold at eating place supply stores, yous might find a few at a specialty grocery shop. These one-pound blocks are the equivalent of four foursquare sticks, or 32 tablespoons.

How Exercise I Measure I Loving cup of Butter?

Butter sticks and blocks virtually e'er come wrapped in a wax paper or aluminum that is marked with measurements to show you tablespoons and cups in each stick.

On a quarter-pound stick of butter, you lot'll run across viii tablespoons ticked off. You'll besides annotation measurements for one/4 cup (iv tablespoons), one/3 cup (5 ane/3 tablespoons), and i/2 cup (8 tablespoons). Some brands may have other measurements.

The wrapper likely will as well show that the stick is iv ounces, or 1/4 pound.

Most American recipes will call for butter in tablespoons, sticks, or cups. Some bakers or European recipes may reference butter in grams. This is the most precise way to measure butter, merely it will require you to accept a food scale.

The good news is many recipe creators piece of work to make butter measurement easy. For case, ane/3 cup of butter is v 1/3 tablespoons, and while 1/3 of a dry ingredient like flour isn't difficult to measure, splicing the thin tablespoon of butter into thirds to get i/3 loving cup might be, so they may round their measurements to just 5 tablespoons. That slight alter is unlikely to make a significant difference in your final dish.

Butter Measurements Conversion Chart

If y'all're holding a box of butter sticks and a recipe and demand to catechumen 1 to the other, use this butter measurements conversion chart to find out precisely how much butter your recipe needs.

Common Questions About Measuring Butter

How many sticks of butter is a 1/2 cup?

Ane quarter-pound stick of butter is a half (one/two) cup.

If you're using the larger 8-ounce rectangle butter blocks, the whole block is a 1/ii cup.

Check the butter's wrapper for the weight in ounces. A four-ounce stick is 1/2 cup; an eight-ounce block is ane cup.

Can I apply melted butter instead of softened?

No, if your recipe calls for hard or softened butter, you tin can't use melted butter. In short, the changes that happen to butter when information technology goes from a solid to a liquid will negatively bear upon the final dish.

For example, using melted butter in a biscuit dough that calls for cold, difficult butter volition likely mean the dough is likewise sticky to curlicue and the biscuits too flat to eat.

In a pound cake, using melted butter instead of soft butter will probable issue in a block that won't rise or is oily.

Can I freeze butter?

Absolutely you can freeze butter. If you bought too much or a neighbor offloaded some of their Costco booty, stick it in the freezer.

The sticks tin can go directly into the deep freeze, but nosotros recommend putting them in an air-tight container to terminate them from absorbing any fridge smells.

When yous're set to utilize them, move the sticks y'all need to the fridge and let them thaw 24 hours. Use them equally yous would in whatever other recipe.

Related: Salted or Unsalted? When to Employ the Right Butter