Convert Cups to tablespoons (cup to tbsp)

To convert cups to tablespoons (cup to tbsp), multiply by 16. 1 cup equals 16 tbsp, about 67% of a soft-drink can.

1 cup equals
16tbsp
1 cup = 16 tbsp · 1 tbsp = 0.0625 cup
cup = - tbsp
UnitMojo 1 cup is about 67% of a soft-drink can unitmojo.com
A cup is not the same everywhere. These figures use the US customary cup of 236.59 mL. Australian, New Zealand and Canadian recipes use a metric cup of 250 mL (AS 1325); US nutrition labels use 240 mL (21 CFR 101.9); older British recipes use an imperial cup of 284 mL; a Japanese cup is 200 mL. Check where your recipe was written before converting, and for baking weigh in grams if you can. A tablespoon is not the same everywhere. These figures use the US customary tablespoon of 14.79 mL, close enough to the 15 mL metric spoon sold almost everywhere. Australia is the exception at 20 mL - a third larger - so an Australian recipe means something different by the word. So the count changes too: 1 US cup is 16 US tablespoons, but 1 Australian metric cup is 12.5 Australian tablespoons.

Reference table

cupstablespoons
1 cup16 tbsp
2 cups32 tbsp
5 cups80 tbsp
10 cups160 tbsp
25 cups400 tbsp
50 cups800 tbsp
100 cups1,600 tbsp
250 cups4,000 tbsp
500 cups8,000 tbsp
1000 cups16,000 tbsp

Is the cups to tablespoons conversion exact?

The factor is 16.0000, which is derived rather than defined, so any decimal you see has been rounded somewhere.

For mental arithmetic the factor is close enough to 16 to use directly: multiply cups by 16 and the answer is right to within a rounding error.

The reverse factor is 0.063, so one tablespoon is that many cups. Two decimal places is plenty for most purposes, and three is more than a tape measure can justify.

To anchor the scale: 1 cup is about 16 tbsp.

Show the working
1. Convert to the base unit (L):
1 cup × 0.23659 = 0.23659 L

2. Convert from L to tbsp:
0.23659 L ÷ 0.014787 = 16 tbsp

Common questions

How many tablespoons is 1 cup?
1 cup equals 16 tbsp, about 67% of a soft-drink can.
How many cups is 1 tablespoon?
1 tablespoon equals 0.0625 cup, about 3 times as much as a teaspoon.
Convert any other amount →

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