What Is a Third of 1½ Sticks of Butter?
A third of 1½ sticks of butter is ½ stick of butter — that's ¼ cup of butter.
Measure it as: 1/4 cup
How to measure ½ stick of butter
- With standard cups & spoons: 1/4 cup
- Tablespoon method: count out 4 level tablespoons. A cup is 16 tablespoons, so awkward cup fractions often come out to a clean number of spoons.
- By volume: 59 ml, or 2 fluid ounces — handy if you have a measuring jug.
- Using the wrapper: US butter sticks have tablespoon markings printed on the wrapper — ½ stick of butter is 4 tablespoons, so cut at the right marking.
Here's the math: 1½ sticks of butter is 12 tablespoons. Take a third of that and you get 4 tablespoons, which is ½ stick of butter. Working in spoons instead of cup fractions is the trick professional bakers use to scale recipes without special equipment.
½ stick of butter, every way
| Cups | ¼ cup |
| Tablespoons | 4 tbsp |
| Grams | about 57 g |
| Ounces | about 2 oz |
Recipe Thirds Chart: nearby amounts
| Original | A third | Measure it as |
|---|---|---|
| ½ stick of butter | ⅙ stick of butter | 1 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 1 stick of butter | ⅓ stick of butter | 2 tbsp + 2 tsp |
| 1½ sticks of butter | ½ stick of butter | 1/4 cup |
| 2 sticks of butter | ⅔ stick of butter | 1/3 cup |
See the full recipe thirds chart →
Frequently asked questions
How many tablespoons is ½ stick of butter?
½ stick of butter equals exactly 4 tablespoons. That's often the easiest way to measure it: just count out level tablespoons.
What is a third of 1½ sticks of butter in milliliters?
A third of 1½ sticks of butter is about 59 ml (2 fl oz).
What's the easiest way to measure ½ stick of butter without special cups?
Use standard measures: 1/4 cup. Every part of that comes from a standard measuring cup and spoon set.