Grams to Teaspoons Converter

How to use this calculator

Enter the gram amount. Select the ingredient from the dropdown. Each option shows the grams per teaspoon for that ingredient. Press Calculate to see teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, and millilitres.

Why small amounts matter most in baking

Teaspoon quantities are typically used for leavening agents, spices, salt, and flavourings. These are the ingredients where measurement error has the greatest impact per gram.

Leavening agents: Baking powder, baking soda, and yeast are active in small quantities. Too much baking soda leaves a metallic taste and makes baked goods rise too fast then collapse. Too little results in dense, flat products. The difference between 1 teaspoon and 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda can ruin a recipe.

Salt: Salt affects both flavour and gluten development in bread dough. A standard bread recipe uses about 1-2% of the flour weight in salt. For 500 g flour, that is 5-10 g = 0.88-1.76 teaspoons.

Spices: Small amounts of ground spice (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves) have intense flavour. An error of half a teaspoon can dominate a dish.

For all of these, weighing in grams then converting to teaspoons is far more precise than scooping directly from the container.

Grams per teaspoon reference table

Ingredient	g/tsp	Notes
Cocoa powder	1.77 g	Very light
Almond flour	2.80 g	Fine, dry
Active dry yeast	2.60 g	Standard measurement
All-purpose flour	2.60 g	Spooned, levelled
Powdered sugar	2.50 g	Fine, light
Cornstarch	2.67 g	Fine white powder
Ground cinnamon	3.10 g	Aromatic powder
Baking soda	3.60 g	Dense fine powder
Baking powder	3.80 g	Slightly lighter
White sugar	4.17 g	Granulated
Butter	4.73 g	Solid fat
Brown sugar (packed)	4.58 g	Pressed
Olive oil	4.50 g	Liquid fat
Vegetable oil	4.54 g	Liquid fat
Vanilla extract	4.25 g	Liquid flavouring
Water	5.00 g	Reference liquid
Milk	5.08 g	Dairy liquid
Salt (table)	5.69 g	Dense fine crystals
Maple syrup	6.71 g	Dense liquid
Honey	7.08 g	Very dense

Teaspoon size variation by country

Like tablespoons, teaspoons vary slightly by country. This matters less than tablespoon variation but can affect very precise recipes.

US teaspoon: 4.929 mL (exact: 4.92892 mL). This is the standard used in the calculator.

Metric teaspoon: 5 mL. Used in many countries as the official standard. The difference from US is 1.4%.

UK teaspoon (traditional): 5.92 mL. Less commonly specified in modern UK recipes, which usually follow metric.

Australian teaspoon: 5 mL (same as metric).

For practical cooking, the US and metric teaspoon are close enough (4.93 vs 5 mL) that the difference is negligible for most uses. The traditional UK teaspoon is 20% larger and does matter for leavening agents.

Salt: why grams matter more than teaspoons

Salt is a perfect example of why gram measurements are more reliable than teaspoon measurements. Different types of salt have very different densities, so the same teaspoon measure gives very different salt amounts.

Salt type	g/tsp	Notes
Table salt (iodised)	5.69 g	Fine, compact crystals
Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)	2.8 g	Coarse, hollow flakes
Kosher salt (Morton)	4.8 g	Fine flakes
Sea salt (fine)	5.5 g	Similar to table salt
Sea salt (coarse)	3.5-4.5 g	Varies by crystal size
Himalayan pink salt (fine)	5.5 g	Dense fine crystals
Fleur de sel	3.0-4.0 g	Light, flaky crystals

Professional recipes specify salt by weight for this reason. When adapting a recipe to a different salt type, always convert by weight.

Yeast measurements: grams vs teaspoons

Yeast is sold in standard packets of 7 g (2.25 teaspoons) in the US. Many bread recipes call for one packet or a specific teaspoon amount. Converting to grams ensures consistency when using bulk yeast rather than individual packets.

Yeast amount	Grams	Notes
1 tsp active dry yeast	2.6 g	Standard rise
1 tsp instant yeast	3.1 g	Faster acting, denser
1 packet active dry	7 g	Standard US packet size
1 tsp fresh yeast	~6 g	Much higher water content

Instant (rapid-rise) yeast is about 25% more active per gram than active dry yeast. Recipes typically call for 25% less instant yeast by weight compared to active dry. Converting both to grams makes this substitution calculation straightforward.

Teaspoons for spice blends and seasoning

Many spice blend recipes specify teaspoon amounts for each spice. Converting to grams before mixing a large batch saves time and improves consistency.

Scaling spice blends by weight eliminates the cumulative measurement error from filling many individual teaspoons. Each spice is weighed once on a scale, combined, then mixed.

Converting between teaspoons and millilitres

The US teaspoon is close enough to 5 mL that the approximation works for most cooking:

Teaspoons	Exact mL	Approximate mL
0.25 tsp	1.23	1.25
0.5 tsp	2.46	2.5
1 tsp	4.93	5
2 tsp	9.86	10
3 tsp (1 tbsp)	14.79	15
6 tsp (2 tbsp)	29.57	30
48 tsp (1 cup)	236.6	240

For medication dosing, always use the exact 5 mL for teaspoon-to-mL conversion and measure with a calibrated oral syringe. The 1.4% difference between US and metric teaspoons is irrelevant for cooking but matters for pharmaceutical dosing.

Accuracy and best practices for cooking measurements

For baked goods where small errors change results, weigh your ingredients rather than measuring by volume. A digital kitchen scale accurate to 1 g is the most reliable approach.

For measuring by volume: Use the correct cup standard for your recipe’s country of origin. Spoon ingredients into the cup rather than scooping. Level off with a straight edge. Read liquids at eye level with the measuring cup on a flat surface.

For measuring by weight: Tare (zero) the scale with the bowl on it. Add each ingredient directly to the bowl. Tare again between ingredients to add them one at a time without emptying the bowl.

Ingredient freshness: Old flour that has absorbed moisture weighs slightly more than fresh flour at the same volume. Weighing is unaffected by moisture absorption. Cup measurements become slightly off as dry ingredients age and their density changes.

Converting recipe quantities for different batch sizes

When scaling a recipe up or down, converting all measurements to grams first makes the scaling arithmetic much simpler.

Step 1: Convert every ingredient to grams using the appropriate conversion. Step 2: Multiply every gram value by the scale factor (e.g. 2 for double batch, 0.5 for half batch). Step 3: Convert back to your preferred units if needed.

This approach avoids fractional cup values like “2.67 cups” that are hard to measure. Instead you get a gram weight that can be measured directly on a scale.

For large-scale batch cooking (catering, meal prep services), all recipes are specified in grams or kilograms. Volume measurements become impractical at scale because a 100-cup batch cannot be measured accurately in individual cup scoops.

Ingredient substitutions and weight equivalents

When substituting one ingredient for another, weight equivalents are more reliable than volume equivalents. Different forms of the same ingredient have different densities.

Flour substitutions:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (125 g): substitute 1 cup + 2 tbsp cake flour (130 g) for a lighter texture, or use the gram weight for precision
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (125 g): substitute 95 g almond flour + 10 g arrowroot for a grain-free alternative

Sugar substitutions:

• 200 g white sugar: substitute 170 g honey (reduce other liquids by 30 mL) or 160 g maple syrup
• Liquid sweeteners are denser than granulated sugar, so volume measurements give incorrect ratios

Fat substitutions:

• 113 g butter (1/2 cup): substitute 95 mL vegetable oil (3/4 the volume, same mass of fat)
• Coconut oil is slightly less dense than butter; use the same gram weight, not the same cup amount

In every substitution case, using gram weights rather than cup volumes gives the correct ratio of the functional ingredient (fat, sugar, protein) regardless of the physical form.

Altitude adjustments in baking

At high altitudes (above 3000 feet / 900 m), leavening gases expand more rapidly. Standard recipes need adjustment. These adjustments are small and best expressed in grams or millilitres.

General high-altitude guidelines for baked goods:

• Reduce baking powder by 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per teaspoon called for
• Increase liquid by 2-4 tablespoons per cup (30-60 mL)
• Increase flour by 1-2 tablespoons per cup (8-16 g of all-purpose flour)
• Reduce sugar by 1-2 tablespoons per cup (12-25 g)

These adjustments are most reliable when expressed in grams because the percentage change relative to total weight is what matters physically. Adding “2 tablespoons of flour” means different things at different altitudes if the original cup was scooped vs spooned.

Using these conversions for nutritional tracking

Tracking food intake for health, fitness, or medical purposes requires accurate weight measurements. Most nutrition databases list macronutrients per 100 g of a food. Converting the amount you actually used (in tablespoons, teaspoons, or mL) to grams lets you look up the accurate nutritional content.

For cooking oils, a recipe might say “2 tablespoons of olive oil.” Converting: 2 tablespoons × 14.787 mL/tbsp × 0.915 g/mL = 27.1 g. Looking up 27 g of olive oil in a nutrition database gives accurate calorie and fat content for that dish.

For sweeteners, “1 tablespoon of honey” = approximately 21.25 g. At 3 kcal/g for carbohydrates, and honey being about 80% carbohydrates by weight: 21.25 × 0.80 × 4 = 68 kcal per tablespoon. The standard nutrition label value for honey is 64-68 kcal per tablespoon, confirming this calculation.

Accurate gram weights also matter for sodium tracking. A teaspoon of table salt = 5.69 g × 39.3% sodium = 2.24 g sodium = 2240 mg. Dietary guidelines recommend under 2300 mg sodium per day, so one teaspoon of salt is essentially the entire daily allowance.