How Many Tablespoons in an Ounce?

Are you getting ready to bake your favorite cake, but you got stuck on the recipe? Do you need to know how many tablespoons in an ounce to ensure you are using the right quantities? If you can’t find your way around conversions from tablespoons, teaspoon, and cups to ounces, and feel discouraged, don’t worry, we have all the answers you need. Read out the article and you will be ready to correctly transform all your number into the right equivalent in the Imperial system.

First, we need to clear our notions a little, before we can get to the actual cooking. There are two types of ingredients for cooking and baking, and they come with different measurements systems. We have the dry ingredients such as flour or cocoa powder and the liquid or wet ingredients, such as milk, water or honey. The dry ones are measured in tablespoons (tbsp.) and cups in the American system and can be converted to ounces (fl oz). For the liquid ingredients, we use table tablespoons, and we can also convert them to ounces, also known as fluid ounces.

Tablespoons to Fluid Ounce Conversion – How Many Tablespoons in an Ounce?

Let’s not get confused by the various systems of teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, and ounces. There is a logical progression here, so here are the most common quantities converted in fluid ounces. So, one tablespoon of liquid equals 0.5 fluid ounces, and one fluid ounce contains two tablespoons. This applies to measuring the volume of fluids such as milk or water, which are generally presented in recipes measured in tablespoons. Here you can see how many tablespoons in an ounce to ensure that you get the right quantity.

Imperial	American
0.5 fl oz	1 tbsp
1 fl oz	2 tbsp
1.5 fl oz	3 tbsp
2 fl oz	4 tbsp (¼ cup)
2.5 fl oz	5 tbsp (1/3 cup)
3 fl oz	6 tbsp
3.5 fl oz	7 tbsp
4 fl oz	8 tbsp (½ cup)
4.5 fl oz	9 tbsp
5 fl oz	10 tbsp (2/3 cup)
6 fl oz	12 tbsp (¾ cup)
8 fl oz	16 tbsp (1 cup)
9 fl oz	18 tbsp
10 fl oz	20 tbsp

So, how many tablespoons are in an ounce? The answer is two tbsp. per fl oz. If you follow the table, it will be very easy to rapidly transform liquid ingredients in the necessary system, and you don’t even need to count, add or subtract.

Tablespoons to Ounce Conversion for Dry Ingredients

How many tablespoons in an ounce of dry ingredients, you ask? The answer is ½ ounces or three teaspoons. It’s the same as for liquid ingredients, as you can see in the table above. The only difference between measuring liquid volume and the dry measure equivalents is the introduction of the cup. Transforming ounces to cups and tablespoons can get your head spinning, but things are not as difficult as they seem.

The confusion arises when dry ingredients are measured in cups. So, how do you know how many tablespoons are in a cup of flour? Look at the table below and you will see how it works. It’s not that complicated after you understand that tablespoons are a subunit of cups, and there are 16 tablespoons in a cup, 8 in half a cup and so on.

American Standard
1 tbsp	1/16 cup
2 tbsp	1/8 cup
4 tbsp	¼ cup
5 1/3 tbsp	1/3 cup
8 tbsp	1/2 cup
12 tbsp	¾ cup
32 tbsp	2 cups

Although cups match the dry ingredients, you might come across expressions such as “Add one cup of milk” or “Pour half a cup of water”, and if you do, don’t despair. There is a simple solution to convert cups to tablespoons and then to ounces if you need to. Just look at the table above and find the amount presented in your recipe, then transform it into tablespoons.

Various Conversions for Different Ingredients

After you have looked through the two tables, your cheesecake recipe measurement conversions will prove to be as easy as pie. If you need to add butter, for example, four ounces equals how many tablespoons? The answer is eight tablespoons or half a cup of butter. To find out how many tablespoons are in 8 ounces, just double that, so 16 tbsp. How many tablespoons in an ounce should no longer be a tricky question for you.

If you need to convert ingredients from fl oz to tbsp and need to know how many ounces in a tablespoon just look at the first table. The answer is ¼. If you need to add half an ounce of milk to your cake, and you don’t have a special cup all you need to do is find out how many tablespoons in a fluid ounce. You have two add two tablespoons of milk.

Useful Tips to Clear Things Up

If you find yourself stuck in front of a recipe, and you are afraid that you will get the quantities wrong just think about the volume measurements in term of progression. The smallest unity is a teaspoon, then comes the tablespoon, then the ounce and lastly the cup. It will be easier for you to understand the conversions and then measure exactly what you need to make the perfect cake.

Keep in mind that Australian and British people have their own variations that don’t coincide with the American ones, while Europeans use an entirely different system, the metric one. In Europe, they measure the volume of liquids in milliliters, and the weight of dry ingredients in grams.

Another fun fact is that the Australians use the tablespoon as a measurement, but theirs is almost twice as big as the American one. Apparently, cooking and baking are not as simple as they might seem, but still, it will be easy for you to manage after you understood how to measure the ingredients. Now all you have to do is start your oven and then pick a delicious recipe. So, anyway, how many tablespoons in an ounce?

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