Teaspoons to Cups Converter

1. Teaspoons and cups in cooking recipes
2. How many teaspoons make a cup?
3. Converting between tsp and cups
4. Teaspoons to cups conversion tables
• Teaspoons to cups conversion table (US)
• Imperial teaspoons to cups table

    Teaspoons and cups in cooking recipes

Both teaspoons and cups are often encountered as units of measurement for ingredients in cooking recipes, as well as grocery shopping lists. Both units measure volume and are therefore more or less interchangeable with the former used more for smaller quantities for things like spices, seasonings, and dressings while the latter can more often be seen next to main ingredients such as water, milk, and flour.

Teaspoons are units of volume defined in two official ways. One US teaspoon is defined as exactly 5 milliliters while an Imperial teaspoon is 6 milliliters. The former definition sees wider use in later decades as it is the official and legal definition, while the latter is more likely to be encountered in older books.

The cup is als a unit for measuring volume. The most used definition is the US legal cup defined as containing 240 ml of volume as per a 1970 international treaty the US is a part of. Older recipes might reference Imperial cups which equal 284 ml. This converter supports all of them.

    How many teaspoons make a cup?

There are 48.7 teaspoons in a cup according to the US definition of cups and teaspoons while in the Imperial (UK) versions of the same units 48 teaspoons equal a cup. Basic algebraic operations are used to derive those equalities starting with the base definitions of the units in ml.

    Converting between tsp and cups

Conversion from teaspoons to cups is a matter of simple mathematical division. There is no juggling of units involved as both are units of volume.

Twelve teaspoons of salt to cups

Sample task: convert 12 teaspoons of salt to cups, by using the US definition of each unit. Solution:

Formula:
tsp / 49.692 = US cup
Calculation:
12 tsp / 49.6920 = 0.241488 US cup
End result:
12 tsp is equal to 0.241488 US cup

The result can be rounded slightly to arrive at 0.25 cups (¼ cup) for easier communication and practical applications.

Four teaspoons of sugar to cups

Sample task: convert four teaspoons of sugar to cups, following the UK / Imperial definitions for both units. Solution:

Formula:
tsp / 48 = Imperial cup
Calculation:
4 tsp / 48 = 0.083333 Imperial cup
End result:
4 tsp is equal to 0.083333 Imperial cup

This is just below one tenth of a cup, and you can see why a teaspoon was used as a measurement unit instead of a cup as it becomes impractical for such small volumes.

Teaspoons to cups conversions work the same regardless of the ingredient. You can replace salt and sugar with flour, milk, maple syrup, or honey, and the math will hold.

    Teaspoons to cups conversion tables

For your convenience, we present conversion charts for cups (US, UK) and their equivalent numbers of teaspoons.

Teaspoons to cups conversion table (US)

This table contains volumes in US teaspoons in the left column and volumes in US cups in the right column. To use it, simply find the quantity in the left column and look up the value in cups to the right on the same row. Note that the table starts at 10 since values below ten like four or six are simply way too hard to gauge in a cup.

Imperial teaspoons to cups table

A kitchen recipe conversion table following the UK standard for both units.