Tablespoons to ML Converter

Convert tablespoons to milliliters instantly, with a reference table and the tablespoon sizes used outside the US.

US tablespoons

Milliliters

1 tbsp = 14.787 mL

Multiply US tablespoons by 14.78676478 to get milliliters.

The link carries the values you entered, so whoever opens it sees the same result. Nothing is stored on our side — the numbers travel in the link itself.

US tablespoons to milliliters reference table

The conversions people look up most often, rounded to 3 decimal places.

Common US tablespoons to milliliters conversions
US tablespoon (tbsp)	Milliliter (mL)
0.5 tbsp	7.393 mL
1 tbsp	14.787 mL
1.5 tbsp	22.18 mL
2 tbsp	29.574 mL
3 tbsp	44.36 mL
4 tbsp	59.147 mL
5 tbsp	73.934 mL
6 tbsp	88.721 mL
8 tbsp	118.294 mL
10 tbsp	147.868 mL
12 tbsp	177.441 mL
16 tbsp	236.588 mL
32 tbsp	473.176 mL

The US tablespoons people look up most

1 tbsp = 14.787 mL: An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml, which quietly changes a recipe by a third.
2 tbsp = 29.574 mL: One US fluid ounce, which is why American recipes switch between spoons and ounces without explanation.
3 tbsp = 44.36 mL: One tablespoon is three teaspoons, so this is 44.4 ml. That ratio holds in every system using both.
4 tbsp = 59.147 mL: A quarter cup, 59.1 ml. Measuring four tablespoons is more accurate than eyeballing a quarter of a cup.
8 tbsp = 118.294 mL: Half a cup, 118.3 ml - close enough to 120 ml that most metric recipes simply round it.
16 tbsp = 236.588 mL: A full US cup, 236.6 ml. Not the 250 ml cup used in Australia and much of Europe.

How the tablespoons to ml calculation works

A US tablespoon is 14.7868 milliliters — half a US fluid ounce, or three teaspoons:

milliliters = US tablespoons × 14.78676

The tablespoon is not standard internationally, and the outlier is large enough to ruin a recipe:

Tablespoon	Milliliters
US	14.79
UK / metric	15
Australia	20
Japan	15

An Australian tablespoon holds four teaspoons, not three. Following an Australian recipe with a US tablespoon leaves you 26% short on every spoonful — and in the other direction, using an Australian spoon for an American recipe adds a third again. On baking soda or salt, that is not a subtlety.

Most of the world uses 15 ml, which is 1.4% off the US 14.79 ml. That difference is genuinely negligible; the Australian one is not.

Common amounts, in US tablespoons:

1 tbsp → 14.79 ml
2 tbsp → 29.57 ml (1 fl oz)
4 tbsp → 59.15 ml (¼ cup)
8 tbsp → 118.29 ml (½ cup, or one US stick of butter)
16 tbsp → 236.59 ml (1 cup)

Butter is the one solid measured this way in the US. A stick is 8 tbsp, ½ cup, 4 oz, or 113 g — worth remembering as a weight, since butter converts to grams far more reliably than it does to spoonfuls.

For everything except Australian recipes, treating a tablespoon as 15 ml is close enough.

Frequently asked questions

Is a dessertspoon a real measure?

In British and Australian recipes, yes: a dessertspoon is 10 ml, which is two teaspoons, and it sits between the teaspoon and the tablespoon in a measuring set. American recipes do not use it, so an American cook meeting one dessertspoon should read two teaspoons rather than reaching for the middle spoon in the cutlery drawer, which holds whatever it happens to hold.

Is a British tablespoon 15 ml or 17.7 ml?

Both, depending on the age of the book. The modern British tablespoon is 15 ml, matching the metric standard. Older British recipes assume a larger spoon of about 17.7 ml - five eighths of an imperial fluid ounce - which is nearly 20% more. In a Victorian or early twentieth-century recipe that difference shows up in a sauce or a batter.

How should I measure a tablespoon of something sticky?

By weight, when it matters. Sticky solids do not fill a spoon the way a liquid does and leave a variable amount behind when scraped out. A level US tablespoon of peanut butter is about 16 g and one of honey about 21 g, from the same 14.79 ml of volume, because their densities differ. Weighing is quicker than levelling once the jar is already open.

Tablespoons to ML Converter