How Many Tablespoons in a Half Cup?

The pivot in the middle of the cup

Half of 1¼ cups is ⅝ cup, a measure nobody owns. It's also 10 tablespoons, and that's easy: one ½ cup, then 2 tablespoons. That's the use of knowing the half cup is 8. It stands in the middle of the cup, and awkward amounts turn out to be a short step from it. Nine tablespoons is ½ cup plus 1. Ten is plus 2. Twelve has its own measure. Fourteen is the ¾ cup plus 2 more.

When a halved line gets ugly, I'd drop the fractions and work in tablespoons. Half of 20 tablespoons is 10, and the pivot does the rest. The same goes for ¾ cup, whose half is ⅜ cup on paper and 6 tablespoons in practice: a ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons, using measures found in a normal set. To see a pivot plan, type 10 with tablespoons selected, or 5/8 with cups selected, in the conversion calculator. It works out the fewest scoops from the measures you own and shows the equivalents below it.

Halving a whole card, line by line

Rewrite the halved numbers next to the originals before you pick up a spoon. Doing the division in your head at the counter is how the same line gets halved twice. A card for four, cut down for two, looks like this:

• 1¼ cups stock: 10 tablespoons, or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons
• ¾ cup rice: 6 tablespoons, or ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons
• ⅓ cup milk: 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
• 1 tablespoon oil: 1½ teaspoons
• 1½ teaspoons salt: ¾ teaspoon, or ½ + ¼ teaspoon

The first two lines are a short step from the pivot. The last three ask for teaspoons, and that's where to slow down.

Can you just cut everything in half?

The measures, yes. The rest of the recipe needs a second look. The recipe scaler halves a whole ingredient list at once and flags eggs, pan size, leavening and cooking time for checking by hand, and I'd take that warning seriously. Those are the lines where a straight division can be arithmetically right and practically wrong. Half a recipe in the same pan isn't half a recipe at all, it's a different thickness.

Half a cup of honey, by the spoon

Still 8, and this is where counting spoons costs you something. Say a quarter teaspoon of honey stays behind on the spoon each time. Eight spoonfuls later, 2 teaspoons never reached the bowl, which is about 8% of the half cup, and you did nothing you'd call a mistake. One ½ cup measure means one scrape instead of eight, so if you own it, this is the moment to use it.

Better still is not measuring by volume at all. On the King Arthur chart, ½ cup of honey is 168 grams, molasses is 170 grams, maple syrup is 156 grams and peanut butter is 135 grams. Set the bowl on a scale, zero it, pour until the number arrives, and there's nothing to scrape, which I think is the single best trade available on this page.

If a spoon is really all you've got, push each spoonful clear with a small spatula or a second spoon before going back for the next. It's tedious. It's also the difference between 8 tablespoons and 8 tablespoons minus whatever stayed on the metal.

Is ½ cup the same as a stick of butter?

Yes: 1 US stick is ½ cup, 8 tablespoons, 4 ounces, 113 grams. So if the line says ½ cup of butter, don't measure anything, unwrap a stick. Half of it is ¼ cup, which is the quarter-cup question and four tablespoons by the wrapper's marks.