What this calculator does
A teaspoon is a fixed volume, but the weight of a levelled teaspoon depends entirely on what is in it: sugar packs far more densely than cocoa powder, so a recipe that says "5 grams" and a recipe that says "1 teaspoon" of the same ingredient are only interchangeable once the ingredient's density is known. This converter handles both directions, grams to teaspoons and teaspoons to grams, across nine common baking ingredients.
The figures use a US teaspoon, 4.93 millilitres, and assume the ingredient is loosely spooned rather than packed down, which is the standard baking convention. Packing an ingredient into the spoon, most noticeably with brown sugar, increases its weight for the same volume.
The formula
Each ingredient has a fixed reference weight for one US cup, since cup-for-cup density varies by ingredient but a cup is a constant volume (48 US teaspoons). Grams per teaspoon is that cup weight divided by 48. Converting grams to teaspoons divides the entered weight by that figure; converting teaspoons to grams multiplies by it.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Density (in this context) | How much a given volume of an ingredient weighs. Table salt is roughly 2.5 times denser than flour, so the same teaspoon of each has a very different weight. |
| Levelled vs packed | A levelled teaspoon is struck flat across the top; a packed teaspoon is pressed down first. Recipes normally mean levelled unless they say otherwise, and packing can add 10-20 per cent more weight for some ingredients. |
| US teaspoon | 4.93 millilitres, the standard used in US recipes and in this calculator. Australian recipes commonly use a slightly larger 5 mL teaspoon, close enough that the difference rarely matters for small amounts. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Convert | Whether you are converting a weight in grams to teaspoons, or a number of teaspoons to a weight in grams. |
| Amount | The amount to convert, in grams or teaspoons depending on the direction chosen. |
| Ingredient | The ingredient being measured, since different ingredients pack to very different weights in the same teaspoon. |
When to use it
Converting a nutrition label figure into a spoon measurement
Nutrition labels list sugar and salt in grams, but a home cook measuring by spoon needs that translated into teaspoons to actually portion it out.
Scaling a recipe that mixes gram and teaspoon measurements
A recipe with some ingredients in grams and others in teaspoons is easier to scale up or down once everything is converted to one consistent unit.
Checking a small dose or additive amount
Small quantities of baking soda, baking powder or salt are often specified in fractions of a teaspoon; converting to grams gives a more precise amount when a kitchen scale is available.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
How much does 5 grams come to in teaspoons, across different ingredients?
A fixed 5-gram weight, converted to teaspoons for each ingredient in turn.
| Ingredient | Teaspoons |
|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 1.20 teaspoons |
| Table salt | 0.82 teaspoons |
| Flour | 2.00 teaspoons |
| Cocoa powder | 2.82 teaspoons |
| Baking powder | 1.25 teaspoons |
| Baking soda | 1.09 teaspoons |
| Cornstarch | 1.88 teaspoons |
| Icing sugar | 2.00 teaspoons |
| Ground cinnamon | 1.82 teaspoons |
How many teaspoons of sugar for common gram amounts?
A range of gram amounts of granulated sugar, each converted to teaspoons.
| Grams | Teaspoons |
|---|---|
| 1 g | 0.24 teaspoons |
| 2 g | 0.48 teaspoons |
| 5 g | 1.20 teaspoons |
| 10 g | 2.40 teaspoons |
| 15 g | 3.60 teaspoons |
| 20 g | 4.80 teaspoons |
Questions
How many grams are in a teaspoon of sugar?
About 4.17 grams for granulated sugar, levelled rather than packed, based on 200 grams per US cup. Other sugars, such as brown or caster sugar, pack slightly differently and would give a marginally different figure.
Why is a teaspoon of salt heavier than a teaspoon of flour?
Salt crystals pack much more densely than flour, which traps a lot of air between its particles. The same teaspoon of volume therefore holds noticeably more mass of salt than of flour, roughly two and a half times as much.
Is a UK teaspoon the same as a US teaspoon?
They are very close: 5 mL for a UK/metric teaspoon against 4.93 mL for a US teaspoon, a difference of about 1.4 per cent. For most home baking that difference is small enough to ignore, though it can matter for very precise or scaled-up recipes.
Does packing the ingredient change the answer?
Yes. These figures assume a levelled spoon, the standard baking convention. Packing an ingredient down, especially brown sugar, increases how much fits in the same teaspoon and would make the actual weight higher than shown here.
For the reverse-focused version of this same reference, weight per teaspoon for a wider read on spooned measurements, see grams in a teaspoon of powder.