Milliliters to Tablespoons conversion

Milliliters to tablespoons

A recipe written in milliliters is easy to follow with a measuring jug, but for small amounts — a few tens of milliliters — the tablespoon is more convenient. One US tablespoon is 14.7868 ml, so milliliters ÷ 14.7868 = tablespoons. In practice most cooks divide by 15, which is what metric recipes assume anyway.

From milliliters to spoons

• 5 ml = 1/3 tbsp (one teaspoon)
• 10 ml = 2/3 tbsp (two teaspoons)
• 15 ml = 1 tbsp
• 20 ml = 1.35 tbsp (one Australian tablespoon)
• 30 ml = 2 tbsp (one fluid ounce)
• 45 ml = 3 tbsp
• 50 ml = 3.38 tbsp (3 tbsp + 1 tsp)
• 60 ml = 4 tbsp (a quarter cup)
• 100 ml = 6.76 tbsp (6 tbsp + 2 tsp)
• 125 ml = 8.45 tbsp (half a cup plus a teaspoon)

Dealing with fractions

A result like 3.38 tablespoons is best read as 3 tablespoons plus one teaspoon, because a teaspoon is a third of a tablespoon (0.33). Round to the nearest third: 0.33 is one teaspoon, 0.67 is two. Anything under 5 ml is easier measured in teaspoons directly.

Which tablespoon?

US customary: 14.79 ml. Metric (UK, Canada, most of Europe): 15 ml. Australia: 20 ml. An old British recipe may mean an imperial tablespoon of 17.76 ml. This page uses the US value; for metric recipes the numbers are within 1.5 %, close enough for any dish.

Coffee, cocktails and dressings

Coffee brewing guides give 10 g of grounds per 180 ml of water — about 2 tablespoons of ground coffee. A classic vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar: 45 ml oil (3 tbsp) to 15 ml vinegar (1 tbsp). Cocktail jiggers hold 44 ml, three tablespoons, on the large side.

Worked examples

25 ml of vinegar. 25 ÷ 14.787 = 1.69 tbsp — 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp.

90 ml of olive oil. 90 ÷ 14.787 = 6.09 tbsp, so 6 tablespoons.

7.5 ml of medicine. 7.5 ÷ 14.787 = 0.51 tbsp, i.e. half a tablespoon or 1½ teaspoons — but use the syringe that came with the bottle.

Frequently asked questions

How many tablespoons are in 30 ml? Two. 30 ml is also one fluid ounce.

How many tablespoons are in 100 ml? 6.76 — 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons.

Why is the answer never a round number? Because the US tablespoon is 14.787 ml, not 15. If you treat it as 15 ml the error is 1.4 %, invisible in cooking.

Related conversions

For amounts under 15 ml, divide by 4.93 to get teaspoons. For 60 ml and up, milliliters to cups gives the fraction of a cup.

Good to know

Medicine doses are where converting millilitres to spoons goes wrong most often. A study of household spoons found tablespoons ranging from 7 to 14 ml and teaspoons from 2.5 to 7 ml, so a "5 ml" dose measured with a random spoon can be off by half. Pharmacists and paediatricians now give doses only in millilitres and supply oral syringes marked in ml. Use the conversion on this page for cooking; for medicine, use the syringe. In recipes, the tolerance is generous — a tablespoon of stock more or less changes nothing — so rounding 25 ml to "a scant 2 tablespoons" is perfectly fine.