Half of 3/4 Cup, 1/3 Cup or Any Measure: Halve or Double It

Type a measure the way a recipe writes it: 3/4 cup, 1 1/2 tbsp, ⅓ c, 2 tablespoons, 200 g, 3 eggs or 1 stick butter. Pick ½, ⅓, 2x or 3x, or Other for any multiplier such as 1.5 or 3/4. The answer comes in the cups and spoons you own, with the fewest scoops from a standard measuring set and the amount in milliliters. To change a whole recipe, paste its ingredients into the second box.

What is half of ¾ cup?#

Half of ¾ cup is 6 tablespoons, which is the same as ⅜ cup. A cup holds 16 tablespoons, so ¾ cup is 12 tablespoons, and half of 12 is 6. Nobody owns a ⅜ cup measure, so measure it one of three ways:

• 6 level tablespoons, the simplest to remember.
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons, the way most cookbooks write it.
• ⅓ cup plus 2 teaspoons, the fewest scoops: ⅓ cup is 16 teaspoons, and 2 more make 18, which is 6 tablespoons.

Halving chart for cups#

Half of ⅓ cup is 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons. Half of ¼ cup is 2 tablespoons, half of ⅔ cup is ⅓ cup, half of 1¼ cups is ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons and half of 1½ cups is ¾ cup. The chart covers every cup measure in a standard set and the mixed amounts recipes use most, with the quickest way to scoop each one.

The "fewest scoops" column is worth a look even when you know the answer. Half of 1⅔ cups is ⅚ cup, which reads like a puzzle until you see it is just ½ cup plus ⅓ cup.

Half of a tablespoon or teaspoon#

Half of 1 tablespoon is 1½ teaspoons, half of 1 teaspoon is ½ teaspoon, half of ¾ teaspoon is ⅜ teaspoon (¼ plus ⅛), and half of ¼ teaspoon is ⅛ teaspoon. A tablespoon holds 3 teaspoons, which is why halving one lands on a teaspoon and a half rather than a neat spoon.

A third of a cup measure#

A third of 1 cup is ⅓ cup, a third of ¾ cup is ¼ cup and a third of ½ cup is 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons. Thirds of the other measures fall between the spoons in a set: a third of ⅓ cup is 1 tablespoon plus 2⅓ teaspoons, so measure 1 tablespoon, 2 teaspoons and a heaping ¼ teaspoon. The tool above shows the closest scoops for any third.

Doubled and tripled measures#

Doubled, ¾ cup is 1½ cups, ⅔ cup is 1⅓ cups, ⅓ cup is ⅔ cup and ¼ cup is ½ cup. For spoons, ½ teaspoon doubled is 1 teaspoon, ¾ teaspoon doubled is 1½ teaspoons, and 1½ teaspoons doubled is 1 tablespoon. Tripling is where spoons roll up into the next size: 3 teaspoons become a tablespoon, and ⅓ cup tripled is a whole cup.

Doubling a whole recipe has a few traps of its own, from pan size to salt and bake time. Our guide on how to double a recipe goes through them.

How to halve an egg, butter and other odd amounts#

Eggs

Beat the egg and use half. A large egg weighs about 50 grams out of the shell, according to the King Arthur Baking ingredient chart, so half is about 25 grams, or roughly 1½ tablespoons of beaten egg. Half of 3 eggs is 1 egg plus half of a second beaten egg, about 75 grams in all. The rest of the beaten egg keeps covered in the fridge for scrambled eggs or an egg wash. No eggs at all? Use the egg substitute finder, which also handles half an egg.

Butter

A US stick of butter is ½ cup, which is 8 tablespoons and about 113 grams, and the wrapper is usually marked in tablespoons. Half a stick is 4 tablespoons (¼ cup); cut along the line.

Cans, packages and pinches

• Half a can: use half and keep the rest covered in the fridge in a container, not the open can.
• Half a package of cream cheese or a box of pasta: weigh it if you have a scale, or go by the markings on the package.
• Half a pinch or a dash: use a small pinch and taste. Halving the seasoning exactly matters less than tasting at the end.
• Grams and ounces: they halve exactly. Half of 200 grams is 100 grams; half of 1 pound is 8 ounces.

How to halve a whole recipe#

To halve a recipe, halve every ingredient, round each result to a measure you own, and bake in a pan with about half the area. The second box at the top of this page does the first two steps for a whole ingredient list.

1. 1

   Write the new list first

   Halve every line before you start, including the small ones. Forgetting to halve the baking soda is the classic mistake.
2. 2

   Round to measures you own

   Use the charts above: ⅜ cup becomes 6 tablespoons, ⅙ cup becomes 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons.
3. 3

   Handle the egg

   Beat it and use half, about 25 grams of a large egg.
4. 4

   Pick a smaller pan and check early

   Use a pan with about half the area. King Arthur Baking suggests setting a timer for half the original bake time, then checking every few minutes until it is done.

To resize by servings, switch cups to grams, or get notes on salt, leavening and pans for every line, use the recipe converter. It reads the same ingredient lists as this page and works out any new size.

Measuring small amounts so the half is really half#

• Level every dry measure. Scoop, then sweep the top flat with the back of a knife; a heaped spoon holds noticeably more than a level one, and the difference doubles when you double the recipe.
• Measure liquids at eye level in a clear cup, or use the spoons, which hold the same volume for liquid and dry.
• Weigh when it matters. For baking, grams halve exactly with no rounding at all, which is why King Arthur Baking recommends switching to weights when you reduce a recipe.
• Keep the halved recipe. If you will make the smaller batch again, write the new amounts down once. Our guide to writing a recipe has a free card maker for it.

Keep the new amounts with the recipe#

Working out halves at the counter once is fine; doing it every time you make the recipe is not. In CookEase, every saved recipe has a Serves control: change it and every amount updates, including the amounts written in the steps, while the saved recipe stays as it was (here is how it works). The shopping list you make from it uses the new amounts too. Use Save to CookEase above to keep a halved list, or browse more free kitchen tools.