Knowing how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon (how many tsp in a tbsp) is essential to great cooking.

Tip: Screenshot or print the chart below or save it to Pinterest for easy conversions in the future. 

Teaspoons and tablespoons are measurement units used in cooking to measure smaller amounts of ingredients such as spices, liquids, oils, and extracts. It’s important to know the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon because they are not equal, and using the right one makes a big difference in the success of your recipes.

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons

Abbreviated: 1 Tbsp = 3 Tsp

It’s important to remember that tablespoon is abbreviated tbsp and teaspoon is abbreviated tsp. They are almost identical! That can be confusing, so when I write a recipe I always spell them out instead of using abbreviations (and I encourage other recipe writers to do the same).

Here is a handy chart to help you convert your measurements in the US:

For quick reference:

• How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?
  • 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons
• How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?
  • 2 tablespoons = 6 teaspoons
• How many tablespoons in ¼ cup?
  • • ¼ cup = 4 tablespoons
• How many tablespoons in 1 cup?
  • 1 cup = 16 tablespoons

Two Most Important Measurements to Remember:

Many times it’s easy to just use your teaspoon or tablespoon measuring spoon per the recipe instructions. For me, the two most important measurements to remember are:

• There are 3 tsp in 1 tbsp

• There are 4 tbsp in ¼ cup

If it feels confusing, screenshot the chart above or pin it to Pinterest for easy reference.

For our international friends, there aren’t any significant differences using the US measurements for teaspoons and tablespoons in recipes written with metric measurements. Here are some fun facts to know:

Imperial (US) System vs. Metric System

In the US, we use the imperial system to measure teaspoons and tablespoons (denoted US teaspoon or US tablespoon). In most other parts of the world, people use the metric system.

When it comes to teaspoons and tablespoons, the differences are so small that, in general, US measurements are practically identical to metric measurements in this case.

In the imperial system, 1 tablespoon equals ½ fluid ounce (which is 14.79 milliliters to be exact.) In the metric system, a metric tablespoon equals exactly 15 milliliters, so you can see that 14.79 mL is almost identical to 15mL for spice and liquid measurement purposes.

Australian friends: Something I recently learned is that while Australia does use the metric system, the Australian tablespoon is slightly different. An Australian tablespoon equals 20 mL (0.68 US fluid ounces). Again, this is a small enough difference that you can use the US (imperial) or metric teaspoons and tablespoons interchangeably in your recipes.

So, now we know. There are 3 tsp in 1 tbsp.

Happy Cooking!