Tablespoons to mL Calculator — US, Metric, UK & Australian
Convert any number of tablespoons to millilitres — and see how US, metric, UK and Australian tablespoons differ by up to 35%.
tbsp
Tablespoon system
14.7868 mL per tablespoon (US tablespoon (14.79 mL))
- 1
Tablespoon size
14.7868 mLUS tablespoon (14.79 mL) standard. - 2
Total volume
4 × 14.7868 = 59.147
How does this calculator work?
mL = tbsp × size-per-tbsp. US: 1 tbsp = 14.7868 mL (16 tbsp per cup). Metric: 1 tbsp = 15 mL. UK: 1 tbsp = 17.76 mL. Australian: 1 tbsp = 20 mL (4 tsp × 5 mL). Select your country to avoid systematic measurement errors in international recipes.
Formula
How this is calculated
A tablespoon is a unit of volume, but the size of "1 tablespoon" varies significantly by country. The US tablespoon is exactly one sixteenth of a US cup (236.5882365 / 16 = 14.7868 mL). The metric tablespoon (used in most global cooking standards and international recipes) is a round 15 mL. The traditional UK imperial tablespoon is five eighths of a UK fluid ounce (17.7582 mL), though UK recipes today mostly use metric. The Australian tablespoon is 20 mL — noticeably larger than US or metric, which is why an Australian recipe calling for "1 tablespoon" contains more than a US recipe would.
This matters practically: if you follow an Australian recipe using US measuring spoons, every tablespoon is about 26% too small, which affects anything where quantity is critical (baking powder, spices, medicines). The stat grid also shows the equivalent in teaspoons, fluid ounces and US cups. The fraction bar at the bottom shows how many full tablespoons (in the selected system) fill a standard US cup, so you can see the relationship at a glance.
For liquid medications or supplements, always check whether the prescribed "tablespoon" is the US (≈ 15 mL pharmaceutical dose spoon) or another standard — many medicine spoons are marked at 15 mL regardless of country.
Frequently asked questions
Exactly 14.7868 mL. This is one sixteenth of a US cup (236.5882365 mL ÷ 16). In most US recipes and pharmaceutical contexts, 1 tablespoon is rounded to 15 mL for convenience, which is essentially a metric tablespoon.
Australia adopted 20 mL as its standard tablespoon when metrifying its measurement system in the 1970s, rather than converting the old imperial tablespoon (17.76 mL) exactly. So 1 Australian tablespoon = 4 teaspoons (of 5 mL each), while 1 US tablespoon = 3 US teaspoons. This difference frequently causes problems for international recipe conversions.
For the US system: exactly 16 US tablespoons in 1 US cup (236.6 mL). For metric: 236.6 / 15 ≈ 15.77 metric tablespoons per cup. For Australian: 236.6 / 20 ≈ 11.83 AU tablespoons per cup.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). Tablespoons to mL Calculator — US, Metric, UK & Australian [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/tbsp-to-ml-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "Tablespoons to mL Calculator — US, Metric, UK & Australian." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/tbsp-to-ml-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "Tablespoons to mL Calculator — US, Metric, UK & Australian," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/tbsp-to-ml-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_tbsp_to_ml_calculator, title = {Tablespoons to mL Calculator — US, Metric, UK & Australian}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/tbsp-to-ml-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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