How many ml in a tablespoon?

Tablespoons are not the same everywhere. The US tablespoon is defined as 1/2 fluid ounce, which works out to 14.787 ml. The UK standardized theirs to exactly 15 ml, which is slightly larger. Australia went even further and uses 20 ml tablespoons, a noticeable difference when scaled across a whole recipe.

In savory cooking, the differences are small enough to ignore. In baking, where the ratio of flour to fat to liquid matters, using the wrong tablespoon size can throw off texture. If a recipe was published in Australia and you use a US tablespoon, you are under-pouring by 25%. Converting to grams by weight (not volume) is the safest fix for serious baking.

Quick reference: Tablespoons to Milliliters

Worked examples

1. Example 1: A recipe says 3 tablespoons of olive oil. You only have a milliliter-marked measuring cup.

   Calculation: 3 × 14.79 = 44.4 ml.

   Pour a little over 44 ml. Round to 45 for easier pouring.

2. Example 2: An Australian recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of vanilla essence. You are using US tablespoons.

   Calculation: 2 Australian tbsp × 20 = 40 ml. 40 ml ÷ 14.79 = 2.7 US tablespoons.

   Use about 2 and 3/4 US tablespoons, not 2.

3. Example 3: A cocktail recipe asks for 15 ml of simple syrup. You only have tablespoons.

   Calculation: 15 ml ÷ 14.79 ml/tbsp = 1.014 tablespoons. Essentially 1 level tablespoon.

   A level US tablespoon is 99% of 15 ml. Close enough for cocktails.

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