Grams of dried lentils to tablespoons runs on one number, 0.083333333 tablespoons per gram. It is a measured property of this ingredient rather than a defined conversion, which is why a generic volume-to-weight tool cannot give you it.
The density behind that figure is 0.81154 g per mL, against 1.00 for water. A cup of water weighs 236.6 g and a cup of dried lentils weighs 192 g, so this ingredient is 81.15% as heavy as the same volume of water — the single fact the whole page rests on.
A level tablespoon of dried lentils is 12 g, which puts a teaspoon at 4 g and a tablespoon and a half — the quantity recipes are fondest of — at 18 g. Levelling twice is where the error comes from, so the scale is the faster instrument once the quantity passes a couple of spoons.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.521% of a cup of dried lentils, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 2.604 cups, and a 1 kg pack 5.208.
What the number depends on: Brown or green, dry. Split red lentils are a little lighter per cup.
The formula
grams- The amount of dried lentils you are converting, in grams
0.0833333333333- Tablespoons per gram for dried lentils, from its density of 0.81154 g/mL
tablespoons- The equivalent quantity in tablespoons
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.0833333333333, the tablespoons-per-gram figure for dried lentils.
- The result appears in tablespoons, with a second reading in tsp beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
50 g of dried lentils in tablespoons
Take 50 g of dried lentils: 50 × 0.083333333 gives 4.16667 tablespoons. Doubling the batch takes it to 8.33333 tablespoons, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
150 g of dried lentils in tablespoons
Take 150 g of dried lentils: 150 × 0.083333333 gives 12.5 tablespoons. Doubling the batch takes it to 25 tablespoons, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
500 g of dried lentils in tablespoons
Take 500 g of dried lentils: 500 × 0.083333333 gives 41.6667 tablespoons. Doubling the batch takes it to 83.3333 tablespoons, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many tablespoons are in 1 g of dried lentils?
One gram of dried lentils is 0.083333333 tablespoons. Half that quantity is 0.0416667 tablespoons and double it is 0.166667 tablespoons, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of dried lentils not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Dried lentils has a density of 0.81154 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 192 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 44.6 g per cup, and it is the reason a single volume-to-weight factor cannot be applied to every ingredient.
Does how I measure it change the weight?
Yes, and by more than most people expect. Handling changes the weight of a cup of dried lentils by roughly 20% — about 19.2 g either side of 192 g — because brown or green, dry. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of dried lentils the same as an ounce?
No. A fluid ounce is a volume — one eighth of a US cup, 29.57 mL — and an ounce is a weight. One fluid ounce of dried lentils weighs 0.8466 oz, so the two readings differ by 15.3%. They coincide only for something with the density of water, and then only roughly.
Is this a US cup or a metric cup?
US customary: 236.59 mL, which is the cup every US recipe means. A metric cup is 250 mL, so the same cup of dried lentils would weigh 202.88 g instead of 192 g — 10.9 g more, or 5.67%. Australian and some European recipes use the metric cup, and the difference is large enough to matter in baking.
Do I need a scale for this, or will measuring cups do?
A scale, if the result matters. Volume measuring carries a spread of about 20% for dried lentils — roughly 38.4 g on a 192 g cup — while a domestic scale is accurate to a gram or two. For anything where the ratio of ingredients drives the outcome, bread and pastry above all, weigh it.
How much does 3 tbsp of dried lentils weigh?
3 tbsp of dried lentils comes to 36 g, or 36 grams. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the tablespoons-to-grams page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Dried lentils in grams and tablespoons
| Grams | Tablespoons | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 0.416667 tbsp | 0.4166666667 |
| 10 g | 0.833333 tbsp | 0.8333333333 |
| 25 g | 2.08333 tbsp | 2.083333333 |
| 50 g | 4.16667 tbsp | 4.166666667 |
| 100 g | 8.33333 tbsp | 8.333333333 |
| 125 g | 10.4167 tbsp | 10.41666667 |
| 150 g | 12.5 tbsp | 12.5 |
| 200 g | 16.6667 tbsp | 16.66666667 |
| 250 g | 20.8333 tbsp | 20.83333333 |
| 300 g | 25 tbsp | 25 |
| 500 g | 41.6667 tbsp | 41.66666667 |
| 1000 g | 83.3333 tbsp | 83.33333333 |
Based on 192 g per cup of dried lentils. One gram of dried lentils is 0.083333333 tablespoons.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 192 g | 6.77 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 12 g | 0.423 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 8 g | 0.282 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 4 g | 0.141 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 3 g | 0.106 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 2 g | 0.0705 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 1 g | 0.0353 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.5 g | 0.0176 oz | 0.6161 mL |
US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup | Ounces per cup | Density (g/mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry couscous | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
| Uncooked white rice | 185 g | 6.526 oz | 0.7819 |
| Uncooked brown rice | 190 g | 6.702 oz | 0.8031 |
| Dried lentils (this page) | 192 g | 6.773 oz | 0.8115 |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
| Arborio rice | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
| Dried chickpeas | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.