One gram of sour cream is 0.066666667 tablespoons, so converting grams of sour cream to tablespoons means multiplying by 0.066666667. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.
Put next to water — 1 g per mL exactly — sour cream measures 1.0144 g per mL. That ratio, 101.4%, is what separates this page from every other ingredient in the same units, and it is measured rather than defined.
A level tablespoon of sour cream is 15 g, which puts a teaspoon at 5 g and a tablespoon and a half — the quantity recipes are fondest of — at 22.5 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 0.417% of a cup of sour cream, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 2.083 cups, and a 1 kg pack 4.167.
What the number depends on: Thick enough that it has to be spooned and levelled, which is where the measuring error creeps in.
The formula
grams- The amount of sour cream you are converting, in grams
0.0666666666667- Tablespoons per gram for sour cream, from its density of 1.0144 g/mL
tablespoons- The equivalent quantity in tablespoons
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.0666666666667, the tablespoons-per-gram figure for sour cream.
- 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 sour cream in tablespoons
Take 50 g of sour cream: 50 × 0.066666667 gives 3.33333 tablespoons. Doubling the batch takes it to 6.66667 tablespoons, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
150 g of sour cream in tablespoons
A recipe calling for 150 g of sour cream needs 10 tablespoons on the scale. The arithmetic is 150 × 0.066666667 = 10, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 5 tablespoons.
500 g of sour cream in tablespoons
Take 500 g of sour cream: 500 × 0.066666667 gives 33.3333 tablespoons. Doubling the batch takes it to 66.6667 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 sour cream?
One gram of sour cream is 0.066666667 tablespoons. Half that quantity is 0.0333333 tablespoons and double it is 0.133333 tablespoons, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of sour cream not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Sour cream has a density of 1.0144 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 240 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 3.4 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?
Barely. Sour cream does not compress, so a cup of it is 240 g however it is poured — within about 1%, which is inside the accuracy of a domestic scale. This is the group where measuring by volume is defensible.
Is a fluid ounce of sour cream 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 sour cream weighs 1.058 oz, so the two readings differ by 5.82%. 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 sour cream would weigh 253.61 g instead of 240 g — 13.6 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 1% for sour cream — roughly 2.4 g on a 240 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 sour cream weigh?
3 tbsp of sour cream comes to 45 g, or 45 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.
Sour cream in grams and tablespoons
| Grams | Tablespoons | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 0.333333 tbsp | 0.3333333333 |
| 10 g | 0.666667 tbsp | 0.6666666667 |
| 25 g | 1.66667 tbsp | 1.666666667 |
| 50 g | 3.33333 tbsp | 3.333333333 |
| 100 g | 6.66667 tbsp | 6.666666667 |
| 125 g | 8.33333 tbsp | 8.333333333 |
| 150 g | 10 tbsp | 10 |
| 200 g | 13.3333 tbsp | 13.33333333 |
| 250 g | 16.6667 tbsp | 16.66666667 |
| 300 g | 20 tbsp | 20 |
| 500 g | 33.3333 tbsp | 33.33333333 |
| 1000 g | 66.6667 tbsp | 66.66666667 |
Based on 240 g per cup of sour cream. One gram of sour cream is 0.066666667 tablespoons.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 240 g | 8.47 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 15 g | 0.529 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 10 g | 0.353 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 5 g | 0.176 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 3.75 g | 0.132 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 2.5 g | 0.0882 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 1.25 g | 0.0441 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.625 g | 0.022 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 236 g | 8.325 oz | 0.9975 |
| Heavy cream | 238 g | 8.395 oz | 1.006 |
| Vinegar | 239 g | 8.43 oz | 1.01 |
| Sour cream (this page) | 240 g | 8.466 oz | 1.014 |
| Tahini | 240 g | 8.466 oz | 1.014 |
| Half-and-half | 242 g | 8.536 oz | 1.023 |
| Egg whites | 243 g | 8.572 oz | 1.027 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.