Grams of steel-cut oats to teaspoons runs on one number, 0.3 teaspoons 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 0.67628 g per mL, against 1.00 for water. A cup of water weighs 236.6 g and a cup of steel-cut oats weighs 160 g, so this ingredient is 67.63% as heavy as the same volume of water — the single fact the whole page rests on.
A level teaspoon of steel-cut oats weighs 3.333 g. A kitchen scale that reads to the nearest gram is therefore working at roughly 30% resolution on a single spoonful, which is why measuring spoons beat scales below about 5 g and lose to them above it. Three teaspoons make a tablespoon, so the same spoonful is 10 g if the recipe scales up.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.625% of a cup of steel-cut oats, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 3.125 cups, and a 1 kg pack 6.25.
The condition this weight assumes: Cut rather than rolled, so the pieces are dense and pack far tighter than flakes of the same grain.
The formula
grams- The amount of steel-cut oats you are converting, in grams
0.3- Teaspoons per gram for steel-cut oats, from its density of 0.67628 g/mL
teaspoons- The equivalent quantity in teaspoons
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.3, the teaspoons-per-gram figure for steel-cut oats.
- The result appears in teaspoons, with a second reading in mL 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 steel-cut oats in teaspoons
50 g of steel-cut oats weighs out at 15 teaspoons. Divide 15 by 0.3 and you get back to 50 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
150 g of steel-cut oats in teaspoons
Take 150 g of steel-cut oats: 150 × 0.3 gives 45 teaspoons. Doubling the batch takes it to 90 teaspoons, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
500 g of steel-cut oats in teaspoons
A recipe calling for 500 g of steel-cut oats needs 150 teaspoons on the scale. The arithmetic is 500 × 0.3 = 150, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 75 teaspoons.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many teaspoons are in 1 g of steel-cut oats?
One gram of steel-cut oats is 0.3 teaspoons. Half that quantity is 0.15 teaspoons and double it is 0.6 teaspoons, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of steel-cut oats not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Steel-cut oats has a density of 0.67628 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 160 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 76.6 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 steel-cut oats by roughly 20% — about 16 g either side of 160 g — because cut rather than rolled, so the pieces are dense and pack far tighter than flakes of the same grain. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of steel-cut oats 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 steel-cut oats weighs 0.7055 oz, so the two readings differ by 29.5%. 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 steel-cut oats would weigh 169.07 g instead of 160 g — 9.07 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?
At this size the spoon wins. One teaspoon of steel-cut oats is 3.333 g, and a scale reading to the nearest gram is working at 30% resolution on that — a measuring spoon is the more accurate instrument below about 5 g, which is why spice quantities are still written in spoons.
How much does 2 tsp of steel-cut oats weigh?
2 tsp of steel-cut oats comes to 6.6667 g, or 6.6667 grams. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the teaspoons-to-grams page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Steel-cut oats in grams and teaspoons
| Grams | Teaspoons | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 1.5 tsp | 1.5 |
| 10 g | 3 tsp | 3 |
| 25 g | 7.5 tsp | 7.5 |
| 50 g | 15 tsp | 15 |
| 100 g | 30 tsp | 30 |
| 125 g | 37.5 tsp | 37.5 |
| 150 g | 45 tsp | 45 |
| 200 g | 60 tsp | 60 |
| 250 g | 75 tsp | 75 |
| 300 g | 90 tsp | 90 |
| 500 g | 150 tsp | 150 |
| 1000 g | 300 tsp | 300 |
Based on 160 g per cup of steel-cut oats. One gram of steel-cut oats is 0.3 teaspoons.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 160 g | 5.64 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 10 g | 0.353 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 6.667 g | 0.235 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.333 g | 0.118 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 2.5 g | 0.0882 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.667 g | 0.0588 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 0.8333 g | 0.0294 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.4167 g | 0.0147 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graham cracker crumbs | 142 g | 5.009 oz | 0.6002 |
| Rice flour | 158 g | 5.573 oz | 0.6678 |
| Potato starch | 160 g | 5.644 oz | 0.6763 |
| Steel-cut oats (this page) | 160 g | 5.644 oz | 0.6763 |
| Semolina | 167 g | 5.891 oz | 0.7059 |
| Uncooked quinoa | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
| Dry couscous | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.