To convert teaspoons of steel-cut oats into grams, multiply by 3.3333333: one teaspoon comes to 3.3333333 grams. Every ingredient has its own figure here, because the units are measuring different things and only the density links them.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Steel-cut oats comes in at 0.67628 g per mL, or 67.63% of water, which is why a cup of it is 160 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
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.
What the number depends on: Cut rather than rolled, so the pieces are dense and pack far tighter than flakes of the same grain.
The formula
teaspoons- The amount of steel-cut oats you are converting, in teaspoons
3.33333333333- Grams per teaspoon for steel-cut oats, from its density of 0.67628 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in teaspoons.
- It is multiplied by 3.33333333333, the grams-per-teaspoon figure for steel-cut oats.
- The result appears in grams, with a second reading in oz beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
3/4 tsp of steel-cut oats in grams
3/4 tsp of steel-cut oats weighs out at 2.5 grams. Divide 2.5 by 3.3333333 and you get back to 3/4 tsp, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
1 1/2 tsp of steel-cut oats in grams
A recipe calling for 1 1/2 tsp of steel-cut oats needs 5 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 1.5 × 3.3333333 = 5, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 2.5 grams.
4 tsp of steel-cut oats in grams
Take 4 tsp of steel-cut oats: 4 × 3.3333333 gives 13.3333 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 26.6667 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 tsp of steel-cut oats?
One teaspoon of steel-cut oats is 3.3333333 grams. Half that quantity is 1.66667 grams and double it is 6.66667 grams, 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 many teaspoons of steel-cut oats is 500 g?
500 g of steel-cut oats is 150 teaspoons — 0.3 teaspoons to one gram, so 500 × 0.3 = 150. Going that way is a division by 3.33333, or a multiplication by 0.3 if you prefer.
Steel-cut oats in teaspoons and grams
| Teaspoons | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 tsp | 0.833333 g | 0.8333333333 |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.66667 g | 1.666666667 |
| 3/4 tsp | 2.5 g | 2.5 |
| 1 tsp | 3.33333 g | 3.333333333 |
| 1 1/2 tsp | 5 g | 5 |
| 2 tsp | 6.66667 g | 6.666666667 |
| 3 tsp | 10 g | 10 |
| 4 tsp | 13.3333 g | 13.33333333 |
| 6 tsp | 20 g | 20 |
Based on 160 g per cup of steel-cut oats. One teaspoon of steel-cut oats is 3.3333333 grams.
| 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.