--- title: "Cooking Unit Converter Australia: 20 mL Tablespoon, Grams | AumnI tools" description: "Convert Australian cups, 20 mL tablespoons and teaspoons to millilitres and grams for 50 ingredients, with oven temperatures in Celsius, Fahrenheit and gas mark." url: https://aumnitools.com/au/tool/cooking-unit-converter category: "Lifestyle" country: "Australia" updated: 2026-11-08 --- # Cooking Unit Converter An Australian tablespoon holds 20 mL, not the 15 mL or 14.8 mL found elsewhere, so a recipe swapped across the Tasman or the Pacific quietly changes. This converter uses the 20 mL tablespoon, a 250 mL cup and weights for 50 ingredients, and lists the 15 mL and US spoons separately. ## Australia rules and figures - The Australian metric tablespoon is 20 millilitres, which is four teaspoons of 5 millilitres, not the three used in other countries. - Australia has no pint or fluid ounce with an official size that could be found, so those units appear only among measures from other countries. - The 20 millilitre tablespoon comes from Australian food sources, FSANZ and the ABS National Nutrition Survey, listed under the sources. - Australian ovens use Celsius, so the temperature tab opens with 180 degrees and shows Fahrenheit, gas mark and fan values. Sources: [FSANZ: Application A597 final assessment report](https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/sites/default/files/food-standards-code/applications/Documents/A597%20Lutein%20FAR%20FINAL1.pdf) (checked 2026-11-08); [ABS: National Nutrition Survey 1995](https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4807.0.30.001main+features601995) (checked 2026-11-08) ## How the Cooking Unit Converter works Everything is converted through millilitres for volume and grams for weight. Crossing between them uses the chosen ingredient’s density, taken from its weight in a US customary cup of 236.588 mL. Formula: `grams = mL × (grams per US cup ÷ 236.588); tablespoons = mL ÷ 20; fan oven °C = conventional °C − 20` - The Australian set is a 20 mL tablespoon of 4 teaspoons and a 5 mL teaspoon. No official Australian fluid ounce or pint is offered, so none appears in the local list. - The cup starts as 250 mL. The US customary and US legal cups sit under other cup standards for imported recipes. - One 20 mL tablespoon of butter at 227 g per US cup weighs 19.2 g, and 250 mL of granulated sugar at 200 g per US cup weighs 211.3 g. - Under Measures from other countries you will find the 15 mL tablespoon, the US tablespoon and the imperial pint. ## How to use the Cooking Unit Converter 1. **Enter the quantity.** Type the amount as written in the recipe, for example 3 for three tablespoons. 2. **Select from and to.** The first list is Kitchen measures in AU and starts with the 20 mL tablespoon. Pick a metric or weight target. 3. **Name what you are measuring.** Choose the Ingredient for any conversion between a spoon or cup and grams. 4. **Compare with other spoons.** To check a recipe from overseas, pick the 15 mL or US tablespoon in From and your local one in To. 5. **Convert the oven.** On Oven temperature type a number and choose Celsius or Fahrenheit. The fan equivalent is 20 degrees lower. ## Example: Three 20 mL tablespoons and a 250 mL cup in grams Three Australian tablespoons are 60 mL, which is 4.06 US tablespoons and 4 tablespoons of 15 mL. One tablespoon of butter weighs 19.2 g, and two tablespoons of honey weigh 57.5 g. A 250 mL cup of granulated sugar weighs 211.3 g. An oven at 180 °C is 356 °F, gas mark 4, and 160 °C with a fan. ## When to use the Cooking Unit Converter - **Cooking an American recipe.** Convert US tablespoons to 20 mL ones, which are 35% bigger, before you measure out the spices. - **Sending a recipe overseas.** Convert 20 mL tablespoons to millilitres so that someone using 15 mL spoons gets the same amount. - **Weighing ingredients for bread.** Turn cups of flour into grams for a scale, using the weights tab for each flour. - **Setting a fan-forced oven.** Enter the oven temperature in the recipe and read the fan setting 20 degrees lower. ## What the Cooking Unit Converter does not do - Ingredient weights are fixed single figures, mostly spooned-and-levelled. A packed cup of flour can weigh 20% more, so use them as a starting point. - Only 50 ingredients are listed. Anything else, such as grated carrot or chopped onion, needs a weight from the packaging. - The fan-oven setting is a flat reduction of 20 °C. Some ovens and recipes call for 25 °C. - Volume units cover US, imperial, Australian and Indian katori sizes only; Japanese cups and metric spoons beyond the listed ones are absent. A pint or fluid ounce is not offered as a local unit in countries with no official size. - The converter does not scale a recipe or change cooking times. ## When something else is a better fit - **When you want to scale a whole recipe for more or fewer servings**, use the [Recipe Scaler](https://aumnitools.com/tool/recipe-scaler.md). - **When you need general length, weight or temperature conversion**, use the [Unit Converter](https://aumnitools.com/tool/unit-converter.md). - **When you need exact weights for baking science**, use a kitchen scale and the weights printed by the recipe's author. ## Questions about the Cooking Unit Converter ### How big is an Australian tablespoon? It is 20 mL, or four 5 mL teaspoons. A US tablespoon is 14.79 mL and a 15 mL one is common elsewhere, so a recipe using three spoons differs by up to a quarter. ### How many grams is a tablespoon of butter? 19.2 g for a 20 mL tablespoon, derived from 227 g of butter per US customary cup. A 15 mL tablespoon of the same butter would be 14.4 g. ### Is a metric cup 250 mL here? Yes, the tool starts with a 250 mL cup for Australia. Change Cup standard to US customary (236.588 mL) or US legal (240 mL) when you follow a recipe from the United States. ### What is a fan-forced oven setting? The Oven temperature tab subtracts 20 °C from a conventional temperature. A 180 °C recipe becomes 160 °C. If food browns too fast, lower it again instead of shortening the time. ### Why is there no Australian pint? No official Australian pint or fluid ounce was found for this tool, so none is offered as a local unit. The imperial and US pints are still available under measures from other countries. ## Related tools - [Recipe Scaler](https://aumnitools.com/tool/recipe-scaler.md): Scale ingredient amounts to new servings in kitchen fractions and save your recipes - [Unit Converter](https://aumnitools.com/tool/unit-converter.md): Converts 102 units in 11 categories, with temperature offsets and 0 to 12 decimals - [Kitchen Timer](https://aumnitools.com/tool/kitchen-timer.md): Several named kitchen countdowns at once, with 27 cooking presets and an end chime ## About this page Runs in your browser: what you enter is processed on this device and is not uploaded. Last checked against the tool's code on 2026-11-08. Interactive version: https://aumnitools.com/au/tool/cooking-unit-converter