How to get 3/4 cup with 1/4 cup

If you’re trying to halve a recipe, but wonder how to halve 3/4 cup (or other tricky measurements), we’ve got you covered!

Let’s find out what is half of 3/4 cup (and other difficult measurements) so you can easily adjust quantities for the ingredients in your favorite recipes!

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Chances are pretty good that at some point in your cooking and baking journey, you’ve had to halve a recipe.

Maybe you don’t trust yourself with a whole pan of marbled cookie brownies, so you want a smaller batch. 😉 Or perhaps it’s just you and your significant other at Thanksgiving dinner this year, so you only need to make a handful of crescent rolls.

Whatever the case, it’s not uncommon for home cooks to need to cut down a recipe.

Maybe it’s been a long time since you played with fractions and decimals, but that doesn’t mean adjusting the quantities needs to be difficult.

Thanks to the US spoon and cup measurement system, this is typically pretty easy to do.

These spoons and cups generally double in size as they increase, so a standard measuring cup set often includes a 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, 1 cup, and sometimes 1/3 cup.

• Two 1/4 cups = 1/2 cup
• Four 1/4 cups = 1 cup
• Two 1/2 cups = 1 cup
• Three 1/3 cups = 1 cup

A standard measuring spoon set generally includes 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, and 1 Tablespoon.

• Two 1/4 teaspoons = 1/2 teaspoon
• Four 1/4 teaspoons = 1 teaspoon
• Two 1/2 teaspoons = 1 teaspoonn
• 3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon

If you need to convert between spoons and cups, you can use this handy metric:

• 1 cup = 16 Tablespoons
• 1/2 cup = 8 Tablespoons
• 1/4 cup = 4 Tablespoons

You can also see our full conversion chart for common measurements, including how to cut them down.

How Much is Half of 3/4 cup

Using the information above, it’s easy to cut nice, even numbers in half, such as a full cup or half of a cup.

But what is half of 3/4 cup?

Technically, since 1/4 cup equals 4 Tablespoons, then we know 3/4 cups equals 12 Tablespoons.

This means that half of 3/4 cup is 6 Tablespoons.

This is the same as 1/4 cup PLUS 2 Tablespoons.

If you don’t want to dirty even more measuring cups and spoons, I will often use 1/3 cup as half of 3/4 cup.

That’s because 3/4 cup is the same as 0.75 cup. If you divide 0.75 in half, you’ll get 0.375, which is very close to the 0.333 which is 1/3 cup.

Personally, I don’t think a few hundredths of a cup is going to make a big difference in most recipes, so I generally halve 3/4 cup to 1/3 cup.

How Much is Half of 1/3 cup?

Another tricky measurement that’s difficult to simply “cut in half” with mental math is 1/3 cup.

Because 1/3 cup is the same as 5 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (or 16 teaspoons total), we could halve that to be 2 Tablespoons PLUS 2 teaspoons (which is the same as 8 teaspoons total).

So half of 1/3 cup is 2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons.

How Much is Half of 1/4 Cup?

Since our measuring cups don’t usually go any smaller than 1/4 cup, how do you cut that amount in half?

This one’s a little easier. Since 1/4 cup is 4 Tablespoons, we can easily cut that in half to 2 Tablespoons.

So half of 1/4 cup is 2 Tablespoons.

Reference Chart for Cutting Down a Recipe

The conversion chart below shows common measurements, along with 1/2 the amount and 1/3 of the amount. This is perfect for those times when you need to cut down a recipe!

Guide to Halving Wet Ingredients

Wet ingredients, especially liquids such as water, oil, vinegar, etc., are measured with a liquid measuring cup instead of standard dry-ingredient measuring cups.

You can also use measuring spoons for small amounts of liquid, such as when using extracts.

For particularly thick or viscous wet ingredients, such as sour cream or peanut butter, you may find it easier to use a dry-ingredient measuring cup (this is what I generally do).

The chart above still applies for halving the amounts for wet ingredients, just the same as halving the amounts of dry ingredients.

How to Halve Ingredients Not Measured with Cups/Spoons

If you’ve ever wanted to halve a recipe that calls for 1 egg, you know how tricky these situations can be!

Here are a few suggestions for halving ingredients that aren’t measured in cups and spoons.

How to Halve an Egg

To halve a single egg, I always crack the egg into a small bowl or a coffee cup. Use a fork or a whisk to beat the egg until the yolk and white are well-combined.

Next, I measure 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture to use as half of the egg in my recipe.

How to Halve a Stick of Butter

Cutting a stick of butter in half is actually easier than you think! Most butter sticks come wrapped in packaging that includes tablespoon markings.

These wrapper markings make it simple to cut the stick in half. Since there are 8 tablespoons in a stick of butter, you’ll need to cut at the 4 tablespoon mark.

Using the Metric System in Baking and Cooking

Many other countries utilize a system of measurement known as the metric system.

You may remember it from your science classes, as it includes measuring in grams and liters (and their smaller and larger increments, such as milligrams, kilograms, milliliters, etc.).

As a former science teacher and nurse, I became quite adept at using the metric system–but I still rely on the US cups and spoons system for cooking and baking.

However, if you are using a recipe written with the metric system, you can halve the ingredients by simply halving the amount.

So, for instance, 500 grams would be halved to 250 grams. Similarly, 250 milliliters would be cut down to 125 milliliters.

How to Halve Ingredients with a Kitchen Scale

If you’re measuring by weight (as opposed to volume), a kitchen scale is particularly useful!

You can place your measuring cup or bowl on the scale, zero out the scale, then add your ingredient to the cup or bowl.

Watch the numbers on the scale closely as they increase to your desired amount, adding more or less as needed.

How to Halve Metric Ingredients without a Scale

If you don’t already have a kitchen scale, you can always perform a work-around by converting the metric measurements to the US cup and spoon system, then use our chart to adjust ingredients by 1/2 as needed.

This method is obviously a bit more labor-intensive, but it works in a pinch if you don’t have a kitchen scale.

Is a Kitchen Scale Worth it?

I’ll be honest, I survived for YEARS without owning a kitchen scale. However, I’ve owned one for a couple of years now and I do feel like it’s useful.

The nice thing is, kitchen scales are relatively inexpensive. You can get one on Amazon for less than $20, so even with occasional use, it’s well worth the price.

If you use a lot of metric recipes, I definitely think it’s a must-have.

But if you’re like me and most of your recipes are measured in cups and spoons, I’ll say it isn’t necessary, but can be helpful.

I most often use mine when making sourdough (which I measure in metric units), or when measuring the weight of ingredients.

Have you ever read a recipe that calls for 2 pounds of potatoes, or a pound of broccoli, or 6 pounds of apples, etc.?

A kitchen scale is really helpful for things like that, so you don’t have to “guesstimate.”

Cutting a Recipe in Half

Hopefully these tips and the handy conversion chart will take the guesswork out of your math the next time you need to cut down a recipe.

You can bookmark this page or pin it for later, so you’ll always have it accessible when you need it!