One tablespoon of powdered gelatin is 9.375 grams, so converting tablespoons of powdered gelatin to grams means multiplying by 9.375. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Powdered gelatin comes in at 0.63401 g per mL, or 63.4% of water, which is why a cup of it is 150 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A level tablespoon of powdered gelatin is 9.375 g, which puts a teaspoon at 3.125 g and a tablespoon and a half — the quantity recipes are fondest of — at 14.06 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 0.667% of a cup of powdered gelatin, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 3.333 cups, and a 1 kg pack 6.667.
The condition this weight assumes: Unflavoured. A standard envelope is 7 g, which is a little over two and a quarter teaspoons.
The formula
tablespoons- The amount of powdered gelatin you are converting, in tablespoons
9.375- Grams per tablespoon for powdered gelatin, from its density of 0.63401 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in tablespoons.
- It is multiplied by 9.375, the grams-per-tablespoon figure for powdered gelatin.
- 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
2 tbsp of powdered gelatin in grams
A recipe calling for 2 tbsp of powdered gelatin needs 18.75 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 2 × 9.375 = 18.75, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 9.375 grams.
4 tbsp of powdered gelatin in grams
4 tbsp of powdered gelatin weighs out at 37.5 grams. Divide 37.5 by 9.375 and you get back to 4 tbsp, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
12 tbsp of powdered gelatin in grams
12 tbsp of powdered gelatin weighs out at 112.5 grams. Divide 112.5 by 9.375 and you get back to 12 tbsp, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 tbsp of powdered gelatin?
One tablespoon of powdered gelatin is 9.375 grams. Half that quantity is 4.6875 grams and double it is 18.75 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of powdered gelatin not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Powdered gelatin has a density of 0.63401 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 150 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 86.6 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 powdered gelatin by roughly 20% — about 15 g either side of 150 g — because unflavoured. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of powdered gelatin 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 powdered gelatin weighs 0.6614 oz, so the two readings differ by 33.9%. 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 powdered gelatin would weigh 158.5 g instead of 150 g — 8.5 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 20% for powdered gelatin — roughly 30 g on a 150 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 many tablespoons of powdered gelatin is 500 g?
500 g of powdered gelatin is 53.333 tablespoons — 0.106667 tablespoons to one gram, so 500 × 0.106667 = 53.333. Going that way is a division by 9.375, or a multiplication by 0.106667 if you prefer.
Powdered gelatin in tablespoons and grams
| Tablespoons | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 tbsp | 4.6875 g | 4.6875 |
| 1 tbsp | 9.375 g | 9.375 |
| 2 tbsp | 18.75 g | 18.75 |
| 3 tbsp | 28.125 g | 28.125 |
| 4 tbsp | 37.5 g | 37.5 |
| 6 tbsp | 56.25 g | 56.25 |
| 8 tbsp | 75 g | 75 |
| 12 tbsp | 112.5 g | 112.5 |
| 16 tbsp | 150 g | 150 |
Based on 150 g per cup of powdered gelatin. One tablespoon of powdered gelatin is 9.375 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 150 g | 5.29 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 9.375 g | 0.331 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 6.25 g | 0.22 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.125 g | 0.11 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 2.344 g | 0.0827 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.562 g | 0.0551 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 0.7812 g | 0.0276 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.3906 g | 0.0138 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garlic powder | 134 g | 4.727 oz | 0.5664 |
| Instant yeast | 144 g | 5.079 oz | 0.6087 |
| Ground turmeric | 144 g | 5.079 oz | 0.6087 |
| Powdered gelatin (this page) | 150 g | 5.291 oz | 0.634 |
| Baking powder | 192 g | 6.773 oz | 0.8115 |
| Vanilla extract | 202 g | 7.125 oz | 0.8538 |
| Kosher salt | 240 g | 8.466 oz | 1.014 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.