Teaspoons to Grams — Conversion Guide for Common Ingredients

Recipes switch between volume and weight more than they should, and the teaspoon-to-gram conversion is one of the trickier ones because a teaspoon of salt weighs a completely different amount than a teaspoon of cinnamon. There's no single answer — it depends entirely on the density of the ingredient.

The Cooking Converter handles volume-to-volume conversions between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and milliliters. For weight conversions, you need the ingredient-specific densities below.

Why Teaspoons and Grams Don't Convert Directly

A teaspoon is a unit of volume: 1 US teaspoon = 4.929 mL. A gram is a unit of weight (mass). The relationship between the two depends on the density of the substance:

grams = teaspoons × mL per teaspoon × density (g/mL)

For water (density 1.0 g/mL): 1 tsp = 4.929 g ≈ 5 g For table salt (density ~1.2 g/mL): 1 tsp = ~6 g For all-purpose flour (density ~0.53 g/mL): 1 tsp = ~2.6 g

This is why you can't substitute a gram measurement with a teaspoon measurement without knowing the ingredient. A recipe that calls for "5 grams of salt" and "5 grams of flour" uses very different teaspoon quantities of each.

Teaspoons to Grams: Common Baking Ingredients

Teaspoons to Grams: Spices and Seasonings

Spices are where teaspoon-to-gram conversions get most inconsistent — dried spices vary significantly in density depending on grind coarseness and moisture content. These values are approximate:

For whole spices (whole peppercorns, whole cumin seeds), density is lower because of the air gaps between pieces — a teaspoon of whole spices weighs less than a teaspoon of ground.

The Salt Problem: Why Salt Conversions Are Especially Important

Salt is the ingredient where teaspoon-to-gram confusion causes the most recipe failures. Different types of salt have dramatically different densities:

• Table salt (fine, iodized): 1 tsp ≈ 6 g
• Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal): 1 tsp ≈ 3 g
• Kosher salt (Morton): 1 tsp ≈ 5 g
• Fine sea salt: 1 tsp ≈ 5.5 g
• Flaky sea salt (Maldon): 1 tsp ≈ 3–4 g

A recipe calling for "1 tsp table salt" and a recipe calling for "1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt" are calling for very different amounts of sodium — roughly double. If you substitute one type for another without adjusting the quantity, the dish will be significantly over- or under-salted.

The practical rule: if a recipe specifies a brand or type of salt, use that type. If it just says "salt," it almost certainly means table salt (fine salt). When converting between salt types: use half the volume of table salt if substituting Diamond Crystal kosher, or roughly 1.2× the volume of table salt for Morton kosher.

Converting Between Teaspoons and Grams: The Formula

If your ingredient isn't in the tables above, the formula is:

grams = teaspoons × 4.929 × density

Where density is in g/mL.

For water-based liquids (milk, juice, thin sauces): density ≈ 1.0, so 1 tsp ≈ 5 g For oils: density ≈ 0.9, so 1 tsp ≈ 4.4 g For honey and syrups: density ≈ 1.4, so 1 tsp ≈ 7 g For dense powders (salt, baking soda): density ≈ 1.2, so 1 tsp ≈ 6 g For light powders (flour, spices): density ≈ 0.5–0.6, so 1 tsp ≈ 2.5–3 g

Going the other direction:

teaspoons = grams ÷ (4.929 × density)

Example: A recipe calls for 15 g of honey. How many teaspoons? 15 ÷ (4.929 × 1.4) = 15 ÷ 6.9 = 2.17 teaspoons ≈ 2 teaspoons + 1/6 teaspoon (approximately 2 teaspoons and a splash)

When to Measure by Weight Instead of Volume

For any ingredient where precision matters, measuring by weight (grams) is more accurate than measuring by teaspoons. This is especially true for:

Leavening agents. Baking powder and baking soda are measured in small quantities that have large effects. A difference of 0.5 g can affect the rise of a cake noticeably. Using a precision scale set to 0.1 g increments beats a teaspoon measure for these.

Salt in bread dough. Salt in bread controls fermentation rate and flavor. Professional bakers specify salt in grams for this reason — 10 g is 10 g regardless of how it's measured.

Cocoa powder. Cocoa is light and compresses easily. A scooped teaspoon can hold significantly more than a spooned and levelled teaspoon. For chocolate recipes where balance matters, use weight.

Spice blends you're scaling. When multiplying a spice rub or blend by a large factor, teaspoon measurements accumulate imprecision. Weighing each component gives a reproducible result.

For liquid ingredients in everyday cooking — vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla extract — teaspoon precision is usually sufficient and weight measurement is overkill. Save the scale for baking and for dry ingredients where density variation matters.

Quick Reference: Common Baking Conversions

For volume-to-volume conversions — teaspoons to tablespoons, tablespoons to cups, cups to milliliters — the Cooking Converter handles all combinations. And if you need to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius for oven temperatures in the same recipe, the Temperature Converter is the quickest path.