50 Tablespoons to Teaspoons

Fifty tablespoons is 3 1/8 cups, 14 spoons short of a quart

Start with the teaspoons, because that step fits in your head. A US tablespoon holds 3 teaspoons, so 50 x 3 = 150 teaspoons. In metric the same count is 50 x 14.78676478125 = 739.3382390625 mL, and 739.3382390625 / 29.5735295625 = 25 fluid ounces exactly. Divide by the 16 tablespoons in a cup and 50 / 16 = 3.125 cups, which is 3 1/8 cups.

The quart is the landmark at this size. A US quart is 64 tablespoons, 4 cups or 946.352946 mL, so fifty spoons come in 14 tablespoons under a quart. As a fraction that is 50 / 64 = 0.78125 of a quart, a little over three quarters. In a 1 quart deli container the batch reaches about the 78 percent mark.

No printed cup reads 3 1/8. The marks jump from 3 cups (48 tablespoons) to 3 1/2 cups (56 tablespoons), so this count always needs a spoon on top of a cup measure. The table below puts fifty next to the lines a cup or jug does carry.

Measuring fifty spoons with the cups you already own

Three cups plus two tablespoons is the fastest route: 3 x 16 = 48, and 48 + 2 = 50. Fill a 1 cup measure three times, then add two level spoons. With a 4 cup measure, pour to the 3 cup line and add the same two spoons, which leaves a cup of headroom to stir without sloshing.

Working down from a quart is the second route. Fill the quart, then scoop out 14 tablespoons, which is 7/8 cup, or a 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons. That is one dip with a quarter cup measure and three more scoops, and it leaves 50 tablespoons in the jug with no counting to fifty.

For liquid, skip the spoons and use a scale. Water, milk, stock, vinegar and juice all weigh close to 739.3 g at this volume, because a milliliter of each is about a gram. Tare the bowl, pour to 739.3, stop. Oil is lighter at roughly 0.92 g per mL, so the same 739 mL of olive oil reads about 680 g, and you should trust the volume mark rather than the gram target.

Dry goods swing the other way. A cup of flour scooped straight from the bag can weigh 140 g, while the same cup spooned and leveled weighs 125 g. Across fifty spoons that gap is 50 x 15 / 16 = 46.875 g, which is enough to turn a batter stiff. Spoon dry ingredients into the cup and level with a knife for anything above two dozen spoons.

What fifty tablespoons weigh: butter, flour, sugar and honey

Butter is the easy case, because a US stick is 8 tablespoons and 113.3980925 g. Fifty spoons is 50 / 8 = 6.25 sticks, and 50 x 14.1747615625 = 708.738078125 g. One 1 lb box holds 453.59237 g, so a single box falls 255.145708125 g short. Buy two boxes, use six sticks plus a quarter stick, and 198.446661875 g goes back in the fridge.

Dry goods split by density rather than by count. Level all purpose flour spooned into a cup is about 125 g, which is 7.8125 g per tablespoon, so fifty spoons is 50 x 7.8125 = 390.625 g. Granulated sugar runs 12.5 g per tablespoon, so 50 x 12.5 = 625 g. Honey is the heavy one at roughly 21 g per spoon, which puts fifty tablespoons at 50 x 21 = 1,050 g, more than two pounds.

Water sits in the middle at 739.3 g, since its density is close to 1 g per mL. Honey has a density near 1.42 g per mL, which is why the same 739 mL of honey weighs 1,050 g. Weight and volume only agree for thin liquids, and at fifty spoons the gap becomes a 300 g difference between two jars that look identical.

A fifty tablespoon batch: spice rub, marinade and party punch

Fifty spoons is a catering size, not a family size. A brisket rub applied at 2 tablespoons per pound covers 50 / 2 = 25 pounds of meat, which is a whole packer brisket plus a pork shoulder. A marinade at 4 tablespoons per pound covers 12.5 pounds, about one large turkey or two whole chickens.

Drinks scale the same way. Fifty tablespoons of lemon juice is 739.3 mL, or 25 fluid ounces, which is the juice of 17 to 25 lemons at 2 to 3 tablespoons each. Add an equal amount of simple syrup and the jug holds 100 tablespoons, which is 6 1/4 cups or 1.5625 quarts. At 2 tablespoons of concentrate per glass that is 50 glasses before ice and soda water.

A dip or dressing portioned at 3 tablespoons per person serves 50 / 3 = 16.7 people, so plan on sixteen generous bowls or seventeen small ones. At 2 tablespoons each the same batch covers 25 people, which is the number most potluck hosts want.

The container matters as much as the count. Fifty spoons is 3 1/8 cups, so a 4 cup mixing bowl holds it with 7/8 cup of room, while a 2 cup bowl overflows. Set the bowl on the counter rather than the stove edge, because a full 739 mL pour is heavy at the rim and tips easily.

Half, double and triple of fifty tablespoons

Halving is clean: 50 / 2 = 25 tablespoons, which is 25 x 3 = 75 teaspoons and 369.66911953125 mL. In cups that is 25 / 16 = 1.5625, or 1 9/16 cups, which you measure as 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon. Nothing on a cup is printed at that mark either.

Doubling lands on a line for once: 100 tablespoons is 100 / 16 = 6.25 cups, which is 6 1/4 cups, 300 teaspoons and 1478.676478125 mL. A 2 quart bowl holds it at 1.5625 quarts, just under the rim. Tripling gives 150 tablespoons, 9.375 cups and 2218.0147171875 mL, which is 2.25 quarts and needs a stock pot rather than a mixing bowl.

A quarter batch is 12.5 tablespoons, or 12 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons, which is 37.5 teaspoons and 184.834559765625 mL. That is the size for a single person making two or three servings of dressing, and it is the one cut that leaves an awkward half spoon.

US, metric and Australian spoons at fifty

The spoon on your counter and the spoon in the recipe are not always the same size. A US customary tablespoon is 14.78676478125 mL, which NIST Special Publication 811, Appendix B.8 prints as 1.478 676 E+01 mL per spoon, and the same agency rounds it to 15 mL for home cooking. A metric tablespoon sold in Europe and Canada is built to 15 mL exactly, so fifty of those give 50 x 15 = 750 mL.

That is 750 - 739.3382390625 = 10.6617609375 mL more than the US amount, which is 1.44 percent. For a dressing it makes no difference. For a cake it can, because 10 g of extra liquid shifts the crumb and adds a minute or two to the bake.

Nutrition labels use the 15 mL spoon too. The FDA rule at 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii) says a tablespoon means 15 mL, a teaspoon 5 mL and a cup 240 mL for labeling, so a label that lists fifty tablespoons is describing 750 mL, not 739.3.

Australia is the big fork in the road. An Australian tablespoon is 20 mL and holds four teaspoons, so fifty of them come to 50 x 20 = 1,000 mL, a full liter, and 50 x 4 = 200 teaspoons. That is 260.6617609375 mL more than the US batch, or 35 percent. Convert Australian spoon counts to teaspoons first, since a teaspoon is 5 mL in both countries, then work from teaspoons to cups.

Fifty tablespoons in a slow cooker, a sheet pan and a freezer tray

Bulk cooking is where fifty spoons shows up in a real kitchen. Tomato paste is the usual case. A 6 ounce can is 2/3 cup, which is 10 2/3 tablespoons, so fifty spoons take 50 / 10.6667 = 4.7 cans, or 739.3 mL. That is enough paste to season a chili that fills a 6 quart slow cooker.

Barbecue sauce scales the same way. At 2 tablespoons of sauce per pound of pork, fifty spoons glaze 25 pounds of shoulder, which is two big cuts or one whole picnic roast. A half sheet pan holds a single 8 pound butt with room for the drip, so the batch is cooked in stages rather than all at once.

The freezer is the better container for the rest. Fill an ice cube tray that takes 1/4 cup per well and 50 / 4 = 12.5 portions come out, each 4 tablespoons or 59.147059125 mL. Twelve full wells plus one half filled well is the whole batch, and each cube is a measured starting point for a smaller pan sauce later.

Write the date and the count on the bag, not the cups. A frozen block of 4 tablespoons is easy to count in the pot, while 1/4 cup of anything looks the same as 1/4 cup of something else once it is solid.