Half of every common measure
Amount | Half | A third | Double |
|---|---|---|---|
¼ cup | 2 tbsp | 1 tbsp + 1 tsp | ½ cup |
⅓ cup | 2 tbsp + 2 tsp | 1 tbsp + 2 ¼ tsp | ⅔ cup |
½ cup | ¼ cup | 2 tbsp + 2 tsp | 1 cup |
⅔ cup | ⅓ cup | 3 tbsp + 1 ¾ tsp | 1 ⅓ cups |
¾ cup | ¼ cup + 2 tbsp | ¼ cup | 1 ½ cups |
1 cup | ½ cup | ⅓ cup | 2 cups |
1 ½ cups | ¾ cup | ½ cup | 3 cups |
1 tbsp | 1 ½ tsp | 1 tsp | 2 tbsp |
1 tsp | ½ tsp | ⅓ tsp | 2 tsp |
A tablespoon is 3 teaspoons and a cup is 16 tablespoons. With those two facts any amount can be moved down to a measure you own.
How to halve 1, 3 or 5 eggs
Eggs are the only ingredient you cannot cut with a spoon. Weigh them instead. King Arthur Baking’s guide to reducing a recipe puts a large egg at about 50 g out of its shell.
The recipe asks for | Half is | How to measure it |
|---|---|---|
1 egg | 25 g | Beat the egg and weigh out half |
2 eggs | 1 egg | Nothing to do |
3 eggs | 75 g | 1 whole egg plus half of a beaten one |
5 eggs | 125 g | 2 whole eggs plus half of a beaten one |
Save the leftover half for scrambled eggs.
What to do about the pan
Half the batter in the same pan gives a thin layer that dries out. Look for a pan with about half the base. Half of a 9 by 13 inch pan is about 58 square inches, which falls between an 8 inch round pan (50) and a 9 inch round or 8 by 8 inch square pan (64). The baking pan converter does this for any two pans.
What to do about the time
A smaller batch is done sooner, though not in half the time. King Arthur Baking suggests starting to check at half the original time and then every few minutes. The oven temperature stays the same.
What not to halve blindly
Salt and spices: halve them, then taste and adjust.
Cooking liquid in a wide pan: a half recipe in the same pan loses water faster, so keep an eye on it.
Anything that is one unit by nature, such as a can or a packet. Decide whether half a can is worth opening before you start.
Let the scaler do it
Paste the ingredient list into the recipe scaler, type what the recipe makes and half that number, and every amount comes back in cups and spoons you can measure. In ReciDeck the same thing happens when you change the servings on a saved recipe.
Sources and method
The fractions are arithmetic, written in the measures a US measuring set has: cups in quarters and thirds, tablespoons and teaspoons. The weight of an egg and the advice on baking time come from King Arthur Baking’s guide to reducing a recipe. Pan areas are length times width, or 3.14 times the radius squared for a round pan.
