What is 1 Teaspoon in Grams? A Baker's Reference

What Does 1 Teaspoon Weigh?

The weight of 1 teaspoon depends entirely on the ingredient. There is no single answer because a teaspoon measures volume and a gram measures weight. Here is the complete chart for common baking ingredients.

Quick Reference: 1 tsp in Grams

Ingredient	1 tsp weight
Baking soda	4.6 g
Baking powder	4.2 g
Active dry yeast	3.1 g
Ground cinnamon	2.6 g
Ground ginger	2.1 g
Cocoa powder	2.5 g
Table salt	5.9 g
Diamond Crystal kosher salt	2.8 g
Fine sea salt	6.1 g
White granulated sugar	4.2 g
Brown sugar (packed)	5.3 g
Powdered sugar	2.5 g
Vanilla extract	4.2 g

Why Salt Type Matters So Much

Table salt and kosher salt are the clearest example of why you cannot rely on a single number. One teaspoon of table salt weighs 5.9 grams, but one teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt weighs only 2.8 grams, less than half!

This happens because kosher salt has large, irregular crystals that don't pack as tightly into the spoon. Swapping one for the other without adjusting can double the salt in a recipe and ruin the dish. That is why recipes specify the salt type and why a grams converter that knows the ingredient is so valuable.

Converting 1 tsp to Grams by Hand

To convert 1 teaspoon to grams, use:

grams = 1 × density (g/mL) × 4.92892

Where the ingredient's density is in grams per milliliter. For example:

• Baking soda (density ~0.93 g/mL): 1 tsp = 0.93 × 4.92892 ≈ 4.6 g
• Cocoa powder (density ~0.51 g/mL): 1 tsp = 0.51 × 4.92892 ≈ 2.5 g

Best Practice for Recipes

When writing your own recipes, always give both volume and metric weight for small measurements. "1 tsp (4 g) baking powder" removes all ambiguity for the reader and produces far more consistent results than volume alone.

For any ingredient not in this chart, use a teaspoons to grams converter to get an exact, density-aware answer.