One level tablespoon (15 ml) of Cooking oil weighs about 14 g. A teaspoon is around 5 g, a 200 ml cup around 185 g, and an everyday Korean rice spoon holds roughly 10.3 g level.
Oil is lighter than water: about 14 g per tablespoon and 185 g per cup. Recipes routinely call for a tablespoon to coat a pan, but with a non-stick pan half that usually does the job.
A tablespoon of oil means a full spoon.
Conversion table
| Unit | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1 tbsp (15 ml) | 14 g |
| 1 tsp (5 ml) | 5 g |
| 1 cup (200 ml) | 185 g |
| 1 paper cup (180 ml) | 167 g |
| 1 Korean rice spoon | 10.3 g |
Measuring with a rice spoon or paper cup
A recipe tablespoon is 15 ml and a Korean recipe cup is 200 ml, but the spoon in your cutlery drawer holds about 11 ml level and a paper cup holds 180 ml. Measuring with everyday utensils therefore puts in roughly a quarter less than the recipe intends.
Heaping the spoon brings it close to a proper tablespoon. For salt, baking powder and anything else where a small error changes the outcome, use measuring spoons or a scale instead.