What Can You Use Instead of a Measuring Spoon?

If there is no measuring spoon, a standard 15 ml soup spoon or 5 ml dessert spoon can be used instead; but because household spoons vary greatly in size, this only gives a rough estimate and is not recommended for precise recipes. How much can household spoons vary? A standard tablespoon measures 15 milliliters, and a teaspoon measures 5 milliliters; however, spoons in home kitchens can vary from that standard by 20–30 percent. This difference can noticeably change the flavor of small amounts of ingredients such as salt and spices, and can affect how well a batter rises when using ingredients such as baking powder. Whether the spoon is filled level or heaped also affects the result, so if you use an ordinary spoon instead of a measuring spoon, filling it level—then smoothing off the top—gives a more consistent result. Could a kitchen scale be an alternative? For those with an accurate kitchen scale, measuring in grams by weight is much more reliable than measuring with spoons; conversion charts online show how many grams a tablespoon of a given ingredient weighs. For example, a tablespoon of salt weighs about 18 grams, and a tablespoon of sugar weighs about 12.5 grams. What can you do if you have no measuring tools? A standard cap, such as a plastic bottle cap, holds roughly the volume of a 5 ml measure and can provide a rough measurement in an emergency; however, cap sizes vary too, so this method should only be a last resort. A pinch between the fingers should be used only for ingredients such as salt and spices, whose amount can be adjusted by tasting. For which recipes is precision more critical? In recipes such as cakes and cookies that contain baking powder or yeast, precise measurements directly affect the result; if you cannot find measuring spoons, using a kitchen scale is the most reliable method. For soups and stews, where the amount of salt and spices can be adjusted by tasting, roughly measuring with a household spoon and then tasting is enough to fine-tune the seasoning. Is there a difference between liquids and dry ingredients? Liquid ingredients such as oil and vinegar fill a spoon to the rim, making their volume clear, so measuring liquids with a household spoon is relatively reliable. With dry ingredients, aeration and packing can change the volume; lightly spooning ingredients such as flour and cocoa into the spoon, then leveling off the top without packing them down, gives a more consistent, repeatable result, especially for ingredients such as flour whose moisture content varies. Points to keep in mind: Whatever method you use, when a recipe measures several ingredients by spoon, consistently using the same spoon and filling it to the same level preserves the relative proportions, which matters more than absolute precision. Until you get a new measuring-spoon set, weighing a frequently used recipe once and writing down the amounts is faster than searching for the spoon each time.