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Drops, dashes and pinches: how many teaspoons are in a few millilitres

A bottle of food colouring, a vial of vanilla and a dropper of flavour all come in millilitres, while recipes ask for a teaspoon, a dash or a pinch. To convert ml to tsp you divide by 4.929: 5 ml is 1.01 teaspoons, 10 ml 2.03, and a 30 ml bottle 6.1. Because a millilitre is about twenty drops, a teaspoon is about a hundred. This page divides as you type, and the text below goes down to the smallest kitchen measures, from the pinch to the drop, and explains how they relate to the millilitre.

The page covers the rule with examples, a note on each unit, a comparison, a tour of tiny quantities and the slips to avoid. All arithmetic happens in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere. Always follow product labels for anything other than cooking.

How to convert ml to tsp: divide by 4.929

The rule

One US teaspoon is exactly 4.92892159375 millilitres, a third of a tablespoon. To convert ml to tsp, divide the millilitres by 4.929, or multiply by 0.2029. So 1 ml is 0.2 tsp, 5 ml is 1.01, 10 ml is 2.03, 30 ml is 6.09 and 60 ml is 12.2. In the other direction, multiply teaspoons by 4.929.

Worked examples

A 30 ml bottle of vanilla extract holds 6.1 teaspoons. A 15 ml vial of flavouring holds 3 teaspoons, a tablespoon. A dropper that delivers 1 ml at a squeeze delivers a fifth of a teaspoon. A cup, 237 ml, holds 48 teaspoons.

Why not exactly 5

The metric teaspoon is 5 ml, 1.4 percent bigger than the US one. For recipes the difference is invisible, but for 100 teaspoons it adds up to 7 ml. Dividing by 5 is a good approximation, and dividing by 4.929 gives the exact figure.

A quick sanity check

The teaspoon is the larger unit, so the number shrinks by nearly five times. If your “convert ml to tsp” calculation result shrank only two or three times, you used the cup or tablespoon factor.

The millilitre

A thousandth of a litre

The millilitre is the unit of small bottles, droppers and syringes. A dropper bottle of 30 ml, a vial of 10 ml or a tube of 15 ml are typical, and each holds a few teaspoons at most.

Where it appears

Extracts, flavourings, food colouring, droppers and small bottles.

The teaspoon

A third of a tablespoon

The US teaspoon, tsp, is 4.93 millilitres. Smaller measures, a half, quarter and eighth of a teaspoon, are in every set. A pinch, a dash and a smidgen are even smaller, traditional measures that cooks use for seasoning.

Where it appears

Recipes, spice measures and dosing of small additions.

Millilitre and teaspoon compared

A teaspoon holds almost 5 millilitres. A millilitre is therefore a fifth of a teaspoon and about twenty drops of water. In cooking, sizes below a teaspoon are named: a dash is an eighth, a pinch a sixteenth, a smidgen a thirty-second. The conversion to millilitres shows how tiny they are: a pinch is 0.3 ml, and you convert ml to tsp to find out.

The factor is not round, so mental estimates are approximate: divide by 5 and add 1.4 percent. For exact work use 4.92892159375.

Where the conversion appears

Drops, millilitres and teaspoons

A standard dropper delivers about 20 drops to the millilitre for watery liquids, so a teaspoon is about 100 drops. Oils and syrups give smaller or larger drops depending on viscosity, so counts range from 15 to 40 per millilitre. A bottle of 30 ml holds about 600 drops, or 6 teaspoons. When you convert ml to tsp for a dropper, you see how much a few drops amount to.

Pinch, dash and smidgen

Traditional small measures are defined as fractions of a teaspoon: a smidgen is 1/32, 0.15 ml, a pinch 1/16, 0.3 ml, a dash 1/8, 0.6 ml. A dash of hot sauce is about 10 drops. Cooks use them for salt, pepper and bitters. They are approximate by nature, and a recipe that wants precision gives a fraction of a teaspoon instead.

Extracts and colourings

Vanilla extract is added by the teaspoon, 5 ml, to a cake, and to convert ml to tsp for a bottle of 60 ml gives 12 teaspoons. Liquid food colouring is added by the drop: 5 drops, 0.25 ml, tint a bowl of icing. A bottle of 30 ml holds enough for 600 drops, which is a hundred bowls of icing.

How many drops in a millilitre

The old standard of 20 drops to the millilitre applies to water from a dropper with a specific tip. Surface tension and viscosity change the size of the drop, so thin alcohol gives 40 drops to the millilitre and glycerine about 15. Pharmacists calibrate droppers for each product. Never assume that counting drops will give the same volume from two different bottles.

In a spreadsheet

Put millilitres in column A and use =A2/4.92892159 in column B. For the reverse, =B2*4.92892159. A column with =A2*20 gives approximate drops. A column for the price divided by the teaspoons gives cost per teaspoon. Format with one decimal and keep the source column so that each number can be traced.

Rounding

The factor is exact, so rounding is your choice. 5 ml is 1.01 teaspoons, which a recipe writes as 1. Round to the nearest quarter of a teaspoon for cooking, and to a tenth of a millilitre for droppers. Rounding is more acceptable in a recipe than in a dosing situation, where labels and devices rule.

A mental shortcut

Divide millilitres by 5 and add 1.4 percent: 10 ml is 2 plus 0.03, 2.03. 30 ml is 6 plus 0.08, 6.08. A fifth of a teaspoon is a millilitre, so 4 ml is 0.8 teaspoons and 2.5 ml is half. These round numbers cover most cooking situations without a calculator.

Reference values

0.3 ml is a pinch, 0.6 ml a dash, 1.2 ml a quarter teaspoon, 2.5 ml half, 5 ml one, 10 ml two, 15 ml three, 30 ml six and 60 ml twelve teaspoons. If you convert ml to tsp and land far from this ladder, repeat the division.

Checking by reversing

To make sure your “convert ml to tsp” calculation result is right, multiply it by 4.929. If 30 ml gave 6.09 tsp, then 6.09 times 4.929 returns 30.0. A second check is the size of the answer: it should be nearly five times smaller. If it is only three times, you used the tablespoon factor.

Aquarium and pond treatments

Treatments for water are often dosed per 10 gallons: 1 teaspoon, 5 ml, for a 40 litre tank, 10.6 gallons. A bottle of 120 ml holds 24 teaspoons, enough for 24 such treatments. When the label lists teaspoons and the bottle millilitres, you convert ml to tsp to find how many doses a bottle contains, then check the instructions for the volume of water.

Soap and candle scenting

A candle maker adds fragrance oil at 6 percent of the wax weight, but in small batches counts in teaspoons: 1 teaspoon, 5 ml, 4.5 grams, per 75 grams of wax. A bottle of 30 ml, 6 teaspoons, scents about 450 grams of wax. Makers follow the supplier's maximum, since too much fragrance can spoil a candle or irritate skin.

Spray cleaners at home

A homemade spray bottle of 500 ml may take 1 teaspoon, 5 ml, of dish soap, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and water to fill. A bottle of 1 litre of concentrate, 203 teaspoons, makes 200 such bottles. Concentrated cleaners are safe only when used as directed, and mixing products can be dangerous, so use one product at a time.

Sauces and marinades in small amounts

A marinade for two steaks may use 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 10 ml, 1 of oil, 5 ml, and a pinch of pepper. A bottle of 150 ml has 30 teaspoons. When recipes shrink to a single serving the spoons shrink too, to a teaspoon or a dash, so a small measure and a conversion help cooks who live alone.

Tea, coffee and honey by the teaspoon

A teaspoon of honey, 5 ml, weighs 7 grams and has 21 kilocalories. A teaspoon of instant coffee is 2 grams, a teaspoon of loose tea 2 to 3 grams, a teaspoon of sugar 4.2 grams. A jar of 250 ml of honey contains 51 teaspoons, enough for 51 cups of sweet tea. Converting the jar to teaspoons gives a way to count servings.

Eye drops and small bottles

A bottle of eye drops of 10 ml holds about 200 drops, with each drop 0.05 ml, a hundredth of a teaspoon. Bottles are designed so that a squeeze gives one drop of a known size, and the quantity per drop is part of the product design. Use such products exactly as the label says, and do not convert drops into spoons.

Salt and seasoning by volume

A teaspoon of fine table salt weighs 6 grams, of coarse kosher salt between 3 and 5. Pepper is 2.3 grams, paprika 2.3, cumin 2.1. Recipes written in teaspoons assume a type of salt, so it pays to check. A bottle of 100 ml of liquid seasoning is 20 teaspoons, and the same bottle poured out by the dash gives 160.

Spices from a jar

A jar of dried herbs of 30 grams holds about 30 teaspoons of oregano at 1 gram each, or 13 of cinnamon at 2.6. Liquids such as vanilla in a 30 ml bottle give 6. When the jar is in grams and the recipe in teaspoons, the weight per teaspoon turns one into the other, and a teaspoon of liquid is 5 ml wherever the recipe comes from.

Lemon juice and zest

A teaspoon of lemon juice, 5 ml, is about a sixth of the juice of one lemon, which gives 45 ml. A bottle of 120 ml of lemon juice holds 24 teaspoons. A recipe asking for 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for a glaze, 10 ml, uses a twelfth of a bottle. Small amounts of acid make a visible difference in flavour, so measuring matters.

Cosmetic recipes and small batches

A homemade lip balm may use 2 teaspoons of oil, 10 ml, and a teaspoon of wax, 4 grams. Batches are tiny, a tin of 10 ml holds 2 teaspoons, so a bottle of 100 ml of oil makes 10 tins. Hobbyists convert between millilitres and teaspoons depending on the source of the recipe and the scale of their equipment.

Syrups for drinks

A teaspoon of syrup, 5 ml, flavours a cup of tea or coffee. A bottle of 250 ml holds about 51 teaspoons, so 51 cups. Cafés use pumps of 7.4 ml, 1.5 teaspoons, and a bottle of 750 ml gives 100 pumps. Converting a bottle to teaspoons shows how many drinks to expect and what each costs.

Vanilla and baking extracts

A cake recipe calls for 1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 5 to 10 ml. A bottle of 30 ml gives 6 teaspoons, 3 to 6 cakes. A bottle of 60 ml costs about twice as much and holds twice as much, 12 teaspoons. Extracts of almond or peppermint are stronger, and the amount is often a quarter or half teaspoon, 1.2 or 2.5 ml.

Food colouring

Liquid food colouring is dosed in drops, 0.05 ml each, and a teaspoon of 5 ml would be a hundred drops, far more than any recipe needs. A bottle of 30 ml, 6 teaspoons, can last a lifetime of baking. Gel colourings are measured with a toothpick, and a few specks of paste can equal ten drops of liquid, so colouring labels give guidance for each.

Essential oils and dilution

Essential oils are very concentrated and used in drops. A common guideline for a skin product is a 1 percent dilution, which is about 6 drops, 0.3 ml, in 30 ml of carrier oil, 6 teaspoons. Safety advice differs by oil and by person, so follow the guidance of the supplier, and never use essential oils on skin undiluted. Spoons are for the carrier, drops for the oil.

Liquid sweeteners

Concentrated liquid sweeteners are dosed in drops: 4 drops, 0.2 ml, to sweeten a cup of tea. A bottle of 50 ml holds 1,000 drops, 250 servings. Syrups and honey are measured in teaspoons: a teaspoon of honey, 5 ml, 7 grams, has 21 kilocalories. A bottle of 250 ml of honey has 51 teaspoons.

Hot sauce and flavourings

A hot sauce is shaken by the dash, about 0.6 ml, or by the teaspoon. A bottle of 150 ml holds 30 teaspoons, or 250 dashes. Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce are used by the teaspoon in marinades and the tablespoon in stir-fries. A conversion to teaspoons tells you how many servings a bottle gives.

Liquid supplements

Liquid vitamins state a serving in millilitres or teaspoons: 5 ml, one teaspoon. A bottle of 120 ml holds 24 servings. The dose per serving appears on the label. Use the measuring cup or dropper supplied, as household spoons vary, and never exceed the stated amount. The conversion of millilitres to teaspoons only helps count servings.

Cocktail bitters and tinctures

Bitters are used in dashes, about 0.6 ml, or drops. A bottle of 100 ml holds 20 teaspoons, 160 dashes. A cocktail takes two dashes, 1.2 ml, so a bottle serves 80 drinks. Bartenders therefore buy bitters rarely, and the conversion from millilitres to dashes gives a feel for how long a bottle lasts.

More values for convert ml to tsp

A longer list of conversions

If the value you need is not in the first list, these further conversions may be close enough to read off directly:

• 0.1 ml = 0.0202884 tsp
• 0.5 ml = 0.101442 tsp
• 3 ml = 0.608652 tsp
• 4 ml = 0.811537 tsp
• 7 ml = 1.42019 tsp
• 15 ml = 3.04326 tsp
• 20 ml = 4.05768 tsp
• 75 ml = 15.2163 tsp
• 200 ml = 40.5768 tsp
• 500 ml = 101.442 tsp
• 2,000 ml = 405.768 tsp
• 10,000 ml = 2,028.84 tsp

Mistakes when you convert ml to tsp

Teaspoon and tablespoon

A tablespoon is three teaspoons. Mixing them multiplies or divides an amount by three.

Counting drops across bottles

Drops vary in size with the liquid and the dropper. Do not assume 20 to the millilitre.

Multiplying instead of dividing

The teaspoon is the larger unit, so the number shrinks. If 30 ml became 148, you multiplied.

Short answers

What is 1 millilitre in teaspoons?

0.2029 teaspoons.

How do I convert ml to tsp?

Divide by 4.929.

What is 1 teaspoon in millilitres?

4.929 millilitres.

What does 30 ml come to in teaspoons?

6.09 tsp.

Does the page send my figure anywhere?

No, everything happens in your browser.

Related tools and a final note

Other volume converters sit nearby: Convert ml to cm³, Convert ml to fl oz, Convert tbsp to tsp, Convert tsp to tbsp, Convert km to mi, Convert mi to km, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C, Convert in to dm. To go the other way, use Convert tsp to ml.

To recap: you convert ml to tsp by dividing by 4.929 and you write the unit beside the result. Everything is computed locally, with no account and no upload.