Teaspoon Sizes

Asked by BraMies. Answered on 27th December 2011

Full question

I think there is a difference between the English teaspoons and the Dutch teaspoons (Dutch are smaller). Could you give me the measures of a 'teaspoon' in your recipes? Thank you!

Our answer

The teaspoon and tablespoon measures used by Nigella come from a standard set of measuring spoons. As far as we are aware the sizes of measuring spoons are fairly uniform worldwide and are 5mls for a teaspooon and 15mls for a tablespoon (for the US a teaspoon is 1/6 oz and a tablespoon 1/2 oz). The exception is Australia where a tablespoon is defined as 20mls, though most books will state they use 15ml tablespoon measures. Measuring spoons usually come in a set comprising 1/4, 1/2 and 1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon. They can be found in cookware and baking stores and some department stores and are usually inexpensive.

The teaspoons that can be found in cutlery or tableware sets and used for eating can vary quite a bit in capacity and we would not recommend using them for measuring ingredients such as salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices.

In Nigella's recipes all teaspoon and tablespoon measurements are level, unless stated otherwise.