Almond butter

One US cup of almond butter weighs between 250 and 272 grams, depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. That range is the answer; a single number would not be. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Almond butter is ground almonds, sometimes with added oil or salt, sometimes just the nuts alone. It behaves in a measuring cup like other nut butters — a thick, sticky paste that fills the container without gaps but is sensitive to whether the oil has separated or been stirred back in.

USDA FoodData Central publishes 1 cup at 250 grams and 1 tablespoon at 16 grams (FDC 168588, Nuts, almond butter, plain, without salt added). This gives a bulk density of 1.0566 grams per millilitre. King Arthur's ingredient weight chart publishes 1/4 cup at 68 grams, which extrapolates to 272 grams per cup and 1.1497 grams per millilitre.

The two figures are 8.4 percent apart, over the 5 percent tolerance we apply to the fat category. The disagreement likely reflects real product variation rather than measurement error. Almond butter separates in the jar — the oil rises, the ground almonds settle — and different products can have quite different textures depending on the roast, grind, and whether stabilisers are added. USDA's figure appears closer to a well-stirred natural almond butter; King Arthur's higher figure suggests a denser, less-separated product, possibly commercial. We publish the range 250 to 272 grams per cup rather than a single figure.

Almond butter can be compared directly to peanut butter, which is in this dataset at 258 grams per cup with the same fat category. The two are within 5 percent of each other, close enough that a recipe calling for one can substitute the other by weight without much adjustment. By volume the substitution is roughly one to one, though the flavour and price change considerably. Almond butter is more expensive per gram than peanut butter and has a mild sweetness that peanut butter does not.

USDA composition data shows almond butter is 57.3 percent fat, 21.6 percent protein, 19.4 percent carbohydrate and 1.7 percent water. The very low water content is why almond butter is shelf-stable at room temperature for months; the high fat content is why it does need to be stirred before use.

Related products this entry does not cover: raw almond butter (uncooked ground almonds, slightly less dense because less oil is released) and roasted almond butter with added oil, which shifts closer to 1.15 g/mL. Almond meal and almond flour are separate entries in this dataset — those are ground dried almonds rather than a paste, and behave completely differently in a measuring cup. Marzipan and almond paste are sweetened almond products with sugar added and much higher density (roughly 1.3 g/mL); they are also not covered here.

The FDA does not publish an identity standard for almond butter. The Codex Alimentarius has no standard for nut butters as a class. Neither publishes a density.

The category here is 'fat' rather than 'milled' or 'liquid' because almond butter's measuring behaviour matches other nut and seed butters: a thick, plastic paste that settles into a container and holds its shape when scooped, with density set by the ratio of oil to solids in the specific product. The 5 percent fat category tolerance applies within a single product; cross-product variation is larger and drives the range publication.