---
title: "Scant: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "A scant measure is a little less than full, usually short by a teaspoon or so in a cup. Recipes use it to fine-tune liquid, salt and sugar."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/scant"
---

# Scant

A scant measure is a little less than full, usually short by a teaspoon or so in a cup. Recipes use it to fine-tune liquid, salt and sugar.

Also called Scant cup, Scant teaspoon, A little under.

Scant means just under the full amount. A scant cup is a cup not quite filled to the rim, and a scant teaspoon is a teaspoon that is not quite full. It is the opposite of [heaping](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/heaping). Recipe writers use it when the full measure would be a little too much but there is no neat smaller measure.

## How to do it

1. Fill the measure as if it were a [level](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/level) amount.
2. For dry ingredients, take out a little with the tip of a spoon, or leave a small dip in the middle when you level.
3. For liquids, fill to just below the line. In a cup measure, stop about 3 to 5 mm (⅛ inch) below the top.

## Why it works

Scant amounts often show up where small changes matter. In bread dough, a scant cup of water keeps the [hydration](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/hydration) just right so the dough is not sticky. In baking powder or salt, a scant teaspoon stops the result tasting harsh. When a recipe is scaled from grams into cups, the nearest cup amount is often a little over, so the writer adds "scant" to bring it back.

## How to use it

There is no official amount, but these are the usual meanings:

| Measure                                                          | Scant means about              |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| 1 scant [cup](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cup)           | 1 cup minus 1 to 2 tablespoons |
| ½ scant cup                                                      | ½ cup minus 1 tablespoon       |
| 1 scant tablespoon                                               | about 2½ teaspoons             |
| 1 scant [teaspoon](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/teaspoon) | about ¾ teaspoon               |

If the recipe also gives a weight or milliliters, use that. "1 scant cup (220 ml)" tells you exactly how scant.

## Common mistakes

* Ignoring the word. With salt or baking soda, a full teaspoon instead of a scant one can be too much.
* Taking out too much. Scant is a small trim, not half. If you are not sure, remove about a tenth.
* Confusing scant with "short", which some British recipes use for pastry, where it means rich in fat and crumbly.

## In recipes

You will see "1 scant cup sugar", "a scant teaspoon of salt" and "scant ½ cup milk". "A little under 1 cup" means the same thing.

## Related terms

* [LevelA level measure is filled to the rim and swept flat with a knife. Unless a recipe says heaping or packed, every spoon and cup should be level.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/level)
* [HeapingA heaping spoon or cup is filled above the rim in a mound instead of leveled. It adds roughly half again as much, so here is how to judge it.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/heaping)
* [CupA US cup is about 240 ml, a metric cup is 250 ml, and a cup of flour weighs far less than a cup of sugar. Here is how to measure and convert.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cup)
* [TeaspoonA teaspoon holds 5 ml, and 3 teaspoons make a tablespoon. Here is how to measure one level, and how it compares to tsk and krm in Swedish recipes.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/teaspoon)
* [HydrationHydration is the weight of water in a bread dough as a percent of the flour weight. Higher numbers mean a wetter dough and a more open crumb.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/hydration)

[More in measurements](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/measurements)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)