Cooking Conversions: Cups to Grams, Spoons and Millilitres

Cups and spoons measure volume; grams measure weight. So there is no single "cups to grams" number: a US cup of water weighs about 237 g, a cup of granulated sugar about 200 g, and a cup of plain flour only about 120–130 g, depending on how it is scooped. Volume conversions are exact (1 US cup = 236.6 ml = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons), but weight needs a per-ingredient figure. For baking, a kitchen scale gives the most consistent results.

ToolMany's Unit Converter handles the exact volume and weight conversions: cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces and millilitres; grams, ounces and pounds.

Exact volume conversions (US customary)

Not all cups are the same

This catches people out with international recipes:

• US customary cup: 236.6 ml. Used in most American recipes.
• Metric cup: 250 ml. Used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada (often) and South Africa.
• US "legal" cup on nutrition labels: 240 ml.
• UK recipes traditionally use grams and millilitres; older British recipes may use imperial pints (568 ml, larger than the US pint).
• Tablespoons: a US tablespoon is about 14.8 ml; an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml.

The differences are small for a cup of stock, but they add up in baking. If a recipe's origin is unclear, the safest choice is to follow its ratios consistently: use the same cup for every ingredient.

Approximate grams per US cup

These are typical values. Real weights vary with brand, humidity and especially how you fill the cup: scooping flour straight from the bag packs it down and can add 20% or more compared with spooning it in and levelling.

For a key recipe, check the weight table from the recipe's author or the flour manufacturer, since their figures match how they tested it.

Spoons for small amounts

For baking powder, salt, spices and yeast, recipes use spoons. A gram figure differs a lot by ingredient: a teaspoon of fine salt can weigh roughly twice as much as a teaspoon of flaky salt. If a recipe gives grams for small amounts, a small digital scale that reads to 0.1 g is the reliable choice.

How to measure by volume more accurately

• Spoon and level. Spoon dry ingredients into the cup, then sweep the top flat with a knife. Do not tap or press.
• Use the right cup. Dry measuring cups for dry ingredients; a clear jug with markings for liquids, read at eye level.
• Pack only when told. Brown sugar is usually "packed"; flour never is unless stated.
• Butter: US sticks are marked in tablespoons (one stick = 8 tbsp = ½ cup = about 113 g).

Converting a recipe step by step

Say an American recipe needs 2 cups of flour, ¾ cup of sugar, and 1 cup of milk, and you want grams and millilitres:

1. Flour: 2 × 125 g = about 250 g.
2. Sugar: ¾ × 200 g = 150 g.
3. Milk: 1 US cup = 237 ml (or about 240 g; with milk, millilitres and grams are close).

Convert the oven temperature too: 350 °F is about 177 °C, usually written 180 °C. See Celsius to Fahrenheit for a full oven chart.

Use the Unit Converter for the exact volume steps: choose Capacity, then convert cups, tablespoons, teaspoons or fluid ounces into millilitres. For weights, choose Weight to go between ounces, pounds and grams.

Ounces: weight or volume?

"Ounce" means two different things:

• Ounce (oz) is a weight: 28.35 g.
• Fluid ounce (fl oz) is a volume: 29.57 ml (US) or 28.41 ml (UK).

For water they are close, which is why recipes sometimes blur them, but for flour, honey or oil they are very different. If a recipe says "8 oz of flour", that is weight: about 227 g, almost two cups. If it says "8 fl oz of milk", that is one US cup.

Scaling a recipe

To halve or double a recipe, convert awkward amounts into smaller units first:

• ¾ cup halved = 6 tbsp (because ¾ cup = 12 tbsp).
• ⅓ cup doubled = ⅔ cup, or 10 tbsp + 2 tsp.
• 1 tbsp halved = 1½ tsp.

Baking does not always scale perfectly: bake times and pan sizes change, and eggs are hard to halve. Beat an egg and use half by weight, about 25 g of a medium egg. When you double a cake recipe, two pans of the original size usually work better than one deeper pan, which needs a longer, lower bake.