Cooking Measurement Converter

A cooking measurement converter turns any kitchen unit into another (cups to grams, tablespoons to cups, or milliliters to fluid ounces) and scales a recipe up or down by one factor. One US cup is 236.59 mL, or 16 tablespoons. Because a cup measures volume, its weight depends on the ingredient: 1 cup of all-purpose flour is about 125 g, while 1 cup of granulated sugar is about 200 g, the same volume with a very different weight.

This tool focuses on kitchen volumes and the weights they correspond to. For pure weight conversions use the kg to pounds calculator, for oven temperatures the Celsius to Fahrenheit calculator, and for anything else (length, area, other volumes) the all-purpose unit converter.

Worked example: converting a recipe

Imagine a recipe lists "1.5 cups milk." Your jug is metric. Set Amount = 1.5, From = Cup, To = Milliliter, and the converter shows about 354.9 mL. If you instead need the weight, choose Milk in the ingredient selector and you get roughly 366 grams (milk is slightly denser than water). Want to make a double batch? Set the recipe scaler to 2× and the 1.5 cups becomes 3 cups. Every other ingredient is multiplied by the same factor, so the proportions stay correct.

The formula and base unit

All volume conversions go through a single base unit, the milliliter. The tool converts your input to milliliters, then divides by the target unit's size. Each US unit is an exact fraction of the US gallon, which NIST Handbook 44 defines as 231 cubic inches, or 3,785.411784 mL:

For weight, it first finds how many cups your volume equals, then multiplies by the ingredient's grams-per-cup:

Because grams-per-cup differs by ingredient, the weight result changes when you switch ingredients, even though the volume stays the same.

US volume units at a glance

US customary cooking volumes nest neatly inside each other. Knowing the ratios lets you convert many measurements in your head:

• 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons
• 1 fluid ounce = 2 tablespoons
• 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 8 fluid ounces = 48 teaspoons
• 1 pint = 2 cups
• 1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups
• 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 16 cups

Common conversions reference table

Here are the conversions home cooks reach for most often, in both metric and US units:

Cups-to-grams by ingredient

This is the conversion that trips up the most cooks. Because a cup measures volume, the weight of "one cup" changes with the ingredient's density. Light, airy flour weighs much less than the same cup of dense sugar or butter. The figures come from the household measures in USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy):

Notice that a cup of flour (125 g) weighs barely half as much as a cup of water (236.6 g). That is why substituting volume for weight, or vice versa, without accounting for the ingredient leads to dense cakes and dry doughs.

How many grams in 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup or 3/4 cup?

Recipes rarely call for a whole cup, so this matrix gives the weight of the fractions cooks actually measure, for eight common baking ingredients. Values are computed from the USDA FoodData Central grams-per-cup figures and rounded to the nearest gram; all eight ingredients are in the converter's ingredient list.

Butter: sticks to cups, tablespoons and grams

US butter is sold in sticks, but recipes may ask for cups, tablespoons or grams. One stick is 1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons and about 113 g (4 oz); USDA FoodData Central lists 113 g per stick and 227 g per cup. The wrappers are usually pre-marked in tablespoons for easy cutting.

How to use this converter

1. Enter the amount from your recipe (it accepts decimals like 0.5 or 1.25).
2. Pick the "from" unit: the unit the recipe uses.
3. Pick the "to" unit: what you want it in. Use the swap button to flip them instantly.
4. Read the big result at the top; the supporting table shows the same amount in several other units at once. Results update as you type.
5. For weight, choose an ingredient in the "Volume to weight" card to convert cups (or any volume) into grams and ounces. The weight tiles in the result card follow that choice; all-purpose flour is preselected.
6. To resize a recipe, set the recipe scaler factor (2 to double, 0.5 to halve) and the tool multiplies your quantity accordingly.

Who this converter is for

• Home bakers following European recipes written in grams and milliliters.
• US cooks who own a scale and want the precision of weighing rather than scooping.
• Anyone resizing a recipe for a bigger crowd or a smaller household.
• Cooks without a full set of measuring cups who need to express a quantity in tablespoons or milliliters they do have.
• Students and new cooks learning how kitchen units relate to one another.

Second worked example: scaling a batch

A cookie recipe makes 24 cookies and uses 0.75 cup butter. You want enough for a party: 60 cookies. The scale factor is 60 ÷ 24 = 2.5. Set the scaler to 2.5 and 0.75 cup becomes 1.875 cups of butter. Converting that to weight with the butter density gives about 426 grams. Apply the same 2.5× factor to every other ingredient and the recipe stays balanced. Just remember that oven time and pan count change too: more dough usually needs more trays, not a longer bake.

Third worked example: tablespoons to cups

A dressing recipe lists "6 tablespoons olive oil" but you want to know if that fits a 1/2-cup measure. Enter 6, From = Tablespoon, To = Cup: the result is 0.375 cup, which is 3/8 of a cup, so it fits comfortably in a half-cup measure with room to spare. The reference table also shows it equals 3 fluid ounces and about 88.7 mL.

Key terms explained

• Volume: the space an ingredient occupies, measured in cups, tablespoons, mL, etc. Independent of weight.
• Weight (mass): how heavy the ingredient is, measured in grams or ounces. The most reliable measure for baking.
• Density: weight per unit of volume (grams per cup). It is what links volume to weight and differs by ingredient.
• Fluid ounce vs. ounce: a fluid ounce is volume (about 29.57 mL); an ounce is weight (about 28.35 g). Same word, different quantity.
• US vs. metric cup: a US cup is 236.6 mL; a metric cup is exactly 250 mL; an old imperial cup is about 284 mL. Nutrition labels use a rounded 240 mL cup.

Tips for accurate measuring

• Weigh when you can. An inexpensive digital scale eliminates the scoop-vs-spoon problem and makes baking repeatable.
• Spoon and level flour. Spoon flour into the cup and scrape the top flat; never pack or tap it down.
• Use the right cup for the job. Dry measuring cups are meant to be leveled; liquid measuring cups are read at eye level.
• Pack brown sugar. Brown sugar is normally measured packed, which is why it weighs more per cup than granulated.
• Identify the recipe's origin. If it uses metric cups (250 mL), a US-cup conversion will be about 5.7% off.

Limitations and assumptions

This converter is a practical kitchen estimate, not a laboratory instrument. A few things to keep in mind:

• It uses the US customary cup (236.6 mL), not the 250 mL metric cup, the old 284 mL imperial cup, or the 240 mL cup on nutrition labels.
• Ingredient densities are USDA reference values; real values vary with brand, humidity, and how you measure.
• It does not convert temperatures (Fahrenheit to Celsius) or oven settings.
• Weight conversions assume the ingredient you selected; choosing the wrong one gives the wrong grams.
• Recipe scaling is linear; baking time, pan size, and leavening may need separate adjustment.

Metric weight: grams, kilograms, ounces and pounds

Once you have converted a volume into grams, you may still need to switch between metric and US weight units, for example a European recipe in grams against a US scale that reads in ounces and pounds. Weight-to-weight conversion is simpler than volume-to-weight because it does not depend on the ingredient: 1 kilogram is always 1,000 grams and about 2.205 pounds, and 1 pound is exactly 16 ounces, or 453.59237 grams. So a 500 g block of butter is roughly 1.1 pounds, and a 2-pound bag of flour is about 907 grams regardless of how it is packed. For larger quantities or non-food conversions, the kg to pounds calculator and the all-purpose unit converter handle the same math across length, mass, volume and temperature.

Halving, thirding and odd fractions

Resizing a recipe by a clean factor is easy; the awkward part is the leftover fractions. Halving "3 tablespoons" gives 1.5 tablespoons, but most kitchens do not have a half-tablespoon, so it helps to know that 1.5 tablespoons is 4.5 teaspoons, which you can measure as 4 teaspoons plus a half. Thirding a recipe is even trickier: a third of a cup is not a round tablespoon count, but it is about 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon. When a scaled amount lands on an inconvenient fraction, convert it to the smallest unit you can measure precisely (usually teaspoons for small volumes, or grams on a scale) rather than eyeballing a partial spoon. Eggs are the classic exception: you cannot measure two-thirds of an egg cleanly, so for fractional batches, beat the egg and measure it by volume (a large egg is about 3 1/4 tablespoons) or by weight (about 50 g), or round to whole eggs and adjust the liquid slightly.

Halving and doubling common amounts

The trickiest part of resizing a recipe is the odd fractions. This table halves and doubles the amounts recipes use most, and gives a "measure it as" column in whole tablespoons and teaspoons so you never need a half-tablespoon.

Related concepts and tools

Cooking math overlaps with a few other everyday calculations. If a recipe needs timing across several dishes, the time calculator and the hours calculator help you work backward from when dinner should be ready so each dish finishes together. Tracking the nutrition of what you cook? The calorie calculator estimates daily needs, and when a recipe asks you to scale by a percentage instead of a factor, the percentage calculator turns "increase by 25%" into the exact quantity. And if you are buying groceries by the gallon or quart, the volume ratios on this page tell you exactly how much you are getting.

Sources

• NIST, Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement: 1 gallon = 231 cubic inches = 128 fluid ounces = 3,785.411784 mL; 1 avoirdupois ounce = 28.349523125 g; 1 pound = 453.59237 g.
• NIST, Guide for the Use of the SI (SP 811), Appendix B.8: cup (U.S.) = 236.5882 mL, tablespoon = 14.78676 mL, teaspoon = 4.928922 mL, fluid ounce = 29.57353 mL.
• NIST Office of Weights and Measures, Metric Kitchen: cooking measurement equivalencies (rounded kitchen equivalents such as 1 cup = 240 mL).
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii): for nutrition labeling, a teaspoon means 5 mL, a tablespoon 15 mL, a cup 240 mL and 1 fl oz 30 mL.
• USDA Agricultural Research Service, FoodData Central (SR Legacy) household measures: all-purpose flour 125 g, bread flour 137 g, granulated sugar 200 g, brown sugar 220 g packed, powdered sugar 120 g unsifted, butter 227 g (113 g per stick), rolled oats 81 g, unsweetened cocoa 86 g and whole milk 244 g per cup; large egg 50 g.