Cups to Grams Calculator

About the Cups to Grams Calculator

American recipes measure by the cup; most of the rest of the world weighs in grams. Converting between them is not a simple unit change, because a cup is a measure of space and a gram is a measure of weight. A cup of flour and a cup of honey fill exactly the same space, but the honey weighs more than two and a half times as much. To turn cups into grams, you need to know what is in the cup.

This cups to grams calculator knows the typical weight of a cup of more than twenty common ingredients — flours, sugars, butter, oil, milk, water, cocoa, oats, rice, chocolate chips and salt. Enter the number of cups, choose the ingredient and whether the recipe uses a US cup or a metric cup, and it gives the weight in grams, the same amount in ounces, and the weight of a single cup and tablespoon of that ingredient.

How to Use the Cups to Grams Calculator

Enter the number of cups. Fractions work as decimals: 0.25 for a quarter, 0.33 for a third, 0.5 for a half, 0.75 for three quarters.

Choose the ingredient.

Choose the cup size: a US cup of 236.6 ml, or a metric cup of 250 ml used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

How Cups Are Converted to Grams

  grams          =  cups × weight of one cup of the ingredient
  metric cup     =  US cup weight × 250 ÷ 236.6
  per tablespoon =  cup weight ÷ 16

Step-by-Step Example

Two US cups of all-purpose flour.

  Weight of one cup:   about 125 g
  Two cups:            2 × 125           =  250 g
  In ounces:           250 ÷ 28.35       =  8.82 oz

One metric cup of granulated sugar.

  US cup of sugar:     about 200 g
  Metric cup:          200 × 250 ÷ 236.6 =  211 g

Typical Weights per US Cup

These are typical values for ingredients spooned into the cup and levelled. Different brands, grinds and moisture levels change the figures a little.

Why Measuring Method Matters

For liquids, a cup is a cup: water, milk and oil settle into the same space every time. Dry ingredients are different. Flour, cocoa and icing sugar are full of air, and how you fill the cup decides how much of that air is squeezed out.

Spooning flour into a cup and levelling it gives around 125 grams. Dipping the cup straight into the bag and scraping it level packs the flour down, and the same cup can hold 140 to 150 grams. That difference — up to a fifth more flour — is enough to turn a moist cake into a dry one. Brown sugar goes the other way: recipes expect it packed firmly, and a loosely filled cup holds much less.

Why Weighing Is Better for Baking

Professional bakers weigh everything, and many modern recipes give grams for good reason. A scale removes the guesswork about packing, is quicker than filling and levelling several cups, and makes scaling a recipe exact. It also means fewer dishes to wash: you can weigh straight into the mixing bowl, resetting the scale to zero after each ingredient.

If a recipe gives cups, converting it to grams once and writing the weights down means every future bake starts from the same, repeatable quantities.

Cups Around the World

The US cup is 236.6 ml, often rounded to 240 ml on nutrition labels. The metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada is 250 ml, about 6% larger. Older British recipes occasionally refer to a cup of about 284 ml, but modern British recipes almost always give weights. When a recipe does not say, the country it comes from is the best guide.

Converting a Whole Recipe

To convert a full recipe from cups to grams, work through the ingredients one at a time, choosing the right ingredient each time rather than using one figure for everything. Write the weights beside the original amounts so you can check them, and round sensibly: to the nearest 5 grams for flour and sugar, and to the nearest gram for small amounts of leavening and salt.

Choosing a Kitchen Scale

A basic digital kitchen scale is inexpensive and makes every conversion on this page unnecessary. Look for one that measures in one-gram steps, handles at least five kilograms, and has a tare button to reset the display to zero with a bowl on it. A flat top that is easy to wipe clean and a display that stays readable with a large bowl on the scale make it much more pleasant to use. Switching between grams and ounces is useful if you cook from both metric and American recipes.

Understanding Your Result

Weight is the amount in grams.

In ounces gives the same weight in ounces.

Per cup and tablespoon shows what one cup and one tablespoon of the ingredient weigh.

Worth knowing explains how filling the cup affects the result.

When Should You Use This Calculator?

Following an American recipe with a kitchen scale.

Writing your own recipes in grams.

Checking nutrition where portion sizes are given in grams.

Scaling a recipe accurately by weight.

Buying ingredients by weight for a recipe written in cups.

Common Mistakes

Using one weight for every ingredient. A cup of sugar weighs 60% more than a cup of flour.

Scooping flour straight from the bag.

Mixing US and metric cups.

Loosely filling brown sugar, which is meant to be packed.

Forgetting that fluid ounces are volume, not weight.