Cooking Measurement Converter

Convert cups to grams for flour, sugar, butter and 24 more ingredients, switch US and metric cups, convert oven temperatures and gas marks, and scale recipes.

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About this tool

What is the Cooking Measurement Converter?

A cup of flour and a cup of sugar do not weigh the same, so a single "cups to grams" number cannot be right for both. The Cooking Measurement Converter asks which ingredient you are measuring and uses its own weight per cup: 2 cups of all-purpose flour is 240 g, while 2 cups of granulated sugar is 396 g.

It also handles the measuring-cup trap that catches people following recipes from another country. A US cup is 236.6 ml, a metric cup (used in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada today) is 250 ml, and an Australian tablespoon holds 20 ml, not 15. Every one of these is a separate unit in the menus, along with US and UK fluid ounces and pints, butter sticks, grams, ounces and pounds.

Two more tabs cover the other common kitchen conversions: oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius, fan-oven Celsius and gas marks, and scaling a whole ingredient list from one number of servings to another, with fractions like 3/4 and 1 1/2 read and written the way recipes use them.

  • 27 ingredients with cited weights per cup
  • US, metric and imperial cups, spoons, fluid ounces and pints
  • Grams, kilograms, ounces and pounds
  • Oven temperatures in °F, °C, fan °C and gas marks with a full chart
  • Recipe scaler that reads and writes kitchen fractions
  • Shareable link and copy-ready result
Read the guide: Cups, Grams and Shoe Sizes: Everyday Conversions That Trip People Up

How to use the Cooking Measurement Converter

  1. On the Cups, spoons and grams tab, choose the ingredient. Its weight per US cup and the source are shown under the menu.
  2. Enter the amount and choose the From and To units, for example 2 US cups to grams. Use Swap units to reverse.
  3. Read the result and the table of the same amount in grams, ounces, US and metric cups, tablespoons, teaspoons and millilitres.
  4. For oven temperatures, open the Oven temperature tab, enter a value and pick °F, °C or gas mark.
  5. To resize a recipe, open Scale a recipe, enter the original and wanted servings and paste the ingredient list, one per line.

Worked examples

Cups of flour to grams

Input

2 US cups all-purpose flour

Output

240 g (8.47 oz)

At 120 g per cup. The same 2 cups measured with 250 ml metric cups would be 254 g, which is why an Australian recipe can come out differently with American cups.

Grams of sugar to cups

Input

250 g granulated sugar

Output

1.26 US cups (about 1 1/4 cups)

250 / 198 = 1.26. The equivalents table also shows 20.2 tablespoons if you would rather measure with a spoon.

Oven temperature from a British recipe

Input

180°C

Output

356°F (set 350°F), gas mark 4, fan oven 160°C

180°C is a rounded 350°F, so set a US oven to 350. A fan oven needs about 20°C less.

Scaling cookies from 4 to 6 servings

Input

2 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla; factor 1.5

Output

3 3/8 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups butter, 1 1/8 cups sugar, 3 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Every leading number is multiplied by 6 / 4 = 1.5 and written back as a kitchen fraction. Lines without a number, like "salt to taste", are left alone.

Background and insight

Ingredient weights for dry and baking ingredients come from the King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart, a reference many bakers and recipe writers use: all-purpose flour 120 g per cup, granulated sugar 198 g, packed brown sugar 213 g, butter 113 g per half cup (one US stick), honey 21 g per tablespoon. Liquids such as milk (244 g per cup), heavy cream (238 g) and vegetable oil (218 g) use USDA FoodData Central household measures, and water is 1 g per ml. Volume units use exact definitions: the US cup is half a US pint, 236.5882 ml; the imperial pint is 568.261 ml.

Flour is the ingredient where volume misleads most. The 120 g figure assumes flour spooned into the cup and levelled with a knife. Scooping the cup straight into the bag packs it, and the same cup can weigh 140 to 150 g, enough to turn a soft cake dry. That is why serious baking recipes give grams, and why converting your own recipes to weight is worth doing once.

Gas marks follow a simple pattern: mark 1 is 275°F, and each mark above it adds 25°F, so mark 4 is 350°F and mark 9 is 475°F; marks 1/2 and 1/4 are 250°F and 225°F. Recipe books round Celsius to the nearest 10°C, which is why 350°F (176.7°C exactly) is printed as 180°C. Fan (convection) ovens circulate hot air and usually need about 20°C less.

Common use cases

  • Baking by weight

    Convert a cup-based recipe to grams once and get the same result every time on a kitchen scale.

  • Following foreign recipes

    Translate US cups, UK pints, metric cups and Australian tablespoons into what you have in your drawer.

  • Setting the oven

    Turn a gas mark or Celsius value into the Fahrenheit number on your oven dial, with the fan-oven adjustment.

  • Cooking for a crowd

    Scale a recipe for 4 up to 10 or down to 2 without doing fractions in your head.

  • Butter in sticks

    Convert between US butter sticks, tablespoons, cups and grams.

Tips and limitations

  • Volume to weight is only as good as how the cup was filled. Spoon and level flour; pack brown sugar.
  • Kosher salt is much lighter per spoon than table salt (Diamond Crystal weighs less than half as much per spoon), so do not swap them by volume.
  • Teaspoon and tablespoon amounts are tiny in grams; for leavening, a 0.1 g scale or the spoon itself is more accurate than a kitchen scale.
  • Recipe scaling is linear, but baking time and pan size are not. A doubled cake in a deeper pan needs a lower temperature and longer time.
  • Ovens vary. An oven thermometer often shows the dial is 10 to 25°F off.

Frequently asked questions

How many grams are in a cup of flour?

About 120 g for all-purpose flour spooned into a US cup and levelled, according to King Arthur Baking. Scooped flour can weigh 140 g or more. Bread flour is also about 120 g, whole wheat flour about 113 g and almond flour about 96 g.

How many grams is a cup of sugar?

A US cup of granulated sugar weighs about 198 g (often rounded to 200 g). Packed brown sugar is about 213 g and unsifted powdered sugar about 113 g.

Is a US cup the same as a UK cup?

No. A US cup is 236.6 ml. The UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada now use a 250 ml metric cup. The old British imperial cup was 284 ml. The difference is about 6% between US and metric cups, enough to matter in baking.

How many tablespoons are in a cup?

A US cup holds 16 US tablespoons, and each tablespoon is 3 teaspoons, so 48 teaspoons per cup. A metric cup holds 16.7 metric tablespoons of 15 ml, or 12.5 Australian tablespoons of 20 ml.

What is 350°F in Celsius and gas mark?

350°F is 176.7°C, printed as 180°C in recipes, and gas mark 4. For a fan oven use about 160°C.

How much is a stick of butter?

A US stick of butter is 1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons, 4 ounces or 113 g. Four sticks make a pound.

How do I scale a recipe up or down?

Divide the servings you want by the servings the recipe makes, then multiply every quantity by that factor. Going from 4 to 6 servings is a factor of 1.5, so 2 cups becomes 3 cups. The scaler tab does every line at once and keeps the fractions readable.

Is there an in-depth guide to the Cooking Measurement Converter?

Yes. “Cups, Grams and Shoe Sizes: Everyday Conversions That Trip People Up” covers the background, how it works, common pitfalls and worked examples. Read the full guide.

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