Recipes from the US count in cups and tablespoons while everyone else weighs in grams. Converting between them isn't a fixed number, because a cup of flour weighs far less than a cup of honey. This tool switches between cups, spoons, ounces, grams, millilitres and more, and uses a typical density for the ingredient you pick when it has to cross between volume and weight.
How to use it
- Enter the amount from the recipe.
- Choose the unit it's in and the unit you want.
- If you're converting between volume and weight, choose the ingredient.
- Read the result.
When it helps
- Turning American cup measures into grams for baking.
- Scaling a metric recipe into cups and spoons.
- Weighing out butter, flour or sugar instead of scooping.
- Converting between ounces and grams.
Good to know
- A cup of flour is around 125 g, but a cup of sugar is about 200 g and a cup of honey more than 340 g, which is why the ingredient menu matters.
- Weights depend on packing. Sifted flour weighs less per cup than scooped.
- For baking, a kitchen scale beats any conversion.
Why grams and cups don't convert directly
A cup measures volume, a gram measures weight, and the link between them is density. A cup of flour holds a lot of air, so it weighs about 125 grams, while a cup of sugar packs more tightly and weighs about 200. Honey is far denser, at about 340 grams a cup.
The tool stores a typical density for each ingredient and multiplies. It's why you have to choose an ingredient when you cross between volume and weight, but not when you stay within one.
Worked example: a cake recipe
A US recipe asks for 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar and half a cup of butter. In grams that's about 250 g of flour, 200 g of sugar and 114 g of butter. Weigh those on a scale and you'll get more consistent results than scooping.
Going the other way, a European recipe calling for 500 g of flour is about 4 cups. If you're converting liquids, such as 250 ml of milk, you're going within volume units, which is about 1 US cup, and the ingredient doesn't matter.
Why baking by weight is better
Scooping flour can vary by 20 percent or more depending on how you fill the cup, whether you sift it and how firmly you pack it. That's enough to change a cake from tender to dry. A scale removes the variable.
That's why professional bakers and many modern cookbooks give weights. If a recipe gives both, trust the grams.
Useful kitchen numbers
Three teaspoons make a tablespoon, 16 tablespoons make a cup, and a US stick of butter is half a cup, or 113 grams. An ounce is about 28.35 grams and a pound 453.6. A metric cup in many countries is 250 ml, slightly larger than a US cup at 237 ml.
Oven temperatures matter too, though they're outside this tool's scope: 180 degrees Celsius is 356 degrees Fahrenheit, commonly written as 350.
Questions
How many grams is a cup of flour?
Roughly 125 g for plain flour.
Are these US cups?
Yes, a US cup is about 237 ml.