REFERENCE TABLE · FOOD · COOKING
1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons = 236.6 ml = 8 fluid ounces. But a cup of flour weighs 120 g and a cup of sugar weighs 198 g — volume and weight are different questions, and the answer depends on the ingredient. The tables below give both, and the lookup tool converts any amount of any of 14 ingredients between cups, grams, tablespoons, and ounces.
Enter an amount, pick the unit, and pick the ingredient. The tool converts the amount to cups first (1 cup = 236.6 ml), then multiplies by that ingredient’s grams per cup from King Arthur Baking’s published chart. Try the default: 1 cup of all-purpose flour is 120 g.
One US cup is 236.6 ml — 16 tablespoons, 48 teaspoons, 8 fluid ounces. Everything in the table below is that one fact, scaled. Print it and stick it inside a cupboard door: it covers every volume conversion a recipe will ever ask for.
| Volume | Tablespoons | Teaspoons | Millilitres | Fluid ounces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 16 tbsp | 48 tsp | 236.6 ml | 8 fl oz |
| 1/2 cup | 8 tbsp | 24 tsp | 118.3 ml | 4 fl oz |
| 1/3 cup | 5 tbsp + 1 tsp | 16 tsp | 78.9 ml | 2.67 fl oz |
| 1/4 cup | 4 tbsp | 12 tsp | 59.2 ml | 2 fl oz |
| 1 tablespoon | 1 tbsp | 3 tsp | 14.8 ml | 0.5 fl oz |
| 1 teaspoon | — | 1 tsp | 4.9 ml | 0.17 fl oz |
| 1 fluid ounce | 2 tbsp | 6 tsp | 29.6 ml | 1 fl oz |
Volume tells you how much space an ingredient takes up; weight tells you how much of it there is. The two are only the same for water. The table below is King Arthur Baking’s published ingredient weight chart — the standard American baking reference — with the ounce column as King Arthur prints it (rounded to the nearest quarter ounce, except water, which is the exact 236.6 g).
| Ingredient | 1 cup (grams) | 1 cup (ounces) |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour (spoon-and-level) | 120 g | 4 1/4 oz |
| Bread flour (spoon-and-level) | 120 g | 4 1/4 oz |
| Granulated sugar | 198 g | 7 oz |
| Brown sugar, packed | 213 g | 7 1/2 oz |
| Confectioners’ sugar, unsifted | 113 g | 4 oz |
| Butter | 227 g | 8 oz |
| Honey | 336 g (21 g/tbsp) | 12 oz |
| Cocoa powder, unsweetened | 84 g | 3 oz |
| Rolled oats | 113 g | 4 oz |
| Milk | 227 g | 8 oz |
| Water | 236.6 g | 8.35 oz |
| Chocolate chips | 170 g | 6 oz |
| Vegetable oil | 198 g | 7 oz |
| Corn syrup | 312 g | 11 oz |
Flour weights assume the spoon-and-level method: spoon fluffed flour into the cup and level it with a straight edge. Dip-and-sweep — scooping the cup through the bag — packs in about 142 g per cup (America’s Test Kitchen’s figure; 140–150 g across sources). If your recipe was written for one method and you use the other, you can be off by a fifth of the flour.
Some ingredients are never measured by the cup. Use these spoon weights straight from the same chart — level spoons, not heaped.
| Ingredient | Amount | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Honey | 1 tablespoon | 21 g |
| Table salt | 1 tablespoon | 18 g |
| Baking powder | 1 teaspoon | 4 g |
| Cocoa powder, unsweetened | 1/2 cup | 42 g |
| Butter | 1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 tbsp) | 113 g |
Setup: 1 cup of all-purpose flour, King Arthur weight 120 g per cup.
Line 1 — grams. 1 cup × 120 g per cup = 120 g. That is the whole conversion for a cup measure: amount in cups times grams per cup.
Line 2 — tablespoons. 1 cup × 16 = 16 tbsp. A cup is 16 tablespoons by definition, whatever the ingredient.
Line 3 — ounces. 120 g ÷ 28.35 g per ounce = 4.23 oz. King Arthur prints 4 1/4 oz, which is the same number rounded to the nearest quarter ounce.
Branch — 2 cups granulated sugar: 2 × 198 g = 396 g (13.97 oz). Sugar is dense: two cups of sugar outweigh three cups of flour (360 g).
Branch — 3 tablespoons honey: 3 ÷ 16 = 0.19 cups; 0.19 × 336 g per cup = 63 g. Or straight from the spoon: 3 × 21 g per tablespoon = 63 g. Both routes agree.
Branch — 250 g butter: 250 ÷ 227 g per cup = 1.10 cups (17.62 tbsp, 8.82 oz) — a little more than a cup, since a cup of butter is 227 g.
Branch — 1 cup water: 1 × 236.6 ml × 1 g per ml = 236.6 g (8.35 oz). Water is the only ingredient where the cup weight equals the millilitres.
Branch — the error case: enter an amount of 0 and the calculator refuses — enter an amount greater than 0. Enter 10,001 and it refuses that too.
| Output | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Weight in grams | cups × grams per cup | 120 g for 1 cup of all-purpose flour — the number your scale wants. |
| Volume in cups | amount ÷ cups per unit (or grams ÷ grams per cup) | 1.00 cups at the defaults — the number your measuring cup wants. |
| Volume in tablespoons | cups × 16 | 16.00 tbsp at the defaults — useful when you only have spoons. |
| Weight in ounces | grams ÷ 28.35 | 4.23 oz at the defaults — King Arthur prints 4 1/4 oz, the same number rounded. |
| 2 cups granulated sugar | 2 × 198 g | 396 g — sugar is dense, so cups of sugar weigh far more than cups of flour. |
| 3 tbsp honey | 3 × 21 g | 63 g — honey is 21 g per tablespoon, 336 g per cup. |
| 250 g butter | 250 ÷ 227 g per cup | 1.10 cups — a little more than one cup. |
| 1 cup water | 236.6 ml × 1 g/ml | 236.6 g — the only ingredient where grams equal millilitres. |
Ingredient weights are King Arthur Baking’s published chart values — the standard American baking reference — but they are averages, not constants. Flour varies with humidity, brand, and how it was measured: King Arthur’s 120 g assumes the spoon-and-level method, while dip-and-sweep packs in about 142 g per cup (America’s Test Kitchen lists 142 g; other sources give 140–150 g). Brown sugar is listed packed at 213 g (King Arthur); other charts list up to 220 g for a firmly packed cup, so treat 213–220 g as the range — and loosely filled it weighs far less, which is why recipes say “packed”. Honey, oil, and corn syrup are given at room temperature; cold honey is denser and pours slower. Cocoa powder is listed at 84 g per cup (King Arthur, 42 g per half cup); other charts list 85–100 g, with sifted cocoa near 85 g, packed cocoa near 100 g, and Dutch-processed cocoa heavier than natural (about 96 g per cup). Milk is listed at King Arthur’s rounded 227 g (8 oz); by exact density it is about 245 g per cup, so the chart value is the one to bake with if the recipe was written against this chart. The US cup is 236.6 ml; the metric cup used in Australia and in many metric recipes is 250 ml — about 5% larger — so check which cup your recipe means before converting. Values from the USDA FoodData Central database agree with King Arthur’s chart within a few grams for the ingredients listed here.
Bright Side Kit. "Cooking Conversion Chart: Cups, Grams, ml | Bright Side Kit." https://brightoolbox.com/cooking-conversion-chart/ Accessed October 24, 2026.Data sourcesBecause a cup measures volume, not weight — and flour is mostly air. A cup of all-purpose flour holds 120 g of fine, airy particles with space between them, while the same cup holds 198 g of dense sugar crystals that pack together tightly. Brown sugar packs tighter still at 213 g a cup. That is why recipes written by weight are more reliable: 120 g of flour is 120 g of flour however you pour it, while a cup of flour can be 120 g or 140 g depending on how you scooped it.
A scale, whenever you can. Spoon-and-level flour varies by 10–20% between people — scooping straight from the bag can add 30% extra flour and dry out a bake. A scale removes the person from the measurement: 120 g is 120 g. Spoons are fine for small amounts (baking powder is 4 g per teaspoon, salt is 18 g per tablespoon), but for flour, sugar, and butter, weigh it.
No — and the difference is about 5%. A US cup is 236.6 ml (16 tablespoons of 14.8 ml), while the metric cup used in Australia and in many metric recipes is 250 ml. A recipe written for metric cups and measured in US cups comes out about 5% short on every cup — small for one cup, noticeable at four. Check which cup your recipe means: American recipes use 236.6 ml, Australian and most metric recipes use 250 ml.
Packing changes the weight by a lot. King Arthur’s chart lists brown sugar packed at 213 g per cup — pressed firmly into the cup until it holds its shape when turned out. Loosely spooned into the cup it weighs far less, because the crystals leave air gaps. Recipes that say “packed” mean packed: if you measure it loose, you are short on sugar and the bake loses moisture and sweetness. When in doubt, weigh it: 213 g is 213 g however you fill the cup.
227 g — exactly 8 ounces, or two sticks. A single stick (1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons) is 113 g. Butter is one of the few ingredients where the cup, gram, and ounce numbers are all round, which is why American recipes often list butter by the stick.
Yes — divide by the grams per cup. Pick grams as the unit in the lookup tool: 250 g of butter ÷ 227 g per cup = 1.10 cups. The same works for any ingredient on the chart, but only for that ingredient — 250 g of flour is 2.08 cups, while 250 g of sugar is 1.26 cups, because their grams per cup differ.
Rounding. King Arthur rounds milk and water to 8 ounces (227 g) for convenience on the chart, because most American bakers think in ounces. By exact density, a US cup of water is 236.6 g (236.6 ml × 1 g per ml) and a cup of milk is about 245 g. This page uses the exact 236.6 g for water in the lookup tool and King Arthur’s 227 g for milk, and says so on both — if your recipe was written against the King Arthur chart, use the chart’s 227 g for both.