FREE CALCULATOR · EVERYDAY & KITCHEN

Cooking Converter

The recipe says 250 g of flour, your measuring cup speaks cups, and the oven speaks a different temperature language. Convert ingredients by weight and volume, translate oven temps between °C, °F, fan, and gas marks, and scale recipes up or down — all in one place.

34

Measure anything, bake anything

Pick a mode: convert ingredient amounts between cups, grams, tablespoons and more; translate oven temperatures; or find the scale factor for a bigger or smaller recipe.

The quantity the recipe gives you.

The unit in the recipe.

Weight per cup varies by ingredient — that is the whole trick.

Not all cups are equal — check your recipe's country.

The unit your kitchen uses.

Equals2.08 cups≈ 2 cups + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp · at 120 g per US cup (spooned & leveled)
How it works: volume converts through milliliters and weight through grams, and the ingredient's density bridges the two: grams = volume in cups × grams-per-cup. Densities are spooned-and-leveled reference values, so very fluffy or packed ingredients can differ by ~10% — a kitchen scale settles it when precision matters.

The temperature the recipe calls for.

Which scale the recipe uses.

Fan ovens run about 20 °C (35 °F) hotter than the dial says.

In Fahrenheit356 °FStandard setting 180 °C / 350 °F · fan version 160 °C (320 °F) · gas mark 4
How it works: °F = °C × 9/5 + 32. Fan (convection) ovens circulate hot air, so the same result needs about 20 °C less — the tool normalizes everything to a conventional equivalent first, then shows the nearest standard dial setting and the matching gas mark.

Scale by people, or by the pan you actually own.

What the recipe was written for.

How many you are feeding.

Round pans use diameter, square pans use side length.

The pan the recipe expects.

The pan you actually have.

Scale factor1.5×8 → 12 servings. 1 cup (240 ml) becomes 1.5 cups (360 ml) · 200 g becomes 300 g. Bake time: start checking 10–15 min early — time rarely scales with size.
How it works: servings scale with a straight ratio (target ÷ recipe). Pan sizes scale by area, not length — a 9-inch round holds (9/8)² ≈ 1.27× the batter of an 8-inch round. Multiply every ingredient by the factor, but hold back on leavening, salt, and spices (scale those ~1.5× at most) and round eggs.

How recipe conversions work

Every kitchen conversion is one of two problems. Volume ↔ weight (cups to grams) needs the ingredient's density, because a cup is a fixed size but flour and honey do not weigh the same. Same-type conversions (cups to tablespoons, °C to °F) are pure arithmetic. Mixing the two up — treating a cup as a weight — is where most conversion mistakes come from.

The formulas

grams = cups × (grams per cup for that ingredient) · °F = °C × 9/5 + 32 · °C = (°F − 32) × 5/9 · fan temperature = conventional − 20 °C · scale factor = target servings ÷ recipe servings · pan scale factor = (your pan size ÷ recipe pan size)²

Worked example: 250 g of flour and a 180 °C oven

A recipe calls for 250 g of all-purpose flour and an oven at 180 °C (conventional).

1. Flour to cups: all-purpose flour weighs 120 g per US cup, so 250 ÷ 120 = 2.08 cups — about 2 cups + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp.

2. Oven to °F: 180 × 9/5 + 32 = 356 °F, and the nearest dial setting is 350 °F.

3. Fan oven: 180 − 20 = 160 °C (320 °F). Same recipe, same result — just a different dial position. The gas-mark equivalent is 4.

Ingredient density reference

Grams per US cup (236.6 ml), spooned and leveled. The converter above uses the full table; these are the most-asked ones:

Ingredientg / US cupAlso useful
All-purpose flour1201 tbsp ≈ 7.5 g
Granulated sugar2001 tbsp ≈ 12.5 g
Brown sugar (packed)220Pack it firmly into the cup
Powdered sugar120Sift before measuring
Butter2271 cup = 2 sticks = 16 tbsp
Cocoa powder85Unsweetened, spooned
Honey340Oil the cup first — it slides out
Whole milk2451 cup ≈ 245 ml by volume too
Vegetable oil2241 tbsp ≈ 14 g
Table salt2881 tsp ≈ 6 g
Rolled oats90Light and airy — pack gently
White rice (uncooked)185Doubles to ~3 cups cooked

Oven temperature reference

Conventional °CExact °FDial setting °FFan °CGas mark
120 °C248 °F250 °F100 °C—
140 °C284 °F275 °F120 °C1
150 °C302 °F300 °F130 °C2
160 °C320 °F325 °F140 °C2–3
170 °C338 °F325 °F150 °C3
180 °C356 °F350 °F160 °C4
190 °C374 °F375 °F170 °C5
200 °C392 °F400 °F180 °C6
210 °C410 °F400 °F190 °C6–7
220 °C428 °F425 °F200 °C7
230 °C446 °F450 °F210 °C8
240 °C464 °F475 °F220 °C9

Where this comes in handy

  • European recipes in a US kitchen: grams become cups with the ingredient mode — and the cup-size toggle covers the 236.6 ml US cup vs the 250 ml metric cup. See the recipe conversion guide for the full method.
  • Fan-oven recipes: many UK recipes assume a fan oven — subtract 20 °C for a conventional oven, or check the oven-temp mode for the exact dial setting.
  • Old family recipes: "gas mark 4" and "a moderate oven" both mean 180 °C / 350 °F — the reference table above translates the classics.
  • Scaling for a crowd: double the servings with the scale mode, multiply every ingredient — but hold the baking powder and salt back a little and round the eggs.
  • Pan swaps: an 8-inch pan instead of a 9-inch is not 11% less batter — it is (8/9)² ≈ 21% less. The pan mode does the area math.
  • Splitting the grocery bill: cooking for the group? The tip & split calculator divides restaurant bills the same way the scale mode divides recipes.

Cooking converter — frequently asked questions

Why does 1 cup of flour weigh less than 1 cup of sugar?

Because a cup measures volume, not weight. Flour is full of air between fine particles (120 g per cup), while sugar crystals pack tighter (200 g per cup). That is why every cups-to-grams conversion needs to know which ingredient — there is no universal "grams per cup."

Is a US cup the same as a metric cup?

No. A US cup is 236.6 ml, a metric cup (used in Australia and many metric recipes) is 250 ml, and a UK cup is 284.1 ml. For water that is a 13–47 g difference per cup — enough to matter in baking. The converter's cup-size toggle switches between all three.

How do I convert grams to cups without a chart?

Divide by the ingredient's grams-per-cup: cups = grams ÷ (grams per cup). For flour at 120 g/cup, 250 g ÷ 120 = 2.08 cups. The conversion guide walks through the method step by step.

What is the difference between fan and conventional oven temperatures?

A fan (convection) oven circulates hot air, so it bakes at a lower dial setting: about 20 °C (35 °F) lower than a conventional oven. A recipe written for 180 °C conventional bakes at 160 °C fan — the oven-temp mode shows both side by side.

What is gas mark 4 in °C and °F?

Gas mark 4 is 180 °C / 350 °F — the classic "moderate oven." The full ladder runs gas mark 1 (140 °C / 275 °F) to gas mark 9 (240 °C / 475 °F); see the oven reference table above for every step.

How do I scale a recipe for a different pan size?

Scale by area, not diameter: (your pan ÷ recipe pan)². Going from a 9-inch round to an 8-inch round is (8/9)² ≈ 0.79× — about 21% less batter, not 11%. The recipe-scale mode does this math and shows the scaled amounts.

Should I double the baking powder when I double a recipe?

Usually not fully. Leavening, salt, and strong spices scale back — about 1.5× when doubling — because they act on the batter's chemistry, not its volume. Eggs should be rounded to whole numbers (1.5 eggs becomes 1 or 2, never a half-egg guess at scale).

Learn the method: the free recipe conversion guide covers the volume-vs-weight rule, the cup-size trap, oven-temperature math, and scaling rules — step by step with worked examples.