Cooking Measurement Converter
Pick an ingredient and a volume measurement (cup, tablespoon, or teaspoon), enter an amount, and this tool converts it into grams and ounces using standard baking reference weights.
How It Works
Scaling a recipe up or down is where this tool matters most. Doubling a cake recipe by doubling cups can quietly introduce errors if your measuring cups are not perfectly level each time, but doubling a gram weight on a scale carries no such risk. Bakers following a recipe written in grams, or adapting a US recipe that uses cups into a metric kitchen that only has a scale, both need a reliable cup-to-gram conversion to get a consistent result, especially in baking where ratios of flour, sugar, and fat affect texture more than in most everyday cooking.
Each ingredient has a standard reference weight per cup. Tablespoon and teaspoon amounts are worked out as a fraction of that cup weight, since there are 16 tablespoons and 48 teaspoons in a US cup. The result is then also converted to ounces by dividing grams by 28.3495, the number of grams in an ounce.
These are standard, widely cited reference weights. Actual weight can vary depending on brand, moisture, and how firmly an ingredient is packed into the measuring cup.
Reference Weights (per US cup)
| Ingredient | Grams per cup |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 120 g |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 220 g |
| Powdered sugar | 120 g |
| Butter | 227 g |
| Rice (uncooked) | 185 g |
| Rolled oats | 90 g |
| Honey | 340 g |
| Milk | 245 g |
| Cocoa powder (unsweetened) | 85 g |
| Cornstarch | 120 g |
| Chocolate chips | 170 g |
Worked Example
2 cups of all-purpose flour: 2 times 120 grams equals 240 grams, which is about 8.47 ounces (240 divided by 28.3495).
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a cup of flour weigh less than a cup of honey?
Weight per cup depends on the density of the ingredient, not just its volume. Honey is dense and syrupy, so it packs more mass into the same cup than a light, airy ingredient like flour.
Does "packed" matter for brown sugar?
Yes. Brown sugar is typically measured packed firmly into the cup, which is why its reference weight is higher than a loosely measured ingredient of similar volume.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
There are 16 tablespoons in a US cup, and 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, so 48 teaspoons in a cup.
Are these conversions exact for every brand of ingredient?
These are standard, widely cited reference weights used in most baking conversion charts. Actual weight can vary slightly depending on how an ingredient is measured, its brand, and its moisture content.
Why does weighing ingredients matter for baking?
Volume measurements like cups can vary depending on how tightly an ingredient is packed or leveled, while a kitchen scale gives a consistent, repeatable weight, which is why many baking recipes prefer grams.