Cooking Measurement Converter

My mother has never owned a measuring cup. When I call her in Karachi and ask how much atta goes into her chapati dough, she laughs and says "andaza se, beta", which means by feel. Her hands know the answer. Mine did not, at least not when I first moved to the US and tried to bake my first proper American cake from a recipe written entirely in cups. That is exactly why I built this free cooking measurement converter, and why I want to walk you through how to use it.

That first cake came out dense, dry and cracked on top. I followed every line of the recipe, so I could not understand what went wrong. It took me weeks of trial and error, and one very patient neighbor with a kitchen scale, to figure it out. I had been scooping my flour straight from the bag, packing almost 150 grams into a cup that was supposed to hold about 120. One small habit added a fifth more flour to the batter.

Since then I have cooked from American, British, Australian and Pakistani recipes side by side, sometimes in the same week. My husband wants his Sunday pancakes from an American recipe, Zainab found a British sponge cake she begged me to try, and Saad is now old enough to bake cookies by himself as long as someone helps him read the numbers. Every one of those recipes speaks a slightly different measuring language, and getting them right meant learning to translate.

So here is everything I learned, in one place. The converter below handles cups to grams for more than 100 ingredients, liquid volumes, weights, butter and oven temperatures, and it even prints a chart you can tape inside a cupboard door. Under the tool I explain why these conversions work the way they do, so you can trust the numbers and cook with confidence, whether your recipe came from Texas, London, Sydney or your own mother's kitchen.

FREE COOKING MEASUREMENT CONVERTER

Pick your ingredient, type an amount, and choose the units you have and the units you need. The answer updates as you type, and you can use fractions like 1 ½ or ¾ exactly as they appear in your recipe.

HOW TO USE THIS CONVERTER

I designed the tool to work the way I actually cook, with a recipe on one side of the counter and a bowl on the other. Here is the quickest way to get an answer you can measure with.

1. Choose your ingredient first. Start typing a word like flour, sugar or butter and pick from the list. This matters because a cup of honey weighs nearly three times as much as a cup of flour.
2. Type the amount from your recipe. Whole numbers, decimals and fractions all work, so 2, 2.5, 2 ½ and 2½ give the same result.
3. Pick the From and To units. The lists include US, metric and old UK measures, so check whether your recipe uses a US cup or a 250 ml metric cup before you convert.
4. Read the result and the measuring tip. When you convert into cups or spoons, the tool also shows the easiest way to measure the amount with standard cups and spoons, such as 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons.
5. Use the scale buttons if you are doubling or halving. The ½× to 3× buttons multiply your amount before converting, which saves a second calculation.
6. Open the other tabs when you need them. Liquid volume, weight, oven temperature, butter and a printable chart each have their own tab.

WHY A CUP OF FLOUR AND A CUP OF SUGAR WEIGH DIFFERENT AMOUNTS

A cup measures space, not weight. Whatever you pour into it, the cup holds about 237 millilitres in the US. What changes is how heavy that space becomes once it is filled. Flour is light and full of tiny air pockets, so a cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 120 grams. Granulated sugar has denser crystals that pack closer together, so the same cup weighs about 200 grams. Honey is heavier still at roughly 336 grams a cup.

This is why you cannot use a single rule like "one cup equals 240 grams" for everything. That number is close for water and milk, but it would give you double the flour your cake needs. Any converter that does not ask which ingredient you are measuring is guessing, and guesses are what turn a soft coffee cake into a dry one.

Here are a few weights that surprise most people when they first see them side by side:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour: about 120 grams when spooned and leveled.
• 1 cup granulated sugar: about 200 grams.
• 1 cup packed brown sugar: about 213 grams, because packing pushes out the air.
• 1 cup powdered sugar: about 113 grams, since it is fluffy and light.
• 1 cup butter: about 227 grams, which is two American sticks.
• 1 cup rolled oats: only about 89 grams.
• 1 cup honey: about 336 grams.

Once you see these numbers, it becomes clear why bakers around the world prefer a scale. Weight does not care whether your flour is settled or fluffy. A gram is a gram.

US CUPS VS UK AND AUSTRALIAN CUPS

This is the part that catches my readers in the UK, Australia and Canada most often. A cup is not the same size everywhere, and neither is a tablespoon. When a recipe simply says "1 cup", the right conversion depends on where the recipe was written.

The US Cup

American recipes use a cup of about 236.6 ml. American tablespoons hold about 14.8 ml and teaspoons about 4.9 ml. If you are cooking from a US blog, cookbook or the back of an American flour bag, this is the cup to use in the converter.

The Metric Cup (UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia)

Most modern recipes from the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia use a metric cup of 250 ml. That is only about 6% larger than a US cup, so for a cup of stock or milk you will hardly notice. For four cups of flour in a bread recipe, though, the gap adds up to nearly a quarter of a cup.

The Australian Tablespoon

This one surprises almost everyone. An Australian tablespoon holds 20 ml, which equals 4 teaspoons, while US, UK and Canadian tablespoons hold about 15 ml. For most ingredients the difference is minor, but for baking powder, baking soda, salt and yeast it means about a third more of something powerful. If you are using an Australian recipe with American spoons, select the Australian tablespoon in the converter and it will tell you exactly how much to use.

Old British Recipes

If you have a handwritten recipe from a British grandmother, it may use an imperial cup of about 284 ml, which is half an imperial pint. British pints are also larger than American ones, 568 ml compared with 473 ml. The converter includes both, so you can choose "cup (old UK imperial)" or "pint (UK)" when an older recipe seems too wet or too dry.

HOW TO MEASURE FLOUR THE RIGHT WAY

If you only change one habit after reading this page, let it be this one. The way you fill a cup with flour can change the weight by 20% or more, and that is the difference between a tender cookie and a tough one.

The weights in my converter assume the spoon and level method, which is how most American recipe developers measure. Here is how to do it:

1. Stir the flour in its bag or canister with a spoon to loosen it, because flour settles and packs down while it sits.
2. Spoon the flour gently into your measuring cup until it mounds over the top. Do not shake or tap the cup.
3. Sweep a flat edge, like the back of a butter knife, across the rim to level it off.
4. Never dip the cup straight into the bag and scoop, unless the recipe tells you to. Scooping can pack 140 to 150 grams into a cup meant to hold 120.

When Saad started baking with me, I let him measure flour both ways into two bowls and put them on the scale. He was shocked that two "full cups" could weigh so differently, and he has spooned and leveled ever since. It is a lesson that shows up in every batch of cookies he makes now.

MEASURING STICKY AND LIQUID INGREDIENTS

Liquids are much more forgiving than flour, because they cannot be packed. Still, a few small habits make your measurements more accurate.

• Use a clear liquid measuring jug with a spout for milk, water, stock and oil. Set it on the counter and read it at eye level, not from above.
• Grease your cup or spoon lightly before measuring honey, molasses, golden syrup or peanut butter, so every bit slides out into the bowl.
• Weigh sticky ingredients when you can. Putting the mixing bowl on a scale and pouring honey straight in skips the messy cup completely.
• Remember that milk is not water. A cup of milk weighs about 227 to 240 grams depending on fat content, and cream is slightly different again, which is why each has its own entry in the converter.

Rice is another ingredient I am careful with, because many of my desi recipes use it by the cup. A cup of uncooked basmati weighs about 185 grams, while a cup of cooked rice is only about 158 grams. If you are making my easy rice pudding, make sure you know whether the recipe means raw or cooked rice before you convert anything.

BUTTER CONVERSIONS MADE SIMPLE

Butter deserves its own tab because it is sold so differently around the world. In the US, butter comes in sticks of 4 ounces, which is 113 grams or half a cup, with tablespoon marks printed on the wrapper. In the UK and Australia it usually comes in 250 gram blocks. In Pakistan, my mother still buys it by weight, and many home cooks use ghee in place of butter altogether.

A quick reference I keep in my head:

• 1 US stick = ½ cup = 8 tablespoons = 113 grams = 4 ounces.
• 2 US sticks = 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 227 grams.
• 1 tablespoon of butter = about 14 grams.
• One 250 gram block = about 2.2 US sticks, or just over 1 cup.

Melted butter weighs the same as solid butter, so a recipe that says "½ cup melted butter" still needs 113 grams. Just measure it before melting if you are using a cup. And if you want to swap in ghee, melted ghee is close enough in volume for most bakes, though it has no water, so cookies may spread a little more.

OVEN TEMPERATURES: FAHRENHEIT, CELSIUS, FAN AND GAS MARK

Converting oven temperatures is simple math, but the rounding makes it confusing. The exact conversion of 350°F is 176.7°C, yet almost every recipe rounds it to 180°C. That is fine, because home ovens swing by 10 degrees or more anyway.

The bigger issue is the fan oven. Fan, or convection, ovens blow hot air around the food, so they cook faster and hotter than conventional ovens at the same setting. A good rule is to set a fan oven about 20°C (or 25°F) lower than the recipe says. So if a US recipe says 350°F, a conventional oven goes to 180°C and a fan oven to about 160°C. The temperature tab in the converter shows all four numbers at once, including the British gas mark.

• 325°F = 160°C = 140°C fan = gas mark 3. Good for slow cakes, cheesecakes and custards.
• 350°F = 180°C = 160°C fan = gas mark 4. The everyday baking temperature for cakes, muffins and cookies.
• 375°F = 190°C = 170°C fan = gas mark 5. Good for pastries, bread rolls and garlic knots.
• 400°F = 200°C = 180°C fan = gas mark 6. My go-to for roasted vegetables.
• 425°F = 220°C = 200°C fan = gas mark 7. Crispy potatoes, like my garlic parmesan potato wedges.

An inexpensive oven thermometer, usually well under $10, is one of the best kitchen tools I own. Mine showed that my oven ran 15 degrees hot, which explained years of over-browned cookie bottoms.

SALT, YEAST AND BAKING SODA: SMALL AMOUNTS THAT MATTER

Teaspoons look harmless, but the smallest measurements in a recipe often have the biggest effect. Too much baking soda tastes soapy and metallic. Too little yeast and your dough never rises. Salt is the trickiest of all, because different salts weigh very different amounts per spoon.

• Table salt: about 6 grams per teaspoon.
• Morton kosher salt: about 4.8 grams per teaspoon.
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt: about 3 grams per teaspoon, so it is only half as salty by volume as table salt.
• Baking soda: about 6 grams per teaspoon.
• Baking powder: about 4 grams per teaspoon.
• Instant or active dry yeast: one packet is 2¼ teaspoons, or 7 grams.

If an American recipe calls for kosher salt and you only have fine table salt, use about half the amount and taste as you go. I learned this the hard way with a pot of daal that my husband politely described as "very well seasoned." Nobody finished their bowl that night.

CONVERTING DESI RECIPES WITHOUT LOSING THE FLAVOR

Pakistani and Indian home cooking is built on andaza, the same feel my mother cooks by. Recipes passed down in families often say "a handful of rice" or "a little haldi," and that can feel impossible to follow if you did not grow up watching someone cook. I added the ingredients I use most to the converter, including atta, besan, sooji, ghee, basmati rice, daal, garam masala, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste, so you can turn those family recipes into something repeatable.

When I write down one of my mother's dishes, I cook it once the way she taught me, then measure what I actually used before it goes into the pot. A tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste weighs about 15 grams, a teaspoon of turmeric about 3 grams, and a cup of atta about 120 grams. With those numbers written down, my tarka tastes the same every time, and Zainab can follow the recipe when she cooks with me.

Spices are the one place I still let andaza lead. Chilies vary in heat and garam masala blends vary from brand to brand, so use the converted amount as your starting point, then taste and adjust.

MY TIPS FOR ACCURATE KITCHEN CONVERSIONS

• Buy a basic digital kitchen scale. A reliable one costs around $15 to $25 and will improve your baking more than any fancy pan. Look for one that measures in grams and ounces and has a tare button.
• Convert the whole recipe before you start. Writing every converted amount on the recipe saves you from switching units halfway through with sticky hands.
• Stick to one system per recipe. Mixing a US cup of flour with a metric cup of milk changes the ratios. Convert everything into either US cups or grams.
• Round sensibly. For baking, 118 grams versus 120 grams makes no difference you can taste. For salt, yeast and leaveners, stay as close as you can.
• Check where the recipe comes from. A recipe from an Australian site with a 20 ml tablespoon needs a different conversion than one from an American site.
• Print the chart for the ingredients you use most. I keep flour, sugar and butter charts taped inside my baking cupboard, so I rarely need my phone with floury fingers.

Accurate measuring matters most in baking, where chemistry does the work. In everyday cooking, like a pot of zucchini or a weeknight curry, a little more or less rarely matters. Save your precision for flour, sugar, fat and leaveners, and relax everywhere else.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Here are the questions I get most often from readers about converting recipes.

How many grams are in 1 cup of all-purpose flour?

One US cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 120 grams when you spoon the flour into the cup and level it off. If you scoop the cup straight into the bag, it can weigh 140 grams or more, which is why spooning and leveling matters.

How many grams are in 1 cup of sugar?

One US cup of granulated sugar weighs about 200 grams. Packed brown sugar weighs about 213 grams per cup, and powdered or icing sugar weighs about 113 grams per cup.

Is a UK cup the same as a US cup?

No. Modern UK, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian recipes usually use a 250 ml metric cup, while a US cup holds about 236.6 ml. Very old British recipes may use an imperial cup of about 284 ml.

How many tablespoons are in a cup?

There are 16 US tablespoons in 1 US cup, and 3 teaspoons in each tablespoon, so a cup holds 48 teaspoons. An Australian tablespoon is larger at 20 ml, so a 250 ml metric cup holds 12½ Australian tablespoons.

How much is a stick of butter in grams?

One US stick of butter weighs 113 grams, which equals 4 ounces, ½ cup or 8 tablespoons. Two sticks make 1 cup, or about 227 grams.

What is 350°F in Celsius for a fan oven?

350°F converts to about 177°C, which recipes round to 180°C for a conventional oven. For a fan or convection oven, set it about 20 degrees lower, to around 160°C. In a gas oven, use gas mark 4.

Why should I weigh ingredients instead of using cups?

Cups measure volume, and the weight of a cup changes with how tightly an ingredient is packed. Weighing in grams gives the same amount every time, which makes baking results much more consistent.

Can I convert spices and salt from teaspoons to grams?

Yes. Choose the spice or salt in the converter and select teaspoons. Different salts vary a lot, so table salt weighs about 6 grams per teaspoon while Diamond Crystal kosher salt weighs about 3 grams.

HAPPY COOKING, IN ANY UNIT

I hope this converter takes the guesswork out of your next recipe, whether it came from a food blog in Ohio, a cookbook from London or a scrap of paper in your mother's handwriting. Bookmark this page so it is ready the next time a recipe speaks a measuring language you do not, and print the chart for the ingredients you reach for most.

If you want to put your new conversions to work, start with one of these family favorites from my kitchen:

• Classic Coffee Cake
• Eggnog Snickerdoodles
• Coconut Milk Chia Pudding
• 27 Healthy Air Fryer Recipes
• 25 Fall Dinner Recipes

Happy baking, and may every cup you measure be exactly the right one! 🥄🧁