Cups to Grams Conversion: The Complete Cooking Guide

You’ve found a gorgeous European pastry recipe measured in grams, or an American cookie recipe calling for “2 cups of flour”, and now you’re stuck doing mental math instead of baking. Whether you’re a metric user tackling US recipes or an American baker trying to be more precise, the cups-to-grams conversion is something you’ll need over and over.

Why 1 cup doesn’t always weigh the same

This is the most common source of confusion. A cup is a measure of volume (about 237 ml), not weight. And since different ingredients have different densities, the same cup holds very different weights.

1 cup of flour weighs about 120 g. 1 cup of sugar weighs about 200 g. And 1 cup of butter weighs about 225 g. Same measuring cup, three completely different weights.

That’s why there’s no single “1 cup = X grams” conversion. It depends on the ingredient. It’s also why baking by weight is more accurate: 120 g of flour is always 120 g of flour, whether you scoop it or spoon it into the cup.

Cups to grams conversion chart

Here are the conversions for the most common baking and cooking ingredients:

Ingredient	1 cup	3/4 cup	1/2 cup	1/4 cup
All-purpose flour	120 g	90 g	60 g	30 g
Granulated sugar	200 g	150 g	100 g	50 g
Powdered sugar	120 g	90 g	60 g	30 g
Butter	225 g	170 g	115 g	55 g
Milk / water	240 ml	180 ml	120 ml	60 ml
Cocoa powder	85 g	65 g	45 g	20 g
Rice	185 g	140 g	95 g	45 g
Rolled oats	90 g	65 g	45 g	25 g

Note: flour weight can vary depending on how you measure it. The values above are for flour spooned into the cup and leveled off (“spoon and level” method), which is the standard in most American baking recipes. If you scoop directly from the bag, you might pack in up to 150 g per cup.

Other US measurements you should know

Cups aren’t the only American measurement that causes confusion. Here are a few more handy conversions:

• 1 tablespoon (tbsp) = 15 ml
• 1 teaspoon (tsp) = 5 ml
• 1 stick of butter = 113 g (that’s 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons)
• 1 ounce (oz) = 28 g (weight) or 30 ml (volume, fluid ounce)
• 1 pound (lb) = 454 g

So when a recipe says “2 sticks of butter,” that’s 226 g. And “8 oz cream cheese” is about 225 g.

What Cookfolio converts, and what it leaves to you

Turning cups into grams takes the density of each ingredient, which is exactly what the chart above gives you. That is why Cookfolio never makes that jump on its own: a recipe written by volume stays by volume, and a recipe written by weight stays by weight. A weight guessed by an app would look precise and could still ruin a cake.

Within one kind of measure, the app does the math for you. Quantities show in the measurement system you pick in the settings, Metric or US, and the saved recipe never changes. Change the number of servings and every quantity is recalculated on the spot, then moves up to litres or kilograms with the Metric setting, or to cups or pounds with the US one, once the total reaches 1 of that unit. With the Metric setting, 500 ml of stock for four times the servings reads 2 L. With the US setting, 10 oz of cheese doubled reads 1.25 lb. In the shopping list, 1 cup of milk from one recipe and 250 ml of milk from another end up on a single line, since both are volumes.

If you prefer to bake by weight, convert once with the chart and edit the ingredient. Quantity and unit are separate fields, so 1 cup of flour becomes 120 g, and the recipe works by weight from then on, servings included. The review screen right after an import is the best moment for it. Whether a recipe comes from a photo, a PDF or a handwritten page, every ingredient arrives with its quantity and unit split apart, in the units of the source. What those units look like on screen in each setting (cups as millilitres or litres with the Metric setting, grams as ounces or pounds with the US one) is covered in US or metric units for your recipes.

Keep this chart close for that one conversion. After that, adjust, cook, enjoy.