What the Measuring Cups to Grams Converter does
This converter changes cups, tablespoons and teaspoons into grams - and grams back into cups - for the ingredient you are actually using, because a cup of flour (about 125 g) weighs far less than a cup of sugar (200 g) or butter (227 g). Pick the ingredient, the amount and the kind of cup, and it shows the weight in grams and ounces, every spoon and cup equivalent, and the USDA figure the answer is based on.
The weights come from USDA FoodData Central household portion data, one cited food record per ingredient, and the cup sizes are stated exactly: the US cup is 236.59 mL, the metric cup used in Australia, Canada and India is 250 mL, and the old UK cup is 284 mL. It all runs in your browser.
How to use it
- Type the amount from the recipe - 1, 1.5, 1 1/2 or 3/4 all work.
- Pick the unit. Choose the right cup: American recipes mean the US cup, Australian and many Indian and Canadian recipes the 250 mL metric cup, and older British recipes sometimes the 284 mL imperial cup. To go the other way, pick grams, ounces or pounds.
- Choose the ingredient. Flours, sugars, fats, dairy, grains, nuts and baking ingredients are listed; if yours is missing, choose "Other" and enter the grams in one cup from the packet.
- Read the weight at the top, then the table of the same amount in every cup and spoon, with kitchen fractions such as 2/3 cup.
- Check the source line, which links the USDA record used, and the quick reference table for the common fractions of a cup.
Reading the results
The answer is an average. How you fill the cup changes the weight: flour spooned in and levelled weighs less than flour scooped straight from the bag, and sifted flour less again. Brown sugar is listed both packed and loose because the difference is about 50%.
Liquids are the most reliable - a cup of milk or oil is a cup of milk or oil - while powders, chopped nuts and grated cheese vary most.
If a recipe gives weights, use them: a kitchen scale is more accurate than any cup. This converter is for the opposite case, when the recipe gives cups and you want to weigh, or you have a weight and only measuring cups.
A metric cup holds about 5.7% more than a US cup, and a UK imperial cup about 20% more. For one cup it hardly matters; for a recipe with four cups of flour it can.
Worked example: 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of butter and 200 g of sugar
USDA FoodData Central lists 1 cup of all-purpose flour (FDC 168894) as 125 g. So 1 US cup is 125 g, about 4.4 oz. A metric cup is 250 / 236.59 = 1.057 times larger, so it holds about 132 g.
Butter (FDC 173430) is 227 g a cup, so 1/2 cup is 113.5 g - the familiar US stick of butter - and 1 US tablespoon is 227 / 16 = 14.2 g.
Granulated sugar (FDC 169655) is 200 g a cup. Going the other way, 200 g is exactly 1 US cup, and 100 g is 1/2 cup or 8 US tablespoons.
Baking powder (FDC 172803) is listed by the teaspoon at 4.6 g, so a recipe asking for 2 teaspoons needs about 9.2 g - small enough that a measuring spoon is usually more practical than a scale.
Formulas and scoring rules
- Grams from a volume
grams = amount x mL per unit x (USDA grams per portion / mL in that portion)- Volume from grams
mL = grams / grams per mL; cups = mL / mL per cup- Cup sizes
US cup 236.5882365 mL; metric 250 mL; UK imperial 284.130625 mL; US legal (labelling) 240 mL; Japanese 200 mL- Spoons
US tablespoon = 1/16 US cup = 14.79 mL; US teaspoon = 1/48 cup = 4.93 mL; metric 15 mL and 5 mL; Australian tablespoon 20 mL- Ounces
oz = grams / 28.349523125Weights are shown to 3 significant figures; fractions like 2/3 cup are the nearest eighth or third, marked "about" when not exact.
Limitations: what the result does not prove
- Ingredient weights are averages from USDA reference data, not your brand. Flours, cocoa and sugars differ by mill and moisture; when the packet states grams per cup, use "Other" and that figure.
- How the cup is filled matters more than which cup you own. Expect 10-20% variation for flours and powders; for baking that has to be exact, weigh.
- Packed, sifted, chopped and grated forms are listed separately where USDA gives them. A whole-nut cup and a ground-nut cup weigh very differently.
- The USDA portions are taken to use the US customary cup and spoons. Older recipes that used a coffee cup or a teacup cannot be converted exactly.
Privacy: where your data goes
Everything you paste, type or drop is processed in this browser tab. It is not uploaded, logged, stored or sent to analytics. Session recording and tag-manager scripts are switched off on this page.
Standards and sources
- USDA FoodData Central - food portion weights - checked 19 Sep 2026
- USDA FoodData Central - download datasets (SR Legacy)
- NIST - Units and measurement: US customary volume (cup, fluid ounce)
- eCFR - 21 CFR 101.9 nutrition labelling (1 cup = 240 mL)
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of flour?
About 125 g for all-purpose (plain) flour in a US cup, according to USDA FoodData Central, and about 132 g in a 250 mL metric cup. Bread flour is heavier at about 137 g a US cup, and whole wheat flour about 120 g. Scooping straight from the bag can add 10-20%.
How many grams is 1 cup of sugar?
200 g for granulated white sugar in a US cup. Packed brown sugar is about 220 g, loose brown sugar about 145 g, and unsifted powdered (icing) sugar about 120 g. In a metric cup each of these is about 5.7% more.
How many grams is a cup of butter?
227 g for a US cup, so half a cup - one US stick - is about 113 g and one US tablespoon is about 14 g. Butter is easiest to weigh, or to cut using the markings on the wrapper.
How many grams is a tablespoon?
It depends on the ingredient and the spoon. A US tablespoon (14.8 mL) holds about 7.8 g of all-purpose flour, 12.5 g of sugar, 14.2 g of butter and 21 g of honey. A metric tablespoon is 15 mL, and an Australian tablespoon is 20 mL - a third more.
What is the difference between a US cup and a metric cup?
A US customary cup is 236.59 mL (8 US fluid ounces); a metric cup is 250 mL. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and many Indian recipes use the metric cup. The US legal cup used on nutrition labels is 240 mL, and the old British cup was 284 mL.
How do I convert grams to cups?
Divide the grams by the weight of one cup of that ingredient. 300 g of flour at 125 g a cup is 2.4 cups, about 2 1/3 cups. Choose grams as the unit and pick the ingredient here, and the answer appears in US, metric and UK cups and in spoons.
Why does a cup of flour weigh less than a cup of sugar?
Because a cup measures volume, not weight. Flour is fine and full of air between its particles, so a cup holds about 125 g; sugar crystals pack more densely, so the same cup holds about 200 g. That is why every conversion needs the ingredient, not just the unit.
Last reviewed by the A2Z.Tools team against the sources listed above.
