Cups to grams
Choose an amount, a measure and an ingredient to see what it weighs and how much it is in other measures.
plain flour
120.7g
The same amount in other measures
| Grams | 120.7 g |
|---|---|
| metric cup (250 ml) | 0.86 |
| tablespoon (tbsp) | 14.4 |
| teaspoon (tsp) | 43.1 |
| decilitre (dl) | 2.15 |
American measures spooned and levelled, metric ones dipped and levelled. Flour and cocoa can vary by about ten per cent depending on how the measure is filled.
How it works
A measure tells you how much space something takes, not what it weighs. A cup of water weighs 237 grams, but a cup of plain flour only about 121, because flour holds air. That is why the conversion needs to know the ingredient.
The values follow the tradition each measure belongs to. American cups and spoons are spooned in and levelled, as King Arthur and the USDA measure them, while metric measures are dipped into the bag and levelled, as the Swedish food agency measures them. For plain flour that is 121 grams to a cup against 56 grams to a decilitre. Expect flour, icing sugar and cocoa to vary by about ten per cent either way depending on how you fill the measure; granulated sugar, salt and liquids are barely affected.
A US cup holds 236.6 ml and a metric cup in Australia, Canada and New Zealand 250 ml. There is no British cup: British recipes give dry ingredients in grams, and in old cookbooks a cup holds about 170 ml while 284 ml is a tumbler. A tablespoon is 15 ml and a teaspoon 5 ml; the Australian tablespoon is 20 ml.
Brown sugar appears twice: packed, as American recipes mean it, at 220 grams to a cup, and loose, as Nordic and most European recipes mean it, at 70 grams to a decilitre. Butter is counted solid; one US stick of butter is half a cup, about 113 grams.
The values come from King Arthur Baking’s ingredient weight chart and USDA household measures for the American measures, and from the Swedish Food Agency for the metric ones. Because both traditions are used, converting between them keeps the weight rather than the volume: a cup of plain flour is a little under 2.2 dl, not 2.4.
What a measure weighs
Grams for the most common ingredients in US cups and metric spoons, and in the decilitre used in Nordic recipes. The figures come from the same values as the tool above. Each measure is worked out in its own tradition: the cup and its spoons as American tables measure them, spooned and levelled, and the decilitre as the Swedish food agency measures it, dipped and levelled.
| Ingredient | 1 cup (US) | 1 tbsp (15 ml) | 1 tsp (5 ml) | 1 dl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 237 g | 15 g | 5 g | 100 g |
| Milk | 244 g | 15 g | 5.2 g | 103 g |
| Plain flour | 121 g | 8.4 g | 2.8 g | 56 g |
| Wholemeal flour | 114 g | 9 g | 3 g | 60 g |
| Rye flour | 106 g | 8 g | 2.7 g | 53 g |
| Granulated sugar | 199 g | 13 g | 4.3 g | 85 g |
| Soft brown sugar, packed | 220 g | 14 g | 4.7 g | 93 g |
| Icing sugar | 114 g | 9 g | 3 g | 60 g |
| Butter | 227 g | 14 g | 4.8 g | 95 g |
| Cocoa powder | 85 g | 6 g | 2 g | 40 g |
| Rolled oats | 90 g | 5.9 g | 2 g | 39 g |
| Long-grain rice | 185 g | 13 g | 4.3 g | 85 g |
| Table salt | 291 g | 19 g | 6.3 g | 125 g |
| Baking powder | 220 g | 15 g | 5 g | 100 g |
| Honey | 338 g | 21 g | 7 g | 140 g |
Why the same measure weighs different amounts
A measure holds a volume, and what it weighs depends on the density of the ingredient and on how much air comes with it. Water and milk weigh almost the same, while flour, icing sugar and cocoa are airy: 100 ml holds about 56 g of plain flour, 60 g of icing sugar and 40 g of cocoa, against 100 g of water.
How you fill the measure matters for the airy ingredients. Dipping the cup into the bag packs the flour and makes it heavier than spooning it in and levelling it off. For flour the difference can be ten per cent or more, which shows in bread and cakes. Granulated sugar is barely affected.
The two traditions measure differently. American tables weigh flour spooned into the cup and levelled, while the Swedish food agency weighs the measure dipped into the bag and levelled. The tool above works each measure out in its own tradition and keeps the weight when it converts, not the volume: a cup of plain flour is about 121 g, which is a little under 2.2 dl measured the Nordic way, not the 2.4 dl the volumes alone would suggest.
Cups, spoons and grams
A US customary cup is 236.6 ml, a metric cup in Australia, Canada and New Zealand 250 ml, and a tablespoon is 15 ml except in Australia, where it is 20 ml. Nordic recipes use the decilitre, 100 ml, together with the same 15 ml tablespoon and 5 ml teaspoon.
British recipes give dry ingredients in grams, which is why a British cookbook is easier to follow abroad than an American one. There is no British cup: the imperial units are the pint, the gill and the fluid ounce, and in old cookbooks a cup holds about 170 ml while 284 ml is a tumbler. Modern British writers who use cups mean the metric 250 ml one.
Weigh when it matters
Kitchen scales give the same result every time, whatever the flour has been through on the way. That is why bakers and most modern cookbooks give flour and sugar in grams. For liquids, spices and small amounts, volume measures work just as well.
Butter is easiest to weigh or to cut by the markings on the wrapper. A British 250 g block is about 1.1 cups of solid butter, and an American stick of 113 g is half a cup, which is where the measurement in sticks comes from.
Loose or packed brown sugar
Brown sugar is the ingredient where the way you fill the measure matters most. American recipes mean it firmly packed, pressed into the cup until it holds its shape: 220 g to a US cup. Nordic and most European recipes mean it poured in loosely, which is 70 g to a decilitre, or about 145 g to a cup.
The difference is more than half again as much sugar, and it shows in both sweetness and texture. That is why the tool above lists brown sugar twice, loose and packed. Choose packed when the recipe says packed or comes from an American source, and loose otherwise.