Cups to Grams Converter

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Convert cooking measurements between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons and grams for any ingredient.

Result

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Cups—
Grams—
Tablespoons—
Ounces—

📐 Formula

1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons. Grams = Cups × Grams-per-cup (ingredient-specific density)

How to Use the Cups to Grams Converter

1

Select the ingredient

Choose from the dropdown list of 50+ common baking and cooking ingredients. Density varies enormously — 1 cup of flour is not the same weight as 1 cup of sugar, honey, or butter.

2

Enter the volume amount

Input your quantity in cups, tablespoons, or teaspoons. The calculator supports all standard US volume measures and converts to grams, ounces, and kilograms.

3

Read the weight result

The result gives you the precise gram weight for accurate measuring. For baking especially, weighing ingredients rather than scooping produces significantly more consistent results.

Why Volume-to-Weight Conversion Matters in Baking

Baking is precision chemistry. A cup of all-purpose flour can weigh anywhere from 110g to 160g depending on how it was scooped — sifted and spooned flour weighs about 120g per cup; packed flour pressed into a measuring cup can reach 160g. That 40g discrepancy in a cake recipe can be the difference between tender and dense. Professional and most international recipes use gram weights for exactly this reason: weight is unambiguous, volume is not.

The most common volume-to-weight conversions in baking: all-purpose flour (1 cup = 125g), granulated sugar (1 cup = 200g), brown sugar packed (1 cup = 220g), powdered sugar sifted (1 cup = 120g), butter (1 cup = 227g), honey (1 cup = 340g), rolled oats (1 cup = 90g), cocoa powder (1 cup = 85g), milk (1 cup = 240g). Notice how dramatically these vary — honey weighs nearly three times as much as rolled oats per cup.

Tablespoon and Teaspoon Conversions

For smaller quantities — spices, leavening agents, extracts — volume measures are often practical enough. Key reference: 1 US tablespoon = 14.79ml (approximately 15ml); 1 teaspoon = 4.93ml (approximately 5ml); 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon; 16 tablespoons = 1 cup. For critical measurements like baking powder, yeast, and salt, even small errors affect results — use a digital scale for quantities above 5g and a measuring spoon set calibrated to 5ml teaspoon for smaller amounts.

How to Convert Cups to Grams by Hand: Worked Example

Volume-to-weight conversion depends entirely on the ingredient's density, which is why a single "cups to grams" multiplier doesn't exist across all ingredients.

All-purpose flour: 1 cup ≈ 120 grams (spooned and leveled, not scooped and packed — scooping directly from the bag can pack 30–40% more flour into the same cup).
Granulated sugar: 1 cup ≈ 200 grams.
Butter: 1 cup ≈ 227 grams (butter is sold by weight in most of the world, making this one of the more reliable conversions since it's tightly standardized).
Honey or syrup: 1 cup ≈ 340 grams — dense liquids weigh far more per cup than flour or sugar.

For a recipe calling for 2½ cups of flour: 2.5 × 120 = 300 grams. Getting this conversion right matters more in baking than in cooking generally, because baking ratios (flour to liquid to fat) are precise chemical relationships, while most savory cooking tolerates significant ingredient-amount flexibility.

Why does scooping flour directly from the bag throw off a recipe?

Scooping compacts the flour, and a "packed" cup can weigh 140–150 grams instead of the standard 120 — a 15–25% overage that, across multiple cups in a recipe, is enough to make baked goods dense or dry. The correct method is to spoon flour into the measuring cup, then level it with a straight edge, never pressing down.

Which Ingredients Are Hardest to Convert Accurately?

Why do brown sugar and cocoa powder need different handling?

Brown sugar is conventionally measured "packed" (pressed firmly into the cup) specifically because its moisture content makes an unpacked cup wildly inconsistent — packed brown sugar runs about 220 grams per cup. Cocoa powder, by contrast, is very light and airy; a cup can range from 85–100 grams depending on how much it's been sifted or settled, making a kitchen scale far more reliable than a cup measure for cocoa in any recipe sensitive to ratios.

How do tablespoon and teaspoon conversions fit in?

Since 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons, any cup-based gram conversion scales linearly: if 1 cup of sugar is 200g, then 1 tablespoon is 200 ÷ 16 = 12.5g, and 1 teaspoon is 200 ÷ 48 ≈ 4.2g. This lets you convert a recipe's smaller measurements without looking up a separate density figure for every ingredient.

Is it worth switching to a kitchen scale entirely?

For baking specifically, professional and serious home bakers overwhelmingly prefer weight over volume, because a scale removes scooping technique as a variable entirely — 300 grams of flour is 300 grams regardless of how it was measured into the bowl, while "2½ cups" can vary by 10–20% between two people measuring the same flour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Grams are more accurate. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120g to 160g depending on how it's scooped. Weighing ingredients ensures consistent results, especially important for baking where precision matters.
1 cup of all-purpose flour is approximately 125 grams (using the spoon-and-level method). If you scoop directly from the bag, it can be closer to 150–160g due to packing.
There are exactly 16 tablespoons in 1 cup. 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons. 1 cup = 48 teaspoons = 16 tablespoons = 8 fluid ounces = 240ml (for water).
1 cup of granulated white sugar = approximately 200 grams. Powdered (confectioners') sugar = 120 grams per cup. Brown sugar, packed = 220 grams per cup. The variation occurs because sugar density differs by type and how tightly it is packed. Using a kitchen scale is far more accurate than volume for baking.
1 cup of butter = 227 grams (2 US sticks). ½ cup = 113 grams (1 stick). ¼ cup = 57 grams. European recipes often use 250g per cup as a rough equivalent. Butter should be measured by weight for baking accuracy, especially in laminated doughs (croissants, puff pastry) where fat content is critical.

Sources & Methodology

Calculations are based on the most current publicly available data from authoritative government and industry sources: