Convert cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons to grams (or the reverse) for common ingredients — since cups-to-grams depends on what you're measuring, pick your ingredient first for an accurate result.
Each ingredient has an average weight per cup based on its typical density. Converting cups to grams multiplies your volume by that ingredient's weight-per-cup; converting grams to cups divides by it.
A cup is a unit of volume, and a gram is a unit of weight — the two only relate to each other through an ingredient's density, which is why "1 cup" means a completely different weight depending on what's in it. A cup of feather-light rolled oats weighs far less than a cup of dense granulated sugar, which in turn weighs less than a cup of packed brown sugar. This is the core reason a single universal cups-to-grams conversion doesn't exist, and why recipes written for a scale (common outside the US) can be hard to follow with only measuring cups, or vice versa.
Example: 2 cups of all-purpose flour (about 120 g/cup) = 2 × 120 = 240 g.
Example: 300 g of granulated sugar (about 200 g/cup) = 300 ÷ 200 = 1.5 cups.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup (approx.) |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 120 g |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 220 g |
| Butter | 227 g |
| Water / milk | 240 g |
| Rolled oats | 85 g |
Example — Halving a recipe: A recipe calling for 1.5 cups of butter, when converted to grams (1.5 × 227 = 340.5 g), can then be precisely halved on a scale to 170.25 g, which is more accurate than trying to measure three-quarters of a cup by eye.
Example — Converting a European recipe: A European recipe listing 250 g of flour converts to roughly 2.08 cups, useful when a US kitchen only has measuring cups on hand.
Example — Grated cheese: Because grated cheese is light and airy, 1 cup weighs only about 150 g' despite looking like "a lot" — a common source of over- or under-estimating recipe quantities by eye.
Why isn't there one fixed conversion between cups and grams? Because a cup measures volume and a gram measures weight — the relationship between them depends entirely on the ingredient's density, which varies widely.
How accurate are the gram-per-cup values used here? They're commonly-used industry averages for each ingredient, close enough for everyday cooking and baking, though packing method and brand can shift the exact figure slightly.
What does 'packed' mean for brown sugar? It means pressing the sugar firmly into the measuring cup before leveling it off, which results in more sugar (and more weight) fitting into the same cup than an unpacked scoop.
Is 1 fluid ounce the same as 1 ounce by weight? Only for water, approximately — a fluid ounce measures volume, and its weight in ounces depends on the ingredient's density, just like cups and grams.
Why do European recipes usually use grams instead of cups? Weighing ingredients on a scale is more precise and repeatable than volume measurements, which is why professional and European recipes typically specify weight.
How many tablespoons are in a cup? 16 tablespoons make up 1 cup, and this ratio is fixed regardless of ingredient, since it's a volume-to-volume conversion.
Does this calculator work for liquids like milk or water? Yes — liquids are included, and since their density is close to water's, the cups-to-grams conversion for them is close to a 1:1 ratio.
Why does a cup of oats weigh so much less than a cup of sugar? Because rolled oats are light and full of air pockets, while granulated sugar packs much more densely into the same volume.
Should I trust cup measurements or switch to a kitchen scale? A kitchen scale is generally more accurate and consistent for baking specifically, but cup measurements remain perfectly fine for everyday cooking where small variances don't matter much.