Grams to cups converter
Pick the ingredient, type the grams and get US cups and spoons, with the fill method the weight assumes.
240 g all-purpose flour
2 cups
- 1 cup×2
US cup of 236.6 mL, spooned and leveled
How this is measured
1 US cup of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, weighs 120 g. Based on King Arthur's ingredient weight chart: fluff, spoon into the cup until overflowing, level with a straight edge (as King Arthur's guide to measuring flour describes).
Other values: Scooped, 142 g a cup (America's Test Kitchen baking conversion chart): 1.69 cups; Sifted, 115 g a cup (USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, Home and Garden Bulletin No. 72): 2.09 cups.
How to convert grams to cups
Grams measure weight and cups measure volume, so a grams to cups conversion needs one more number: how much one cup of the ingredient weighs. Divide the grams by those grams per cup and you have the cups. A US cup of granulated sugar weighs 198 grams, so 198 grams of sugar is 1 cup; a cup of whole milk weighs 244 grams, so 122 grams of milk is ½ cup.
Grams belong to the metric system and cups to US customary measures, which is why a recipe written in grams has to be converted before you can measure it with cups. The calculator above does it in three steps:
- Pick the ingredient. The four most-used ones have quick buttons; the list holds the other dry ingredients and liquids.
- Type the grams. Whole numbers, decimals and fractions all work.
- Read the cups and spoons to fill. The answer names the cup standard and, where the source gives one, how the cup is filled.
Grams per cup of common ingredients
One US cup (8 fluid ounces, 236.6 mL) of each ingredient, the reference value the calculator uses for it. Where the source names how the cup was filled, the table names it too; where it doesn't, the row says "Not stated". The letter in the last column points to the source named under the table.
| Ingredient | How the cup is filled | Grams in 1 US cup | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flours and starches | |||
| All-purpose flour | Spooned and leveled | 120 g | A |
| Bread flour | Not stated | 120 g | A |
| Cake flour | Not stated | 113 g | B |
| Whole wheat flour | Not stated | 113 g | A |
| Almond flour | Not stated | 96 g | A |
| Cornstarch | Not stated | 112 g | A |
| Sugars and syrups | |||
| Granulated sugar | Scooped | 198 g | B |
| Brown sugar | Packed | 213 g | A |
| Powdered sugar | Unsifted | 113 g | A |
| Caster (superfine) sugar | Not stated | 190 g | A |
| Honey | Not stated | 339 g | C |
| Maple syrup | Not stated | 315 g | C |
| Dairy and fats | |||
| Butter | Not stated | 227 g | C |
| Milk | Not stated | 244 g | C |
| Buttermilk | Not stated | 227 g | A |
| Soy milk | Not stated | 244 g | D |
| Almond milk | Not stated | 244 g | D |
| Oat milk | Not stated | 244 g | D |
| Heavy cream | Not stated | 227 g | A |
| Half-and-half | Not stated | 227 g | A |
| Whipped cream | Not stated | 120 g | C |
| Sour cream | Not stated | 227 g | A |
| Greek yogurt | Not stated | 245 g | D |
| Plain yogurt | Not stated | 227 g | A |
| Cream cheese | Not stated | 232 g | C |
| Shredded cheddar | Shredded | 113 g | C |
| Vegetable oil | Not stated | 218 g | C |
| Pantry | |||
| Water | Not stated | 236.2 g | E |
| Rolled oats, dry | Not stated | 81 g | C |
| White rice, long-grain, raw | Not stated | 185 g | C |
| White rice, long-grain, cooked | Not stated | 158 g | C |
| Brown rice, long-grain, raw | Not stated | 185 g | C |
| Brown rice, cooked | Not stated | 170 g | A |
| Cocoa powder | Not stated | 84 g | A |
| Chocolate chips | Not stated | 170 g | A |
| Mini chocolate chips | Not stated | 177 g | A |
| White chocolate chips | Not stated | 170 g | A |
| Peanut butter | Not stated | 270 g | A |
| Table salt | Not stated | 288 g | A |
Sources: A — King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart; B — America's Test Kitchen baking conversion chart; C — USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy; D — USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS survey foods; E — NIST Chemistry WebBook (Standard Reference Database 69), water.
These are reference values for one product variety each: all-purpose flour, granulated white sugar, whole milk, raw long-grain white rice, dry rolled oats, plain Greek yogurt. They are not a promise about your bag or brand. A kitchen scale is the only way to know what your cup holds.
Grams to cups conversion chart
The gram amounts recipes ask for most, from 50 to 500 grams, converted for five everyday foods. Some land exactly on a mark: 227 grams of butter is 1 cup. Most land between marks, so the chart gives the nearest cups and spoons you can actually fill, marked ≈ when rounded.
US cups. Flour spooned and leveled; sugar granulated; rice raw long-grain white. ≈ marks the nearest measure you can fill.
| Grams | Flour | Sugar | Butter | Milk | Rice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 g | ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp | ≈ ¼ cup | ≈ 3 tbsp + 1 tsp + ½ tsp | ≈ 3 tbsp + 1 tsp | ≈ ¼ cup + 1 tsp |
| 100 g | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp | ≈ ½ cup | ≈ ¼ cup + 3 tbsp | ≈ ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + ½ tsp | ≈ ½ cup + 2 tsp |
| 150 g | 1¼ cups | ≈ ¾ cup | ≈ ⅔ cup | ≈ ½ cup + 2 tbsp | ≈ ¾ cup + 1 tbsp |
| 200 g | 1⅔ cups | ≈ 1 cup | ≈ ¾ cup + 2 tbsp | ≈ ¾ cup + 1 tbsp | ≈ 1 cup + 1 tbsp |
| 250 g | ≈ 2 cups + 1 tbsp | ≈ 1¼ cups | ≈ 1 cup + 1 tbsp + 2 tsp | ≈ 1 cup + 1 tsp | ≈ 1⅓ cups |
| 300 g | 2½ cups | ≈ 1½ cups | ≈ 1⅓ cups | ≈ 1¼ cups | ≈ 1½ cups + 2 tbsp |
| 500 g | ≈ 4¼ cups | ≈ 2½ cups | ≈ 2 cups + 3 tbsp | ≈ 2 cups + 1 tbsp | ≈ 2⅔ cups |
Why different ingredients give different cups
An accurate conversion needs three things, and the same grams fill a different number of cups when any one of them changes.
1. The ingredient and its density
Different ingredients have different densities, so the same cup weighs more or less depending on what fills it: 198 grams of granulated sugar, 227 grams of butter, but only 84 grams of cocoa powder. Even two dry ingredients differ: a cup of raw long-grain white rice is 185 grams, not the 198 grams of sugar. No single number of grams per cup works for everything.
2. The cup standard
US recipes use the US customary cup: 8 US fluid ounces, 236.6 mL (NIST Handbook 44). Nutrition labels use a rounded 240 mL cup, set by the FDA labeling rule (21 CFR 101.9). The calculator answers in US cups unless you switch to the label cup, the metric cup (250 mL) or the imperial cup, and the spoons follow the cup you choose. See mL to cups for the cup sizes side by side.
3. The way the cup is filled
Dry ingredients like flour settle and pack, so a cup holds more when it is scooped than when it is spooned in loosely. For all-purpose flour the sources we use give three different cups:
- Spooned and leveled (fluffed, spooned in, leveled with a straight edge): 120 grams, King Arthur Baking.
- Scooped (dip the cup into the bag and sweep it level): 142 grams, America's Test Kitchen.
- Sifted, then spooned: 115 grams, USDA Home and Garden Bulletin No. 72.
America's Test Kitchen reports up to a 20 percent difference in the weight of a cup of flour depending on how it is measured. That is why the calculator states the fill method next to the answer whenever the source names one. Our weight for packed brown sugar is 213 grams a cup, and our powdered sugar weight is for an unsifted cup, as their sources state. Liquid ingredients need no fill method: they fill to the line.
How to measure dry and liquid ingredients without a scale
If a recipe gives grams and you only have measuring cups and measuring spoons, convert here and measure the way the weight assumes:
- Dry ingredients: America's Test Kitchen dips the cup into the container and sweeps it level, which gives a cup of granulated sugar its 198 grams. King Arthur Baking's weight for flour instead assumes it is fluffed, spooned into the cup until it overflows and leveled with the back of a knife.
- Brown sugar: pack it into the cup. Our brown sugar weight is for a packed cup.
- Liquids: set a liquid measuring cup on the counter and lean down to read it at eye level, as America's Test Kitchen advises.
- Butter: count sticks and tablespoons: one US stick is ½ cup, or 8 tablespoons. The butter converter turns grams of butter into sticks and spoons.
Small amounts are easier in spoons. The answer card splits every result into cups and spoons you own, such as "≈ 1¼ cups + 1 tbsp", so you never have to eyeball a decimal on the side of a cup.
How the grams to cups calculator works
Cups = grams ÷ grams in one cup of that ingredient, for the cup standard and fill method shown. The result is then split into the fewest cups and spoons that come close to it: whole cups, the ¾, ⅔, ½, ⅓ and ¼ cup measures, tablespoons and teaspoons. When that split is exact the answer has no mark; when it is rounded you see ≈, and "How this is measured" under the answer shows the number before rounding, the value used, its source and any other value a different source gives. The rounding is only about fitting the result into kitchen measures. It says nothing about how accurate ingredient densities are; a reference value is a typical cup, not your cup.
Mass-to-mass and volume-to-volume conversions don't use any of this: 1 ounce is exactly 28.35 grams and 1 cup is exactly 16 tablespoons by definition, whatever is in it.
For home cooks and bakers working from recipes in grams, in cooking and baking alike, a digital scale reads the weight in grams directly, with no conversion. King Arthur Baking calls a digital kitchen scale an essential baking tool, and America's Test Kitchen says measuring by weight is far more accurate than measuring by volume.
More baking and cooking converters
Other baking conversions have their own pages, each with a calculator and conversion tables:
- Cups to grams: start from ½, ⅔ or ¾ cup and get the weight.
- Grams in a cup of flour: all-purpose, bread, cake, whole wheat and almond.
- Grams in a cup of sugar: granulated, brown and powdered.
- 1 cup brown sugar in grams, packed or loose, and 1 cup powdered sugar in grams, sifted or not.
- Grams in a cup of rice, raw and cooked; water, milk and Greek yogurt by the cup.
- 1 cup heavy cream in grams, with half-and-half and whipped cream, and 1 cup sour cream in grams, by weight and in fluid ounces.
- 1 cup peanut butter in grams, chocolate chips (regular, mini and white) and cocoa powder by the cup and the spoon.
- Butter converter: sticks, tablespoons, cups, grams and ounces.
- Grams to tablespoons and tablespoons to grams, grams to teaspoons and teaspoons to grams: spoon amounts by ingredient.
- Grams to mL and mL to grams: weight and volume through each ingredient's density.
- Cups to pounds: how many cups of an ingredient are in a pound.
- Grams to ounces and ounces to grams: weight to weight, the same for any food.
- Cups to mL, mL to cups, cups to ounces, cups in a quart, cups to tablespoons, tablespoons to cups, teaspoons to tablespoons, tablespoons to mL and teaspoons to mL: volume to volume, exact by definition.
- Half of a measurement: half, a third or double of any cup or spoon measure.
- Oven temperature conversion: Celsius and Fahrenheit, exact both ways.
- Cooking conversion chart: cups, spoons, ounces, grams and oven temperatures on one printable page.
- Ingredient weight chart: everything we have a sourced weight for on one page, with one amount converted for all of it.
Questions
How many cups is 100 grams?
It depends on what you measure. 100 grams of granulated sugar is ≈ ½ cup, of all-purpose flour ¾ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp, of butter ≈ ¼ cup + 3 tbsp and of whole milk ≈ ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + ½ tsp.
How many cups is 340 grams of flour?
≈ 2¾ cups + 1 tbsp of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled into US cups at 120 grams a cup. Scooped, the same 340 grams fills fewer cups: ≈ 2⅓ cups + 1 tbsp.
What is ¼ cup in grams?
¼ cup of granulated sugar is 49.5 grams, of butter 56.75 grams and of whole milk 61 grams.
What is the weight of 1 cup of butter?
227 grams, which is two US sticks (USDA FoodData Central; America's Test Kitchen gives the same weight). One stick is ½ cup, 8 tbsp and 113.4 grams.
Is 1 cup the same as 250 grams?
Not for the common baking ingredients: a cup is a volume, so its weight depends on what fills it. A US cup holds 236.2 grams of water, 198 grams of granulated sugar, 227 grams of butter and 244 grams of whole milk. 250 mL is the size of a metric cup, a volume rather than a weight.
How many grams are in 1 measuring cup?
It depends on the ingredient. For water it is about 236.2 grams in a US cup at 20 °C (from the density of water in the NIST Chemistry WebBook); for everything else, pick the ingredient in the calculator or look it up in the table above.
Is 200 grams of sugar 1 cup?
Close: 200 grams of granulated sugar is ≈ 1 cup, since a cup weighs 198 grams. 200 grams of packed brown sugar is ≈ ¾ cup + 3 tbsp and of powdered sugar ≈ 1¾ cups.
How do I convert cups to grams?
The other way round: multiply the cups by the grams per cup of that ingredient. Cups to grams does it and lists the cup fractions.
Do I need a digital scale to bake?
No, but it helps. King Arthur Baking recommends always using a scale and says measuring cups work too if you use them the right way. Without a scale, use the converter above and fill the cup the way the answer says.
Sources
- 21 CFR 101.9 (US nutrition labeling)
- America's Test Kitchen baking conversion chart
- America's Test Kitchen, Baking Basics: Measuring Ingredients
- America's Test Kitchen, Measuring Flour
- King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart
- King Arthur Baking, How to measure flour
- Manufacturer's label serving size, as listed in USDA FoodData Central (Branded Foods)
- NIST Chemistry WebBook (Standard Reference Database 69), water
- NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C
- NIST Special Publication 430, Household Weights and Measures
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS survey foods
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy
- USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, Home and Garden Bulletin No. 72
- Weights and Measures Act 1985 (UK), Schedule 1
- Cups to grams converter and conversion tableOne US cup weighs 198 grams of granulated sugar but 227 grams of butter: pick the ingredient and type the cups.
- How many grams in a cup of flourA cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 grams spooned and leveled: pick the flour and the way you fill the cup.
- How many grams in a cup of sugarA cup of granulated sugar weighs 198 grams: pick the sugar, and for brown or powdered, how the cup is filled.
- How many cups in one stick of butterOne stick of butter is 8 tbsp, ½ cup and 4 ounces: type any butter amount and get all the others.
- Ingredient weight chartOne US cup of every ingredient we have a sourced weight for, in grams; change the amount or unit and every row follows.
- Grams to ounces converterOne ounce is 28.35 grams, for any ingredient: type grams, get ounces and pounds.
- Tablespoons to cups converterA US cup is 16 tbsp: type tablespoons, get the cups and spoons to fill.
- mL to cups converterA US cup is 236.6 mL: type milliliters, get cups and spoons for the cup your recipe uses.