Cups to Grams Calculator

How cups to grams conversion works

A cup measures space while a scale measures weight. To swap between them, you need the density of the food. Each cup weight here comes from USDA FoodData Central in its SR Legacy release (April 2018 file, dated April 1, 2019). One US cup of all-purpose flour is 125 g, granulated sugar is 200 g, butter is 227 g, and honey is 339 g. The first table above lists all 25 foods and the FoodData Central ID behind each weight.

In NIST SP 811 (Appendix B.8) and NIST Handbook 44 (2026, Appendix C), 1 US gallon is 231 cubic inches (3,785.411784 mL exact). Dividing by 16 gives 1 US cup of 236.5882365 mL. One tablespoon (1/16 cup) is 14.7868 mL, and 1 teaspoon (1/48 cup) is 4.9289 mL. Multiply cups by the gram weight per cup to get grams, or divide grams by that weight to get cups. For dry weight, NIST SP 811 Appendix B.8 footnote 22 states: "The exact conversion factor is 4.535 923 7 E-01." Dividing 453.59237 g per avoirdupois pound by 16 gives 28.349523125 g per ounce. For liquid-only swaps, use the kitchen converter.

A cup of dry powder has no single fixed weight. The mass in the cup changes when you sift, spoon, scoop, or pack the food. FoodData Central names the fill for some items and gives one cup weight for others. Think of each value as a tested starting point. NIST's Metric Kitchen Culinary Measurement Tips states: "Measuring ingredients by mass (weight) using an appropriate kitchen scale is a best practice to improve recipe accuracy, rather than measuring ingredients by volume using fluid or dry measuring cups."

Cups to grams conversion formulas

cups = amount × 1, 1/16 or 1/48 (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons)
grams = cups × grams per cup of the food (USDA FoodData Central)
ounces = grams ÷ 28.349523125 (NIST exact: 453.59237 g/lb ÷ 16)
pounds = grams ÷ 453.59237
cups = grams ÷ grams per cup (reverse direction)
FDA 240 mL cup weight = grams × (240 ÷ 236.5882365)
metric 250 mL cup weight = grams × (250 ÷ 236.5882365)

Worked cups to grams examples

Default case (1 US cup of all-purpose flour). FoodData Central record 168894 gives 125 g for 1 cup of flour. Thus 1 cup weighs 125.0 g, or 125 ÷ 28.349523125 = 4.41 oz (0.28 lb). One tablespoon is 125 ÷ 16 = 7.8 g, and 1 teaspoon is 125 ÷ 48 = 2.6 g. At the same density (0.528 g/mL), a 240 mL FDA cup holds 126.8 g and a 250 mL metric cup holds 132.1 g.

Reverse weight-to-volume and spoon cases. Going from grams to cups, 250 g of all-purpose flour is 2 cups (32 tbsp or 96 tsp). Next, 250 g of granulated sugar is 1.25 cups (20 tbsp). For 3 tbsp of butter, 3 ÷ 16 = 0.1875 cup, which weighs 42.6 g (42.5625 g exact), or 1.50 oz.

USDA household weights and kitchen assumptions

• Per-cup weights come from the household rows of USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018 file, dated April 1, 2019). Damp air, brand grind, and scoop pressure can move a real cup of flour or sugar by 5% to 15%.
• When a FoodData Central record lists more than one fill, this tool uses packed brown sugar (FDC 168833), unsifted powdered sugar (FDC 169656), and unsifted dipped cake flour (FDC 169723).
• Tap water (FDC 173647) is listed by USDA at 237 g for 8 US fl oz (29.6 g per fl oz). Pure water at 1 g/mL across 236.588 mL weighs 236.6 g, so the USDA figure is rounded to the whole gram.
• Tablespoons and teaspoons are 1/16 and 1/48 of a US cup. USDA also lists rounded spoon weights for some foods. Butter is 14.2 g per tbsp against 227 ÷ 16 = 14.19 g, honey is 21 g against 21.19 g, and table salt is 18 g against 292 ÷ 16 = 18.25 g.
• Ounces are dry weight ounces of 28.349523125 g (1/16 of the 453.59237 g pound), not liquid fluid ounces of 29.5735 mL.

How to weigh and convert recipes in your kitchen

Weigh dry foods on a digital scale and zero the bowl before each item. NIST's Metric Kitchen Culinary Measurement Tips states: "The safest method to convert an ingredient in a traditional American recipe is to measure it with a traditional measuring tool, then weigh the results in grams with a kitchen scale." If a dough works best with your own scoop—say 130 g per cup of flour instead of 125 g—note that gram weight on your recipe card.

When doubling or tripling a batch, convert cups to grams first so scoop error does not multiply. You can resize up to 4 items at once in the recipe scaler or swap canned goods by cup volume in the can size converter.

Check if your recipe uses a 236.6 mL US cup or a 250 mL metric cup before you start. Across 4 cups of all-purpose flour, that 5.67% cup gap adds 28.3 g (528.3 g metric vs 500.0 g US)—over 3.5 extra tbsp of flour.

Weigh salt in grams when swapping fine table salt (292 g/cup, or 6 g/tsp in FDC 173468) and flaky kosher salt. You can check sodium milligrams for any salt weight in the salt to sodium tool.

Cups to grams questions