Cooking Converter

How to Use the Cooking Converter

Select an ingredient from the dropdown, enter the amount, and choose the from/to units (cups, grams, tablespoons, teaspoons, mL, oz). If your ingredient is not in the list, use the manual density input mode.

Cooking Converter Formula

• 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp = 240 mL

Example Calculation

Why Cups Are the Problem, Not the Solution

Most recipes online are written in American cups, but a cup is a measure of volume — and volume is a terrible way to measure dry ingredients. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 to 150 grams depending on whether it was scooped, spooned, or packed. That 25% swing is the difference between a tender cake and a dense one. This is why professional bakers weigh everything in grams: weight is exact, volume is a guess. The most reliable thing you can do is convert a recipe to grams once and use a kitchen scale.

Common Conversions Worth Memorising

A few weights cover most baking. Note that they differ by ingredient — a cup of flour and a cup of sugar are not the same weight, because the grains pack differently.

• All-purpose flour: 1 cup ≈ 120 g.
• Granulated sugar: 1 cup ≈ 200 g.
• Brown sugar (packed): 1 cup ≈ 220 g.
• Butter: 1 cup ≈ 227 g (and 1 stick ≈ 113 g).
• Volume constants: 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 240 mL; 1 tbsp = 3 tsp = 15 mL.

The Indian Kitchen Note

Indian cooks face an extra trap: the "cup" in Indian recipes and the standard measuring cup are often different. Many Indian recipes assume a 200 mL cup (and sometimes a tea-cup smaller still), while US recipes use a 240 mL cup. Using the wrong one throws ratios off by 20%, which matters most in baking and in rice-to-water ratios. When a recipe does not specify, weigh in grams if you can, or check whether the source is Indian (often ~200 mL) or American (240 mL) before trusting the cup.

Liquids, and When Volume Is Fine

Volume measurement is genuinely fine for liquids — water, milk, and oil have consistent density, so a cup of water is reliably about 240 mL. The precision problem is specific to dry and compressible ingredients like flour, powdered sugar, cocoa, and brown sugar. A practical rule: measure liquids by volume, measure flour and sugar by weight, and reserve teaspoons and tablespoons for small quantities of salt, baking powder, and spices where a few grams either way will not break the dish. Use this converter to translate any recipe into the units your kitchen is set up for.

Frequently Asked Questions