A recipe from a US blog, a packet of European yeast, and a bag of flour sold by the pound rarely agree on the same units. This cooking conversion calculator turns cups into milliliters, tablespoons into grams, fluid ounces into liters, and pounds into grams so you can follow any recipe without guessing. It uses the standard US culinary measures taught by the FDA and USDA: one cup equals 240 mL, one tablespoon equals 15 mL, and one pound equals 454 grams.
Type in your amount, pick the unit you are converting from and the unit you want, and the result updates instantly. When a recipe calls for cutting ingredients in half or doubling them, you can also scale the numbers by any percentage you like and read the converted weight straight off the result card.
How to Use
- Enter the Amount the recipe lists, for example
2or0.5. - Choose the Convert From unit. This is the measure the recipe uses right now — a cup, a tablespoon, a teaspoon, a fluid ounce, milliliters, liters, pounds, ounces, grams, or kilograms.
- Choose the Convert To unit. Pick the measure you actually need on your scale or measuring jug.
- Leave Ingredient Density at
1.0unless you are crossing volume and weight at the same time. The default matches water and milk; oils and butter are a little lighter (about0.9g/mL). - Read the Converted Result. The card also shows the exact Conversion Factor so you can memorize it the next time you need it.
The calculator keeps volume units (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, mL, liters) on the milliliter standard and weight units (pounds, ounces, grams, kilograms) on the gram standard. Converting within the same family is exact and needs no density. Only a volume-to-weight jump — such as cups of flour into grams — uses the density field, because flour, water, and oil all weigh different amounts for the same volume.
The Conversion Factors Bakers Actually Use
Kitchen conversions are not the same as science-lab conversions, which is why a single chart rarely agrees with your measuring cup. The US culinary system rounds everything to baker-friendly numbers:
- 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 240 mL. This is the FDA standard cup, not the 236.59 mL "legal cup" used on some labels.
- 1 tablespoon = 15 mL and 1 teaspoon = 5 mL, so three teaspoons fill one tablespoon and sixteen tablespoons fill one cup.
- 1 pound = 454 grams, and 1 ounce = 28.35 grams. A pound of butter is about 454 g, which is why most butter sticks label themselves as half-cups or 8 tablespoons.
Because these are rounded factors, a converted result like 2 cups = 480 mL is exact for cooking even though a chemist would quote 473.18 mL. That rounding is intentional: recipes are forgiving at the 240 mL cup, and your measuring cups are marked to it.
Examples
Example 1 — Cups to milliliters. A cookie recipe calls for 2 cups of milk. Choose Convert From = cup and Convert To = mL. The factor is 240, so 2 × 240 = 480 mL. If your carton only marks 250 mL lines, that is just under two cartons.
Example 2 — Cups to fluid ounces. The same 1 cup of water converts to 8 fl oz (factor 8), which matches the familiar "1 cup = 8 oz" line on every liquid measuring jug.
Example 3 — Butter in grams. A European recipe asks for 2 pounds of butter. Choose Convert From = lb and Convert To = g. The factor is 454, so 2 × 454 = 908 g. That is roughly four standard 227 g blocks, and a 5-pound block of butter that costs about $6.50 works out to nearly $1.30 per pound once you know the conversion.
Example 4 — Scaling a recipe by half. If you only want to make 50% of a cake, divide every ingredient by two. Two cups of flour becomes one cup, and 200 g of sugar becomes 100 g — the same factor works whether you scale by 50%, double to 200%, or trim a 12-sheet pan down to a single 9-inch round.
Example 5 — Large batch cooking. A catering recipe lists 1,000,000 mL of stock. Convert mL to liters and the factor is 0.001, giving 1,000 liters — enough to flag that you need a commercial stock pot, not a home saucepan.
FAQ
How many milliliters are in one cup?
In US cooking measures, one cup equals 240 mL. This is the standard used by the FDA and most American recipes, so 2 cups is 480 mL and half a cup is 120 mL. Some European recipes use a 250 mL metric cup, which is close enough for most baking.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
There are 16 tablespoons in one cup. Since 1 tablespoon is 15 mL and 1 cup is 240 mL, the math is 240 ÷ 15 = 16. That also means 1 tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, and 1 teaspoon equals 5 mL.
How many grams are in a pound of butter?
One pound of butter is 454 grams. Because butter is sold by weight in most grocery stores, a 1 lb block converts directly to 454 g, and a half-pound block is 227 g — the familiar "two sticks" size.
Should I use cups or grams for baking?
Grams are more consistent because a cup of packed flour can weigh 120 g or 180 g depending on how hard you pack it, while 100 g on a scale is always 100 g. For delicate baking like macarons or sourdough, convert every cup measurement to grams with this calculator and weigh the ingredients.
How do I convert cups of flour to grams?
Cups to grams crosses from volume to weight, so you need a density. Set Ingredient Density to about 0.6 g/mL for sifted flour, 0.8 g/mL for lightly spooned flour, or 1.0 g/mL for water and milk. The calculator multiplies the cup volume by that density to reach grams.
Why does my conversion not match my recipe book?
Recipe books use different rounding. The "legal" US cup is 240 mL on packaging but 236.59 mL in exact units, and a metric cup in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand is often 250 mL. For everyday cooking these differences are under 5%, which is well within the tolerance of a home recipe.
Disclaimer
This cooking conversion calculator is provided for informational purposes only and is not medical advice, dietary advice, or a substitute for a calibrated scale. Converted values use standard US culinary rounding (1 cup = 240 mL, 1 tbsp = 15 mL, 1 lb = 454 g) and may differ slightly from your measuring equipment or from metric recipes that use a 250 mL cup. Volume-to-weight results depend on the density you enter and are estimates for ingredients like flour, sugar, and oil. Always verify critical measurements with a kitchen scale before baking.