Cooking Measurement Converter

Convert between spoons, cups, millilitres and grams for cooking and baking. Because a cup of flour and a cup of sugar weigh differently, conversions account for each ingredient's density.

How to use

  1. Choose the unit you want to convert to (tablespoon, cup, ml, or grams).
  2. Pick the ingredient so the right density is applied.
  3. Enter the amount and read off the converted result.

By volume, one tablespoon is about 15 ml, one teaspoon about 5 ml, and a standard cup is about 240 ml (slightly less for some countries' measuring cups).

In depth

Volume measures weigh different amounts

A cup is a unit of volume. How much it weighs depends entirely on the ingredient's density.

One US cup (240ml) holds roughly: water 240g, flour 120g, sugar 200g, honey 340g, oil 220g.

So substituting "a cup of flour" with "a cup of sugar" changes the weight completely.

This is why baking recipes insist on grams. Cooking tolerates volume measures; baking does not.

National differences

A cup is 240ml in the US, 200ml in Japan and Korea, 250ml in Australia, and 284ml in the old imperial measure.

A tablespoon is 15ml in most countries but 20ml in Australia. Treating an Australian tablespoon as 15ml leaves you 25% short.

A teaspoon is 5ml essentially everywhere.

A fluid ounce is 29.57ml in the US and 28.41ml imperial. Close, but the gap compounds at volume.

When a recipe's origin is unclear, look for weights instead of units.

Oven temperatures and gas marks

°C = (°F − 32) × 5/9. 350°F is 177°C, universally rounded to 180°C in practice.

Gas marks — 1 ≈ 140°C, 3 ≈ 160°C, 4 ≈ 180°C, 6 ≈ 200°C, 7 ≈ 220°C.

Fan (convection) ovens run 20°C lower. Circulating air transfers heat faster, so a 180°C conventional recipe becomes 160°C fan.

Domestic ovens commonly read 10–20°C off their actual temperature. An oven thermometer resolves a lot of "I followed the recipe and it didn't work".

Vague measures

A pinch is what you can hold between thumb and forefinger, about 1/16 teaspoon.

A dash is a quick shake of a liquid, about 1/8 teaspoon.

"To taste" genuinely means taste and decide, and is used mostly for salt and pepper.

These belong only to seasoning ingredients. A recipe that says "flour, to taste" is not one to trust.

Conversions worth memorising

1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons (US).

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons, true nearly everywhere.

1 pound = 453.6g, 1 ounce = 28.35g.

1 inch = 2.54cm — needed for pan sizes. A 9-inch pan is about 23cm.

US recipes measure butter in sticks: 1 stick = ½ cup = 113g.

When precision actually matters

In baking, the ratio of flour, leavening and salt determines the outcome. Weigh it.

In pickling and fermentation, salt concentration is a safety control, not a seasoning choice. "About right" is genuinely risky here.

With candy and syrup, temperature and concentration define the result, and a few degrees change it entirely.

Stir-fries, soups and stews are forgiving, because you can taste and adjust as you go.

FAQ

How many ml is one tablespoon?

A standard tablespoon is about 15 ml and a teaspoon about 5 ml, though this tool lets you convert exact amounts for your recipe.

Why does the gram amount change per ingredient?

Volume-to-weight depends on density. The same cup holds a different mass of flour, sugar or water, so the converter uses each ingredient's density for accurate grams.

Can I use a regular spoon instead of a measuring spoon?

Regular spoons vary a lot in size compared to a standard 15 ml measuring tablespoon, so results can be off by quite a bit — a heaping regular spoonful can be closer to 1.5 measuring tablespoons.

Method and sources

What this tool bases its numbers on, and how far those numbers go.

What this tool is
Volume conversions are exact; weight conversions are not. Turning a spoon or a cup into grams needs a density figure, and the density of a scooped ingredient depends on how you scooped it.
Formula
Volume units use the labelling conventions: 1 tablespoon = 15 ml, 1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 cup = 240 ml. Weight is volume multiplied by a stored density for the chosen ingredient, so grams = millilitres × grams per millilitre.
Worked example
One tablespoon is 15 ml. Flour at about 0.53 g/ml gives 15 × 0.53 ≈ 8 g, while granulated sugar at about 0.85 g/ml gives 15 × 0.85 ≈ 12.75 g — the same spoon, different weights.
Limitations
  • Cup sizes differ by country. 240 ml is the US labelling cup; a metric cup is 250 ml, Japan's is 200 ml, and an old UK cup is 284 ml. A recipe that says «1 cup» rarely says which.
  • How you fill it changes the weight by a lot. Scooped flour packs denser than spooned-and-levelled flour — differences of 20% or more are ordinary, which is why bakers weigh instead.
  • Densities are single stored values. Brown sugar packed or loose, sifted or unsifted flour, and cocoa of different fat content all deviate from one number.
  • Tablespoon size is not universal either — Australia uses 20 ml, and older recipes in some countries assume other values.
  • For baking, weigh. Any volume-to-weight conversion is an approximation, and the tighter the recipe the more that approximation costs you.
Effective date
Last reviewed

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