What the cooking measurement converter does
Hardly any kitchen owns every measuring tool, and recipes mix systems without mercy: some call for cups, others for milliliters, a few for pints or quarts. This converter sorts it out. Type an amount, pick the source unit, and you instantly see its equivalent in the eight volume measures cooks use most: milliliters, liters, teaspoons, tablespoons, fluid ounces, cups, pints and quarts (all in the US standard).
It also adds something simple converters skip: an estimate of the weight in grams for the most common ingredients. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
How to use it
- In Amount, type the number from your recipe. Decimals work, so
0.5is half a cup and1.5is a cup and a half. - In Source unit, choose what you are starting from (for example, “Cups”).
- Read the dark card: it shows that same amount converted into every other unit.
- Below it, the grams table gives the approximate weight of that amount for water/milk, flour, sugar and butter.
How it works
Everything is converted by going to milliliters first and then to the target unit, using these US equivalents:
| Unit | Milliliters |
|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon (tsp) | 4.93 ml |
| 1 tablespoon (tbsp) | 14.79 ml |
| 1 fluid ounce (fl oz) | 29.57 ml |
| 1 cup | 236.59 ml |
| 1 pint (pt) | 473.18 ml |
| 1 quart (qt) | 946.35 ml |
| 1 liter | 1000 ml |
For weight, each ingredient has an approximate density: water and milk weigh 1 g/ml, wheat flour is around 0.53 g/ml, granulated sugar 0.85 g/ml and butter 0.96 g/ml. Grams are the milliliters times that density. It is an approximation: unsifted or packed flour weighs more, and humidity matters. Use it as a guide, not a precision scale.
Example
A cake recipe calls for 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of flour, but you only have a milliliter measuring jug and a kitchen scale.
- 1 cup = 236.588 ml. Pour 237 ml of milk into the jug and you are done.
- For the flour, 236.588 ml × 0.53 ≈ 125 grams. Weigh 125 g on the scale instead of packing a cup.
- And how many tablespoons is a cup? 236.588 ÷ 14.7868 = 16 tablespoons, or 48 teaspoons.
That is how you translate the whole recipe into the tools you actually own.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cup the US or the metric one?
This converter uses the US cup of 236.59 ml, the one most English-language cookbooks and blogs assume. The metric cup (Australia, New Zealand) rounds to 250 ml. The gap is small for stews, but in baking it is worth keeping in mind.
Are the grams exact?
No, they are an estimate. The volume of a powdered solid does not map to a fixed weight: it depends on whether it is sifted, packed or damp. For water and milk the weight is reliable (1 g/ml); for flour and sugar treat it as a reference.
What is the difference between a fluid ounce and a weight ounce?
A fluid ounce (fl oz) measures volume: 29.57 ml. A weight ounce measures mass: 28.35 g. Liquid recipes almost always mean the fluid one. Do not mix them up.
How many milliliters are in a pint and a quart?
In the US system, 1 pint = 473.18 ml and 1 quart = 946.35 ml (two pints). Watch out: the British imperial pint is different (568 ml), so confirm where the recipe comes from.