Cooking Measurement Conversions: The Complete Guide (Cups, Grams, Oven Temps & More)

Cups, Grams, Tablespoons, Oven Temperatures, and Everything In Between

INTRODUCTION

If you have ever tried to follow a recipe from a different country, you already know the frustration. A British baking blog calls for 225 grams of flour and an oven set to 180°C. An American recipe wants 2 cups of flour and a 350°F oven. An Australian recipe throws in tablespoons that are a different size than everyone else's. None of these numbers mean anything to each other until you convert them — and most online conversion charts are either wrong, incomplete, or too rounded to be useful for baking, where precision actually matters.

This guide exists to fix that. It covers every conversion you're likely to need in a kitchen: cups to grams for the ingredients that matter most, tablespoons and teaspoons to milliliters, oven temperatures across Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Gas Mark, butter and stick measurements, liquid volumes, egg sizing across countries, pan sizes, and common ingredient substitutions. Along the way, it explains why some of these conversions aren't as simple as multiplying by a fixed number, so you understand not just the "what" but the "why."

WHY COOKING CONVERSIONS AREN'T ALWAYS EXACT

Here is the single most important thing to understand before using any conversion chart: a "cup" is a unit of volume, but recipes usually care about weight. A cup of flour and a cup of granulated sugar do not weigh the same amount, because flour is light and airy while sugar is dense and granular. This is why serious bakers weigh ingredients instead of scooping them — and it's why a single conversion factor like "1 cup = 240 grams" is basically meaningless unless you specify what's in the cup.

There's a second wrinkle: even for the same ingredient, "1 cup of flour" can vary by up to 20 percent depending on how it was measured. Scooping the measuring cup directly into a bag of flour packs it down and can give you a cup that weighs significantly more than one where the flour was spooned in lightly and leveled off with a knife. Professional recipes that specify weight in grams remove this ambiguity entirely, which is one reason why grams have become the preferred unit for baking, even in countries that otherwise use cups.

With that context in mind, here are the ingredient-specific conversions that matter most.

CUPS TO GRAMS, INGREDIENT BY INGREDIENT

All-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 cup = 120 grams

3/4 cup = 90 grams

1/2 cup = 60 grams

1/3 cup = 40 grams

1/4 cup = 30 grams

Granulated white sugar

1 cup = 200 grams

3/4 cup = 150 grams

1/2 cup = 100 grams

1/3 cup = 67 grams

1/4 cup = 50 grams

Brown sugar (packed)

1 cup = 220 grams

3/4 cup = 165 grams

1/2 cup = 110 grams

1/3 cup = 73 grams

1/4 cup = 55 grams

Powdered (confectioners') sugar

1 cup = 120 grams

1/2 cup = 60 grams

1/4 cup = 30 grams

Butter

1 cup = 227 grams

3/4 cup = 170 grams

1/2 cup = 113 grams

1/4 cup = 57 grams

Rolled oats

1 cup = 90 grams

1/2 cup = 45 grams

1/4 cup = 23 grams

Uncooked white rice

1 cup = 185 grams

1/2 cup = 93 grams

Cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 cup = 90 grams

1/2 cup = 45 grams

Honey

1 cup = 340 grams

1/2 cup = 170 grams

1 tablespoon = 21 grams

Maple syrup

1 cup = 315 grams

1/2 cup = 157 grams

Vegetable oil

1 cup = 218 grams

1/2 cup = 109 grams

Milk or water

1 cup = 240 grams

1/2 cup = 120 grams

1/4 cup = 60 grams

Table salt

1 cup = 292 grams

1 tablespoon = 18 grams

1 teaspoon = 6 grams

Baking powder

1 teaspoon = 4 grams

1 tablespoon = 12 grams

Baking soda

1 teaspoon = 5 grams

1 tablespoon = 14 grams

Chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans)

1 cup = 120 grams

1/2 cup = 60 grams

Chocolate chips

1 cup = 170 grams

1/2 cup = 85 grams

Shredded cheese

1 cup = 113 grams

1/2 cup = 57 grams

Grated parmesan

1 cup = 100 grams

1/2 cup = 50 grams

A note on why these numbers differ from other charts you might find: some sources use "1 cup flour = 125 grams" or "130 grams," which comes from measuring flour by scooping (packing it down) rather than spooning it in and leveling it off. Both methods are used in different cookbooks, so if your recipe specifies a method, follow that. If it doesn't say, spoon-and-level is the more standard and more accurate approach, and it's what the numbers above assume.

TEASPOONS AND TABLESPOONS TO MILLILITERS

1 teaspoon (tsp) = 4.93 milliliters, commonly rounded to 5 ml

1 tablespoon (tbsp) = 14.79 milliliters, commonly rounded to 15 ml

1 dessertspoon = 10 milliliters (used mainly in UK and Australian recipes)

1 fluid ounce = 29.57 milliliters

1 cup (US) = 236.59 milliliters, commonly rounded to 240 ml

Here's where it gets genuinely confusing: the tablespoon is not the same size everywhere in the world.

United States tablespoon: approximately 14.8 ml (3 teaspoons)

United Kingdom tablespoon: exactly 15 ml (3 teaspoons)

Australian tablespoon: 20 ml (4 teaspoons)

The US and UK tablespoons are close enough that most home recipes won't suffer if you treat them as identical. The Australian tablespoon is meaningfully larger, though — about a third bigger than the US version. This matters most in baking, where the ratio of leavening agents like baking powder to flour needs to be fairly precise. If you're using an Australian recipe outside Australia, or vice versa, and a recipe calls for several tablespoons of baking powder, baking soda, or spices, it's worth converting to milliliters or grams directly rather than assuming your tablespoon matches theirs.

Teaspoons are far more consistent across regions and can generally be treated as equivalent everywhere.

OVEN TEMPERATURE CONVERSION: FAHRENHEIT, CELSIUS, AND GAS MARK

Fahrenheit 225 / Celsius 110 / Gas Mark 1/4 / Very low, used for slow-cooking and dehydrating

Fahrenheit 250 / Celsius 120 / Gas Mark 1/2 / Very low

Fahrenheit 275 / Celsius 135 / Gas Mark 1 / Low

Fahrenheit 300 / Celsius 150 / Gas Mark 2 / Low

Fahrenheit 325 / Celsius 163 / Gas Mark 3 / Moderate, common for slow roasting

Fahrenheit 350 / Celsius 177 / Gas Mark 4 / Moderate, the most common baking temperature

Fahrenheit 375 / Celsius 190 / Gas Mark 5 / Moderately hot

Fahrenheit 400 / Celsius 204 / Gas Mark 6 / Hot, common for roasting vegetables

Fahrenheit 425 / Celsius 218 / Gas Mark 7 / Hot, common for roasting meat

Fahrenheit 450 / Celsius 232 / Gas Mark 8 / Very hot

Fahrenheit 475 / Celsius 246 / Gas Mark 9 / Very hot, used for pizza and bread crust

The conversion formulas, if you ever need an exact figure not on this chart:

Celsius = (Fahrenheit minus 32) multiplied by 5, divided by 9

Fahrenheit = (Celsius multiplied by 9, divided by 5) plus 32

A detail that almost every conversion chart online leaves out: fan-assisted (convection) ovens run hotter than conventional ovens set to the same temperature, because the moving air transfers heat more efficiently. As a rule of thumb, a fan oven runs about 20°C (roughly 25°F) hotter in effect than a conventional oven at the same dial setting. If a recipe was written for a conventional oven and you're baking in a fan oven, either lower the set temperature by about 20°C, or keep the temperature the same and check for doneness 10 to 20 percent earlier than the recipe suggests. The reverse applies if a recipe was written for a fan oven and you're using a conventional one — you may need to add a few extra minutes or a slightly higher temperature.

Gas Mark deserves a quick explanation for readers unfamiliar with it: it's a temperature scale used mainly in the UK and Ireland for gas ovens, numbered from 1/4 (lowest) up to 9 (highest). It doesn't map perfectly onto round Celsius or Fahrenheit numbers, which is why the chart above is the version most people bookmark rather than try to memorize.

BUTTER AND STICK MEASUREMENTS

In the United States, butter is commonly sold in sticks, and recipes often specify butter by the stick rather than by cup or gram. Here's how that breaks down:

1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons = 113 grams = 4 ounces

1/2 stick = 1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons = 57 grams = 2 ounces

2 sticks = 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 227 grams = 8 ounces

4 sticks = 2 cups = 1 pound = 454 grams

Outside the US, butter is typically sold in blocks measured by weight rather than in pre-marked sticks, most commonly in 250-gram blocks. If you're converting a US recipe that calls for sticks and you only have a 250-gram block, here's the quick math: one stick (113 grams) is roughly 45 percent of a 250-gram block. For a recipe calling for 2 sticks (227 grams), you'd use just under a full 250-gram block, leaving about 23 grams unused.

LIQUID VOLUME: THE FULL PICTURE

1 tablespoon = 15 milliliters (approximately)

1 fluid ounce = 30 milliliters (approximately)

1 cup = 237 milliliters

1 pint (2 cups) = 473 milliliters

1 quart (4 cups, 2 pints) = 946 milliliters

1 gallon (16 cups, 4 quarts) = 3.79 liters

It's worth flagging that a US pint, quart, and gallon are all smaller than their UK Imperial counterparts, which can trip people up if they're reading an older British cookbook. A UK Imperial pint is about 568 ml, noticeably larger than the US pint's 473 ml. Most modern UK recipes have moved to metric measurements specifically to avoid this confusion, but if you're working from a vintage cookbook, it's worth double-checking which system it's using.

EGG SIZES ACROSS COUNTRIES

This one surprises people. "Large" doesn't mean the same thing everywhere.

United States large egg: approximately 50 grams (without shell), roughly 3 tablespoons of liquid egg

United Kingdom medium egg: approximately 50 to 55 grams, roughly equivalent to a US large egg

United Kingdom large egg: approximately 63 to 73 grams, noticeably bigger than a US large egg

Australian large egg: approximately 59 grams

If you're baking a recipe from a different country and it calls for "large eggs," and your results seem consistently too wet or too dry, egg size differences are a common hidden culprit — especially in recipes that use several eggs, where the size difference compounds. When precision really matters, such as in delicate baking like macarons or soufflés, it's worth weighing your eggs and adjusting the count rather than trusting the size label alone.

COMMON BAKING PAN SIZE CONVERSIONS

9-inch round cake pan = approximately 23 centimeters

8-inch round cake pan = approximately 20 centimeters

9x13 inch baking dish = approximately 23x33 centimeters

9x5 inch loaf pan = approximately 23x13 centimeters

10-inch springform pan = approximately 25 centimeters

Pan size matters more than most home bakers realize, because it affects both baking time and how thick the batter sits, which changes how evenly the center cooks. If you only have a pan slightly larger or smaller than what a recipe specifies, expect to adjust baking time — a larger pan spreads the batter thinner and will usually cook faster, while a smaller, deeper pan will need more time in the oven.

INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTION CONVERSIONS

Some conversions aren't about units at all, but about swapping one ingredient for another when you're out of something. These come up constantly alongside measurement questions, so it's worth including the most common ones here:

1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar, rested for 5 minutes

1 cup self-raising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1.5 teaspoons baking powder plus a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon fresh herbs = 1 teaspoon dried herbs

1 cup granulated sugar = 1 cup packed brown sugar (slightly different flavor and moisture, but works in most recipes)

1 whole egg = 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (for baking, not for recipes where egg structure is essential)

HOW TO CONVERT AN ENTIRE RECIPE, STEP BY STEP

If you're converting a whole recipe rather than a single measurement, working through it methodically avoids mistakes:

First, convert the oven temperature and note whether the recipe assumes a conventional or fan oven, adjusting if needed.

Second, go through the ingredient list one item at a time, converting cups and tablespoons to grams or milliliters using ingredient-specific values rather than a single blanket conversion factor.

Third, check for pan size. If your pan is a different size than specified, note that you may need to adjust baking time.

Fourth, if the recipe originates from a country with different egg sizes than yours, consider whether the egg count needs adjusting, especially for recipes using more than 2 or 3 eggs.

Fifth, write out the fully converted recipe before you start cooking, rather than converting on the fly. This avoids the common mistake of misreading a converted number midway through mixing.

COMMON MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE WITH KITCHEN CONVERSIONS

Using a single, generic "cups to grams" number for every ingredient. This is the single biggest source of baking failures when following converted recipes — flour, sugar, and butter all convert differently.

Assuming tablespoons are the same size everywhere. As covered above, the Australian tablespoon is meaningfully larger than the US or UK version.

Ignoring the difference between a fan oven and a conventional oven. A recipe that seems to consistently overcook or undercook when converted is often an oven-type mismatch rather than a temperature conversion error.

Not accounting for egg size differences in recipes originating from a different country, particularly in recipes that rely on several eggs for structure, like sponge cakes or soufflés.

Rounding too aggressively. Converting 1 tablespoon as "about 15 ml" is fine for most cooking, but in baking, where ratios of leavening agents to flour matter, small roundings can compound into a noticeable difference across a full recipe.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is 1 cup always exactly 240 milliliters?

Not quite. A US legal cup, used for nutrition labeling, is exactly 240 ml. The traditional US customary cup used in cooking is 236.59 ml. The difference is small enough that it doesn't matter for almost any home recipe.

How do I convert a recipe from grams to cups if I don't have a kitchen scale?

Use ingredient-specific conversion values rather than a single generic number, since different ingredients pack differently into a measuring cup. The tables above give the most accurate figures for common baking ingredients.

Why does my UK recipe's tablespoon seem to measure differently than a US recipe?

UK and US tablespoons are close enough (15 ml versus roughly 14.8 ml) that the difference rarely matters. Australian tablespoons, at 20 ml, are noticeably larger and worth converting carefully, especially for leavening agents.

Do I need to adjust baking time when converting oven temperature?

Usually not, if you're converting accurately between Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Gas Mark using the chart above. Where baking time does need adjusting is when switching between a fan oven and a conventional oven, or when using a differently sized pan than the recipe specifies.

Why do some recipes give both cups and grams?

This is increasingly common in international cookbooks and food blogs specifically to avoid the ambiguity of volume measurements. When both are given, using the gram measurement with a kitchen scale will produce more consistent results than measuring by cup.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Measurement conversion in cooking isn't really about memorizing a single multiplication factor — it's about understanding that different ingredients, different countries, and even different oven types all introduce their own small variables. Once you know where those variables are (ingredient density, tablespoon size by region, fan versus conventional ovens, egg size by country), converting a recipe accurately becomes far more reliable than plugging numbers into a generic calculator. Bookmark this guide, or use the interactive converter tools linked below to handle custom amounts instantly.