Cooking Conversion Calculator

Convert common cooking measurements - cups, tablespoons, teaspoons - to grams and ounces, adjusted for the specific ingredient, since a cup of flour and a cup of sugar don't weigh the same.

Cooking Conversion Calculator

Live

Amount

Unit

Ingredient

Weight

256 g

Ounces

9.03 oz

Weights are typical values for the US customary cup (240mL) - packing, sifting, and brand can shift actual weight slightly.

The formula

Cups = Amount, adjusted for unit (1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp) Weight (g) = Cups x Grams per cup (ingredient-specific)

Example

2 cups of all-purpose flour: 2 x 128g/cup = 256g, or about 9.03 ounces.

Step-by-step guide

Enter the amount and select cups, tablespoons, or teaspoons.
Select the specific ingredient - this matters more than it might seem, since different ingredients pack very differently into the same cup.
Read the weight in grams and ounces.

Why a cup of flour and a cup of sugar weigh differently

Volume measures how much SPACE something takes up, but weight depends on how densely that ingredient packs into the space - flour is light and airy with lots of trapped air pockets, while granulated sugar's crystals pack much more tightly, and butter is denser still. This is exactly why baking recipes that specify weight (grams) rather than volume (cups) tend to be more precise and consistent - volume measurements are genuinely ambiguous unless you know exactly how the ingredient was packed into the cup.

Common mistakes

Using a single "1 cup = X grams" conversion for every ingredient - this only works for the specific ingredient it was measured for; flour, sugar, and butter all convert differently.

Scooping flour directly from the bag with the measuring cup instead of spooning it in and leveling - this compacts the flour and can add significantly more than a properly measured cup, throwing off both the volume and any weight conversion based on standard values.

Frequently asked questions

Why do some recipes give weight instead of cups?

Weight is simply more precise and consistent - it removes the ambiguity of how tightly an ingredient was packed into a measuring cup, which is why professional bakers and many international recipes default to grams.

Is "packed" brown sugar different from "loose"?

Yes - most recipes assume brown sugar is firmly packed into the measuring cup (it should hold its shape when turned out), which is noticeably denser than a loosely spooned cup, and this calculator's brown sugar value assumes the standard packed convention.

Does this work for liquid measurements too?

Yes, for common liquids like water or milk - though for a broader range of pure volume-to-volume conversions (mL, liters, fluid ounces, gallons) without a weight component, our Volume Converter may be more direct.

Related calculators

See the full list of Lifestyle calculators, or try: