Cooking Converter
Density-aware conversion between cups, tablespoons, grams, and ounces for common cooking ingredients. Flour, sugar, butter, and more.
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About this tool
Density-aware conversion between volume and weight for common cooking ingredients. The challenge with cooking conversions is that one cup of flour weighs very differently than one cup of honey — about 120 g vs 340 g. This tool knows the density of each ingredient and does the math for you.
Why weight is better than volume
Volume measurements ("1 cup of flour") are imprecise. Scoop vs spoon- and-level can vary by 30%, which ruins baked goods. Professional kitchens and most serious bakers measure by weight (grams) because it's accurate, reproducible, and faster. If you're following a recipe that gives both cups and grams, use the grams.
Cup standards used here
- US cup (236.588 mL): the default for most online and American recipes. Use this unless you have a reason not to.
- Metric cup (250 mL): Canada's official metric cup, also used in Australia and New Zealand. Some Canadian cookbooks use this.
Sources
Density values are based on the King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart, Cook's Illustrated standards, and USDA reference data. Different brands, brands of the same product, and even how the ingredient is packed can vary by 5–10%. For most home baking, the values here are more than accurate enough.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is my flour weight 120 g per cup but my recipe says 125 g?
- There's no single authoritative value. King Arthur uses 120 g, the USDA uses 125 g, others say 140 g. The "right" answer is whatever your recipe author was using. For their recipe, use what they say. For a recipe that only gives cups, 120 g is the most widely-accepted modern North American convention.
- Why does brown sugar weigh more than granulated when both are sugar?
- Brown sugar is "packed" into measuring cups (the standard convention), and the molasses content makes it slightly denser. Packed brown sugar = ~213 g per cup; granulated = ~198 g per cup.
- How do you handle butter — by volume or weight?
- Most US recipes call for butter in tablespoons or sticks (1 stick = ½ cup = 113 g). This tool uses 227 g per cup as the density. Canadian butter is usually sold in 454 g bricks (1 lb), which is 4 US sticks worth.
- Are these conversions exact?
- For the volume-to-volume conversions, yes (exact). For volume-to-weight, the ingredient densities are reference values that real-world ingredients vary around by 5–10%. Use a scale if you need precision (and for serious baking, you should anyway).
- What about salt? Why are there two different kinds?
- Salt is famously inconsistent. Diamond Crystal kosher salt is much less dense than table salt or Morton kosher (about half). Many US recipes specify "kosher salt" without saying which brand — when they do, it's usually Diamond. If you only have table salt and the recipe says 1 tbsp kosher, use about half as much. The tool has separate entries for table salt and Diamond kosher.
Last updated: May 17, 2026