Kitchen Measurement Conversions: Cups, Tbsp, Tsp

Halving a recipe, or measuring when one spoon is in the dishwasher, means knowing how US units fit together. This page collects the kitchen measurement conversions you'll actually need, in charts you can scan quickly. For anything else, the unit converter does the arithmetic for you.

Spoons and cups

A US cup is exactly 236.6 ml. Nutrition labels and most recipes round it to 240 ml, and we do the same; the difference doesn't matter in cooking.

Cups, pints, quarts and gallons

Fluid ounces vs ounces by weight

A fluid ounce measures volume; an ounce on a scale measures weight. They are only the same for water and liquids with a similar density. One cup of water weighs about 8 ounces, but 1 cup of flour weighs about 4.4 ounces (125 g) and 1 cup of honey about 12 ounces (340 g). When a recipe lists ounces for a dry ingredient, weigh it.

Butter conversions

Weight conversions

• 1 ounce = 28.35 grams
• 1 pound = 16 ounces = 454 grams
• 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds

Common dry ingredients, cups to grams

Volume and weight don't convert directly, because ingredients have different densities. These are the weights we use in our recipes, for a US cup measured correctly; see how to measure ingredients accurately.

Other handy equivalents

• 1 packet of active dry yeast = 2¼ teaspoons (7 g)
• 1 large egg, beaten = about 3 tablespoons (50 g) without the shell
• Juice of 1 medium lemon = about 2 to 3 tablespoons
• A pinch is commonly taken as about ⅛ teaspoon or less, and a dash as a few drops of liquid. Neither is a standardized measure.

Oven temperatures

350°F = 175°C, 375°F = 190°C, 400°F = 200°C, 425°F = 220°C. For a fan (convection) oven, many manufacturers suggest lowering the temperature by about 25°F (15°C). Convert any temperature with the unit converter.

Scaling a whole recipe

To double, halve or change the servings of a recipe, use the recipe scaler: paste the ingredients and it converts each amount into practical kitchen fractions. Every recipe on our site also has a built-in servings control and a one-tap metric switch; try it on our buttermilk pancakes. A printable version of these charts is in the free downloads.