From cups and spoons to exact grams
Convert cups, tablespoons and teaspoons to grams by ingredient. A cup of flour does not weigh the same as a cup of sugar or honey, so the conversion depends on each food. Pick the ingredient and the measure and we give you the grams, plus the equivalent of 1 cup, 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon to keep handy.
Approximate: the cup is 240 ml (US standard) and density varies with how you measure. Weighing on a scale is always most exact.
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Why does a cup weigh differently by ingredient?
Cups and spoons measure VOLUME, while nutrition labels and recipes work in WEIGHT — and the bridge between them is density, which changes with every ingredient. A cup of water is 240 g, a cup of flour about 120 g, and a cup of honey around 340 g. That is why one universal conversion factor does not exist and why this converter carries a density table per ingredient. Two more sources of error worth knowing: how you fill the cup (scooped flour can weigh 20% more than spooned flour) and which cup standard the recipe used. When the amount matters — baking, or counting calories — a scale settles all of it.
Conversion chart: cups and spoons to grams
A cup is NOT 200 grams of everything: it is 120 g of flour and 290 g of salt. That is exactly the mistake that ruins a recipe and throws off a calorie count. Standard 240 ml cup.
| Ingredient | 1 cup | 1 tablespoon | 1 teaspoon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain flour | 120 g | 8 g | 2.7 g |
| White sugar | 200 g | 12 g | 4 g |
| Icing sugar | 120 g | 8 g | 2.5 g |
| Uncooked rice | 185 g | 12 g | 4 g |
| Oil | 218 g | 14 g | 4.5 g |
| Milk | 245 g | 15 g | 5 g |
| Butter | 227 g | 14 g | 4.7 g |
| Cocoa powder | 85 g | 5 g | 1.8 g |
| Salt | 290 g | 18 g | 6 g |
Density conversions for a standard 240 ml cup, 15 ml tablespoon and 5 ml teaspoon. Flour varies by up to 20 % depending on how you pack it: weighing is always more reliable. These are reference ranges for healthy adults, not a diagnosis or individual advice.
FAQ
How many grams are in a cup?
It depends entirely on the ingredient. Water 240 g, flour about 120 g, granulated sugar 200 g, rice 185 g, honey 340 g. Anyone quoting a single number for "a cup" is quoting the one for water and hoping.
How many grams is a tablespoon?
Around 15 ml of volume, which is 15 g of water, roughly 13-14 g of oil, about 8 g of flour and 21 g of honey. The teaspoon is a third of that, at 5 ml.
Is a cup 240 ml or 250 ml?
The US legal cup is 240 ml, the US customary cup 236.6 ml, and the metric cup used in Australia is 250 ml. We use 240 ml, which is what most recipes written in English assume. The difference is under 5% — negligible in a stew, noticeable in baking.
Is measuring by cups accurate?
For cooking, accurate enough. For baking and for calorie counting, no: the error from how you fill the cup alone can reach 20% with flour. A kitchen scale is the cheapest precision upgrade there is, and it saves washing the measuring cups.