How to use the converter
- Pick the ingredient. Weights are different for every ingredient, so this matters more than anything else.
- Type the amount. Use decimals or fractions, then choose cups, spoons, grams or ounces.
- Read the result. Volume becomes grams. Grams become cups, plus a kitchen-friendly version like "¾ cup + 1 tbsp".
Why a cup of flour isn't a cup of sugar
Cups measure how much space an ingredient takes up. Grams measure how heavy it is. The two only line up when you know the ingredient's density, and densities vary a lot in the kitchen. Granulated sugar is made of hard crystals that pack tightly, so one cup weighs about 198 grams. All-purpose flour is fine and airy, so the same cup weighs about 120 grams. Cocoa powder is lighter still, at about 84 grams. Honey, which is thick and heavy, comes in at about 336 grams.
That is why generic "1 cup = 240 grams" calculators give wrong answers for almost everything except water. ScoopMath stores a separate weight for each ingredient and does the math from there.
How to measure flour correctly
Flour causes more baking failures than any other ingredient, and the reason is almost always how it was measured. When you push a measuring cup into a bag of flour, you compress it. A cup that should weigh 120 grams can easily end up at 140 or even 160 grams. That extra 20 to 30 percent is enough to turn a tender cake dry or make cookies spread less than they should.
If you don't have a scale, use the spoon and level method, which is what our flour numbers assume:
- Stir the flour in its container to loosen it.
- Spoon flour into the measuring cup until it overflows. Don't shake or tap the cup.
- Sweep the excess off with the flat side of a knife.
The best fix is a scale. A basic digital kitchen scale removes the guesswork entirely and makes washing up faster, because you can measure everything straight into one bowl.
Brown sugar, butter and sticky ingredients
Brown sugar is the exception to the "don't pack it" rule. Recipes expect it firmly packed, and our 213 gram figure reflects that. Butter in the US is sold in sticks of ½ cup each, which makes it easy: one stick is 113 grams. For honey, molasses and syrups, lightly greasing the cup helps everything slide out, so you actually use the amount you measured.
US cups, metric cups and why it matters
Not every cup is the same size. ScoopMath uses the US customary cup of 236.6 mL, which is what most American recipes mean. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa commonly use a 250 mL metric cup, about 6 percent larger. US nutrition labels round a cup to 240 mL. Older British recipes sometimes refer to an imperial cup of about 284 mL, although most modern UK recipes simply list grams.
For a single cup of flour the difference between a US and a metric cup is about 7 grams, which rarely matters. Across a whole recipe with several cups of flour and sugar it can add up, so it is worth knowing where your recipe comes from.
Where our numbers come from
For dry ingredients and solid fats, our weights follow the published ingredient weight chart from King Arthur Baking, a widely used reference among American bakers. For liquids such as water, milk and cream, we calculate the weight from the true volume of a US cup and the typical density of each liquid. That is why our cup of water is 237 grams rather than the rounded 227 grams you may see elsewhere.
All results are averages. Brand, grind, humidity and technique can shift the real weight by a few percent. We round grams to whole numbers for easy reading, while the calculations behind them keep full precision.
When precision matters most
For pancakes, muffins and most cookies, careful cup measurements are fine. Precision starts to matter in recipes that depend on ratios: bread dough, where the balance of flour and water decides the texture; macarons and meringues, where a few grams of sugar can change the result; and gluten-free baking, where flour blends behave very differently from wheat flour. For these, weigh your ingredients if you can, and use the converter to translate any cup-based recipe into grams first.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of all-purpose flour?
One cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 120 grams when you spoon it into the cup and level it off. If you scoop the cup straight into the bag, the flour packs down and the same cup can weigh 140 to 160 grams, which is enough to make cakes dry and cookies tough.
Why doesn't a cup of sugar weigh the same as a cup of flour?
A cup measures volume, not weight. Granulated sugar is made of dense crystals that settle tightly, so a cup holds about 198 g. Flour is light and full of air, so a cup holds about 120 g. That is why a single "cups to grams" number can never work for every ingredient.
How many grams is a stick of butter?
A standard US stick of butter is ½ cup, 8 tablespoons, or 4 ounces, which is about 113 grams. Two sticks make one cup, about 227 grams.
Is a cup the same size in every country?
No. ScoopMath uses the US customary cup of 236.6 mL, the cup used in most American recipes. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa commonly use a 250 mL metric cup, which holds about 6% more. Nutrition labels in the US use a rounded 240 mL cup. If your recipe comes from outside the US, check which cup it means.
Why do you list a cup of water as 237 grams and not 227 or 240?
A US cup holds 236.6 mL, and water weighs 1 gram per milliliter, so a true cup of water weighs about 237 g. Some charts round a cup to 8 ounces (227 g), and others use the 240 mL nutrition-label cup (240 g). The differences are small, but we prefer the number that matches the cup in your drawer.
How many grams are in a tablespoon?
It depends on the ingredient. A tablespoon is 1/16 of a cup, so it holds about 7.5 g of flour, 12 g of sugar, 14 g of butter and 21 g of honey. Pick an ingredient above and choose "tablespoons" to see the exact number.
Are these conversions exact?
They are reliable averages, not laboratory values. Brand, humidity, grind and how you fill the cup can move the real weight by a few percent. For most home baking that is fine. For bread, macarons or anything where ratios matter, a digital kitchen scale is the most accurate option.
Does ScoopMath store what I type?
No. The converter runs entirely in your browser. Your amounts are not sent to a server. The only thing saved is your last chosen ingredient, stored on your own device so it is ready next time.