Cups to Grams for Baking
One US cup holds about 125 g of plain flour, 200 g of granulated sugar, 227 g of butter and 340 g of honey.
By Piero Nanni · Last checked
Why there is no single cups-to-grams factor
A cup is a volume and a gram is a mass, so converting between them requires knowing the density of what is in the cup. There is no universal factor, which is why a converter that offers "cups to grams" as a single conversion is answering a question that has no answer.
The spread is large. A cup of cocoa powder weighs 85 g and a cup of honey weighs 340 g, a factor of four for the same volume.
| Ingredient | 1 cup | ¾ cup | ½ cup | ¼ cup | 1 tbsp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose / plain flour | 125 g | 94 g | 63 g | 31 g | 8 g |
| Bread flour | 127 g | 95 g | 64 g | 32 g | 8 g |
| Cake flour | 114 g | 86 g | 57 g | 29 g | 7 g |
| Wholemeal flour | 120 g | 90 g | 60 g | 30 g | 8 g |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g | 150 g | 100 g | 50 g | 13 g |
| Brown sugar, packed | 213 g | 160 g | 107 g | 53 g | 13 g |
| Icing / powdered sugar | 120 g | 90 g | 60 g | 30 g | 8 g |
| Butter | 227 g | 170 g | 114 g | 57 g | 14 g |
| Water | 237 g | 178 g | 119 g | 59 g | 15 g |
| Milk | 242 g | 182 g | 121 g | 61 g | 15 g |
| Vegetable oil | 218 g | 164 g | 109 g | 55 g | 14 g |
| Honey | 340 g | 255 g | 170 g | 85 g | 21 g |
| Cocoa powder | 85 g | 64 g | 43 g | 21 g | 5 g |
| Rolled oats | 90 g | 68 g | 45 g | 23 g | 6 g |
| Rice, uncooked | 185 g | 139 g | 93 g | 46 g | 12 g |
| Chocolate chips | 170 g | 128 g | 85 g | 43 g | 11 g |
These are approximate, and flour is the worst offender
The figures above assume the spoon-and-level method: loosen the flour, spoon it into the cup, level it off with a straight edge. Dipping the cup into the bag instead compacts the flour and can add 20 to 25 percent, which is the difference between 125 g and 155 g in a single cup.
Across a recipe using three cups of flour, that is nearly 100 g of extra flour, enough to turn a soft crumb into a dense one. It is the most common reason an American recipe fails for someone measuring differently to its author.
Brown sugar has the opposite convention: it is measured packed, pressed firmly into the cup, which is why its figure is higher than granulated sugar despite being the lighter material loose.
The reliable fix is a scale
Weighing removes both variables at once, the which-cup question and the how-packed question. A digital kitchen scale costs less than most single ingredients and makes a recipe reproducible.
If a recipe gives both cups and grams, use the grams: they are what the author actually measured. If it gives only cups and the results are inconsistent, weigh one cup of your flour once and use that figure as your own conversion from then on.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many grams is a cup of flour?
About 125 g of plain flour, spooned and levelled. Scooping straight from the bag can push it to 150 g or more.
How many grams is a cup of sugar?
About 200 g of granulated sugar, or 213 g of brown sugar measured packed.
How many grams is a cup of butter?
About 227 g, which is two US sticks.
Why do cup-to-gram charts disagree with each other?
Because they assume different filling methods. A spooned cup of flour and a scooped one differ by up to 25 percent.