U.S. vs. Metric vs. Imperial (U.K.) Measures
Cooking Equivalent Measurements
Cooking can be challenging internationally due to the need to convert recipes to depending on where you live. Compiled here are Cooking Equivalent Measurements for you to use when converting a recipe.
The charts below use standard U.S. measures following U.S. Government guideline. The charts offer equivalents for United States, metric, and Imperial (U.K.) measures. All Cooking Equivalent Measurements are approximate and most have been rounded up or down to the nearest whole number.
Dry/Weight Measure
| Ounces | Pounds | Metric | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/16 teaspoon | a dash | |||
| 1/8 teaspoon or less | a pinch or 6 drops | .5 ml | ||
| 1/4 teaspoon | 15 drops | 1 ml | ||
| 1/2 teaspoon | 30 drops | 2 ml | ||
| 1 teaspoon | 1/3 tablespoon | 1/6 ounce | 5 ml | |
| 3 teaspoons | 1 tablespoon | 1/2 ounce | 14 grams | |
| 1 tablespoon | 3 teaspoons | 1/2 ounce | 14 grams | |
| 2 tablespoons | 1/8 cup | 1 ounce | 28 grams | |
| 4 tablespoons | 1/4 cup | 2 ounces | 56.7 grams | |
| 5 tablespoons pus 1 teaspoon | 1/3 cup | 2.6 ounces | 75.6 grams | |
| 8 tablespoons | 1/2 cup | 4 ounces | 1/4 pound | 113 grams |
| 10 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons | 2/3 cup | 5.2 ounces | 151 grams | |
| 12 tablespoons | 3/4 cup | 6 ounces | .375 pound | 170 grams |
| 16 tablespoons | 1 cup | 8 ounces | .500 or 1/2 pound | 225 grams |
| 32 tablespoons | 2 cups | 16 ounces | 1 pound | 454 grams |
| 64 tablespoons | 4 cups or 1 quart | 32 ounces | 2 pounds | 907 grams |
Liquid or Volume Measurements
| Jigger or measure | 1 1/2 or 1.5 fluid ounces | 3 tablespoons | 45 ml | |
| 1 cup | 8 fluid ounces | 1/2 pint | 16 tablespoons | 237 ml |
| 2 cups | 16 fluid ounces | 1 pint | 32 tablespoons | 474 ml |
| 4 cups | 32 fluid ounces | 1 quart | 64 tablespoons | 946 .4 |
| 2 pints | 32 fluid ounces | 1 quart | 4 cups | 946 |
| 4 quarts | 128 fluid ounces | 1 gallon | 16 cups | 3.785 liters |
| 8 quarts | 256 fluid ounces or one peck | 2 gallons | 32 cups | 7.57 liters |
| 4 pecks | one bushel | |||
| dash | less than 1/4 teaspoon |
Conversions For Ingredients Commonly Used In Baking
| Ingredients | Ounces | Grams |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup all-purpose flour | 5 | 142 |
| 1 cup granulated (white) sugar | 7 | 198 |
| 1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar (light or dark) | 7 | 198 |
| 1 cup powdered (confectioners') sugar | 4 | 113 |
| 1 cup cocoa powder | 3 | 85 |
| Butter (salted or unsalted) | ||
| 4 tablespoons = 1/2 stick = 1/4 cup | 2 | 57 |
| 8 tablespoons = 1 stick =1/2 cup | 4 | 113 |
| 16 tablespoons = 2 sticks = 1 cup | 8 | 227 |
Oven Temperatures
| Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| very cool | |||
| cool | |||
| very moderate | |||
| moderate | |||
| moderately hot | |||
| hot | |||
| very hot |
If all else fails, you could also us this instant US/Metric/UK conversion calculator from Convert-Me.com
33 Responses to “Cooking Equivalent Measurements”
Jackie Wenrich
I need to convert 175g, 450g, and 300ml to US measurement. Can you help me?
Whats Cooking America
The Dry/Weight measuring chart on this page should help you get started, but it does require pulling out the calculator or pencil and paper for additional calculations. I found this handy online metric calculator that should be a little easier: http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/
molly hadlington
i would like to have the conversion like: how much is 100 grs.into canadian version.etc.etc. thank you . or par exemple 1 kg. of flour.you do underst understand what i mean. thanks again
Nancy
If you check the bottom of the page there is a conversion calculator to try.
Mary Ray
Some of the information above is not accurate. I work in a situation where I need to use both US and UK recipes, and it is I came to this site to check whether the US measured 1 cup is the same as the UK measured cup. When using a LIQUID measure of 1 cup the UK amount is 20% more than the US. Beginning with the reality that a British pint is 20 oz., and the US pint is 16 oz., then 1/2 pint is UK = 10 oz., and the US = 8 oz. I this true only for liquid. and not dry ingredients?
Sue, England
In England we do not measure in cups at all.
For dry good we weigh in oz (ounces) there are 16oz to a lb (pound)
for liquid weight we use fluid ounces which are quite different. there are 20 fl oz in a pint.
usually everything is now metric, but there are loads of Imperial measurements still in older cookery books.
jacques soto
What is the American equivalent when a French recipe call for a “ver” for a liquid measure?
Brenda
We would need the whole sentence to be able to look up the intent of the word “Ver”. In French “Ver” means green or unripe.
Johan De Beer
As requested by Jaques Soto, the liquid content of un verre is 125ml = 4.26 fl.oz. The color green is spelled vert.
Mark Ebersole
I have a 12 lb boneless porkloin. I have a 10 qt pressure cooker, I’m going to cut the porkloin in 1/2. How much liquid and how much time will it take to make it along with veggies etc…
Linda Stradley
I am not an expert on cooking with a pressure cooker. I’m sorry I can not help you.
Debbie Seger
I need to convert 1 quart of beef to pounds. Cab you help me or tell me where I can get help? Thanks!
Linda Stradley
Can anyone help with this?
Imajean Specklemier
Sorry this is late. There is no specific answer since a quart is a measure of volume. Because it is, the answer will vary depending on what cut of beef you will use, i.e. ground beef packed tightly will weigh more than stew meat. Whenever I have a conundrum such as this I just fill an old empty quart size mayo jar to get my answer. I hope this helps.
Lorna bailey
Is the English cornflour the same as America’s cornstarch please and is our tablespoon size the same as Americans. Thankyou
Linda Stradley
UK cornflour = US cornstarch.
US cornflour = UK cornmeal
Martin Mulkearns
I must point out that for liquid/volume measurements an Imperial Pint is 20 fluid ounces, and not 16, as is the case in The U.S. Therefor 8 oz would not be 1/2 pint, but 10 oz would be.
Just to avoid confusion.
Patricia Shelton
I needed this website so much just like caster sugar, over here is bar sugar.
Karen Fell
Hi, i have an american recipe asking for 4 cups of cored and chopped apple… the recipe asks for exact measurements or the cake will be mushy… help..! 🙂
Linda Stradley
I am confused on what information you need.
Annie Franco
Once I tried it, I am a convert and believer in weight measurement vs. imperial cups and spoons. My baking recipes turn out so much better. Most of the time. I’ve converted some recipes to metric and found they didn’t work. I wondered if converting a recipe is really an attempt to make something that is inherently imprecise more accurate by using weight? What I mean to say is that if the author of a recipe has a heavy hand scooping flour into a cup, the weight of this “cup” can be a range of 140 – 180 gm. If you need 3 or 4 cups, this can make a huge difference in the outcome. This is honestly what made me change my mind about weight measurement. If you read the reviews of a recipe, in almost every case, there will be reviewers saying this was the best thing ever. No fail! But there are also reviewers of the same recipe saying the exact opposite. Didn’t work at all! Technique aside, I’m convinced this is due to the huge variations in how people measure their ingredients using imperial measurement.
Michelle
How much is 1/14 cup in Tbsp & 1/14 Tbsp. in tsp?
weight vs. mass
grams are units of mass, not weight.
Something that weights 1 stone (14 lbs) on the Earth will weigh 1/6 stone on the Moon, but the number of grams/kg will be the same in both places!
Corina Perez
Thank you for the measurement charts. It sure helps with all the new recipes going into grams.
Rudy
Since I started looking for recipes on the internet, I have been wondering about american cooking.
Measuring weights in volumes, today I found a recipe with 7/8 cups of butter, how do you measure that, putting your cup on a scale, filling it to the top and scoop than 1/8 out again ? Or a question above, 4 cups of chopped apple, exact, that is like asking for a perpetium mobile (a machine that works for ever without adding energie), an imposibility, the person who made that recipe should have added the size of the chopped parts, and than it can not work, if one is using a tall measuring cup of a wide one.
Now when I come across an american recipe, I disregard it, to much hassle to convert it into weights.
You can not measure weight in volume, one exeption in metric one litre of water is one kilogram, ond 1000 litre is one ton or 1000kg. My grandmother 100 years ago was cooking like that. Get up to date, be modern, use a scale, they make them specialy for in the kitchen.
Analog with a clock hand and digital with numbers, the easiest way of cooking.
PS: your charts are very usefull
Paull in Australia
Butter by the cup and other idiocy: Get a measuring jug that can hold 2 cups or more of water, put in 1 cup thereof, and then start adding bits of butter. When the water level hits 2 cups, you’re done, drain the water, use the butter
But: be aware that a USA cup is a different size to a UK cup is a different size to an AU cup. In Australia we use a Metric Standard Cup, which is 250ml (1/4 of a litre (Not a liter, thats a thing you light candles with))
Debbie
I have an old Christmas cake recipe It calls for 1/2 box a of mixed peel and 2 packages of glazed cherries. What would be the equivalent in pounds.
The rest of the recipe is 3/4 lb. butter
2 cups white sugar
7 or 8 eggs
2 cups white raisins
1 cup crushed pineapple
Juice and rind of lemon
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
Almond and vanilla extract.
Bake 250 for 2.5 to 3 hours.
NIckPheas
I had a eureka moment while looking at recipes asking for things like 8 cups of potato, while everyone knows potatoes come by the pound. Most food is more or less the same density as water, right? So if we just read any volume of vegetables as being a call for half a pound per cup then it all becomes easy. No need to measure stuff out and realise that you’ve cut up two more onions than were actually called for.
Barry
I found an old cake recipe that calls for a ” MEASURE ” of sour cream. Do you know what that converts to in ounces?
Paull in Australia
American recipes frustrated me, but I found a few workarounds.
If a recipe has called for a cup of Butter/potato/apple (Diced), use a larger measuring jug, put in water to say, the 2 cups level, add the diced potato/apple/butter until the water level rises to 3 cups, drain, and there’s your ingredient.
If this insanity keeps happening to you, note down the weight of said ‘cup’ in grams, then never a problem again.
Or teach Americans to be sensible and use dry measures for dry ingredients, and volumes for liquids.
At least kilograms and litres are consistent, unlike the transatlantic insanity of pint/ounce/pound sizes
Gracie in USA
You are so right. I’m converting my repeatable recipes to grams and litres as I go along – it’s logical and the only way to assure consistency -along with an accurate kitchen scale!
BTW I do find more online recipes that offer metric/US customary choices for ingredients; a good thing!
Paull in Australia
It also means that our ‘spoon’ and ‘cup’ measurements are consistent: 1Tsp is 5ml, every day, 1Tbsp is always 15ml, and a ‘cup’ is 250ml, all the time.
if you want to be so vague as a ‘heaping tsp’, you can, or just specify 1 1/2 or 1 1/4 tsp
Paull in Australia
You can also releive yourselves of the need to convert everything if following a ‘foreign’ recipe: if it specifies in Grams and ml, work with those measures, no conversion, and if sharing a recipe, try not to use such obscure things as Volume measurements (Cups) for dry, use grams/kilograms, or if you really must use imperial, use ounces and floz, the sizes of cups, tbsp, dsp, tsp all vary so much around the world, also avoid pints and pounds, only the ounce and floz measurements are consistent