Ingredient weight chart: cups to grams

How to use these weights

When a recipe gives its own gram weights, use them: they record what the recipe writer actually put in the bowl. Use this chart when a recipe only gives cups or spoons, and fill your cup the way the recipe expects.

• Spoon and level dry ingredients rather than scooping. Stir flour to loosen it, spoon it into the cup and level the top with a straight edge. A US cup of all-purpose flour filled this way weighs about 120 to 125 g [1][2]. Packed down, the same cup can hold up to 160 g [1].
• Pack brown sugar only when the recipe says so. Press it firmly into the cup until it holds its shape. Packing changes the weight of any measured volume [3]. CookBook’s brown sugar value, 220 g per US cup, is for a packed cup, so loosely spooned brown sugar weighs less.
• Match the preparation. Whole, chopped, sliced, grated and ground forms of one ingredient pack differently, so the chart lists them separately. In CookBook’s library a US cup of whole almonds weighs 145 g and sliced almonds 92 g; fine salt weighs 288 g and salt flakes 200 g. Choose the row that matches the ingredient as it goes into the cup.

How the values work

Find ingredient weights by volume and preparation method. Each ingredient has a density in grams per millilitre. Multiply the volume by this density to calculate its weight [4]:

Grams = volume (ml) × density (g/ml)

All-purpose flour has a density of 0.528 g/ml, so 1 US cup is 236.6 ml × 0.528 = 124.9 g, shown as 125 g, and a 250 ml metric cup is 132 g. A density describes a typical measured cup, not a physical constant, so treat each result as a dependable starting point rather than an exact weight.

Conversions from US household portions use a 236.588 ml cup, a 14.787 ml tablespoon and a 4.929 ml teaspoon. The original portion sizes and weights are included in the downloadable CSV.

Cup and spoon standards

Cups and spoons differ between countries. The converter lets you choose the system; the chart columns use the US cup, the 250 ml metric cup and a 15 ml tablespoon.

A US cup is 8 US fluid ounces of 29.573 ml, which makes it 236.6 ml, and a US tablespoon is half a fluid ounce, 14.8 ml [5]. US nutrition labels round the cup to 240 ml [6]; CookBook uses the 236.6 ml cup. CookBook’s Australian setting uses a 20 ml tablespoon (four 5 ml teaspoons), which holds a third more than a metric tablespoon. Its imperial cup is 10 British imperial fluid ounces of 28.412 ml each [5], with 16 tablespoons to the cup.

Sugar cups to grams by type

Choose the sugar named in your recipe. These weights use CookBook’s ingredient-density estimates, rounded to whole grams, so each value matches its ingredient row in the main chart. Pack brown sugar only when the recipe calls for it; packing changes the weight [3].

For another amount, select that sugar in the converter above. To cook a sugar syrup, use the sugar stage temperature chart; for browning sugar, follow the caramel colour stages.

Butter sticks, tablespoons and grams

One full US stick of butter is ½ US cup, 8 US tablespoons or 4 oz by weight, approximately 113 g [7]. The table uses full US sticks; check the package weight when buying butter sold in blocks or smaller sticks.

For example, a recipe calling for 1½ US sticks needs about 170 g of butter. Weigh the amount from a block, then keep the recipe’s instruction for cold, softened or melted butter. Use the pastry guide when the method calls for cold butter, and the ganache calculator for chocolate-to-cream ratios.

Download the data

Download the ingredient weight data (CSV) for all listed ingredients and preparation methods, with category, density and grams per US cup, metric cup, 15 ml tablespoon, US tablespoon, Australian tablespoon and 5 ml teaspoon. Credit CookBook Manager for the chart compilation and retain each row’s original source attribution. The CSV includes the original portion, its weight, the volume convention used and source-specific reuse information.

Switching systems in CookBook

When you cook a saved recipe in CookBook’s cooking mode, you can change the servings and the measurement system. Ingredient amounts scale; cooking times do not.

Sources

1. King Arthur Baking: How to measure flour the right way
2. USDA FoodData Central: Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, bleached (FDC 168894)
3. FSANZ: How to create a Nutrition Information Panel
4. FSANZ: Calculations in the Nutrition Panel Calculator
5. NIST: Handbook 44 (2024), Appendix C, General Tables of Units of Measurement
6. US FDA: Guidelines for Determining Metric Equivalents of Household Measures
7. Land O’Lakes: Cooking measurements and butter conversions