Convert grams to US cups for flour, sugar, butter and 20 other ingredients, one at a time or a whole metric recipe at once, with the result in real measuring cups and tablespoons. Includes UK ingredient names and how to measure flour so the conversion holds.
cups = grams ÷ grams per cup
Grams measure weight and a cup measures volume, so each ingredient needs its own figure: a level US cup holds about 125 g of plain flour, 200 g of sugar and 227 g of butter. Divide the grams in the recipe by that figure. For anything other than water, 250 g is not "one cup".
Enter each ingredient and its grams. Every line is converted to the measuring cups and tablespoons to use. It's preloaded with the sponge from the worked example below.
Rounded to the nearest tablespoon in US measuring cups. Leave eggs, which are counted, and anything under a tablespoon (salt, leaveners) in grams or use the teaspoon converter.
100 g and 250 g are the amounts metric recipes use most, and 250 g is a standard pack of butter in the UK, Europe and Australia.
| Ingredient | g per cup | 100 g | 250 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose / plain flour | 125 | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp | 2 cups |
| Bread / strong flour | 128 | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp | 1¾ cups + 3 tbsp |
| Whole wheat / wholemeal flour | 120 | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp | 2 cups + 1 tbsp |
| Almond flour / ground almonds | 96 | 1 cup + 1 tbsp | 2½ cups + 2 tbsp |
| Cocoa powder | 86 | 1 cup + 3 tbsp | 2¾ cups + 3 tbsp |
| Granulated or caster sugar | 200 | ½ cup | 1¼ cups |
| Brown sugar, packed | 220 | ¼ cup + 3 tbsp | 1 cup + 2 tbsp |
| Powdered / icing sugar | 120 | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp | 2 cups + 1 tbsp |
| Butter | 227 | ¼ cup + 3 tbsp | 1 cup + 2 tbsp |
| Vegetable or olive oil | 218 | ¼ cup + 3 tbsp | 1 cup + 2 tbsp |
| Milk | 244 | ¼ cup + 3 tbsp | 1 cup |
| Honey | 339 | ¼ cup + 1 tbsp | ¾ cup |
| Rolled oats | 81 | 1¼ cups | 3 cups + 1 tbsp |
| Chocolate chips | 168 | ½ cup + 2 tbsp | 1½ cups |
A British recipe calls for 200 g self-raising flour, 200 g caster sugar, 200 g soft butter, 4 eggs and 30 g milk. You only have US cups.
Step 1: Flour (125 g per cup)
Step 2: Sugar (caster measures like granulated, 200 g per cup)
Step 3: Butter (227 g per cup, 8 tbsp per US stick)
Step 4: Milk
The same 200 g is 1⅝ cups of flour but only 1 cup of sugar. If you don't have self-raising flour, use all-purpose and add about 2½ tsp baking powder for the 1.6 cups. Eggs stay as 4 large eggs; the recipe relies on them weighing roughly the same as the flour, sugar and butter.
The 125 g figure assumes the US "spoon and level" method: stir the flour, spoon it lightly into the cup until it overflows, then sweep the top flat with a knife. Dipping the cup into the bag and packing it, which many people do, can put 140 to 150 g in the same cup, enough to make cakes dry and cookies cakey. King Arthur Baking uses 120 g per cup for the same reason: it measures even more lightly.
So when you turn grams into cups, measure the flour the way the conversion assumes. Sugar, butter and liquids barely change with technique, which is why they convert reliably.
Metric recipes from the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand often use different names for the same thing. The converter lists both names where they differ.
| UK / Commonwealth | US equivalent |
|---|---|
| Plain flour | All-purpose flour |
| Self-raising flour | All-purpose flour + 1½ tsp baking powder + ¼ tsp salt per cup |
| Strong flour | Bread flour |
| Caster sugar | Superfine sugar, or granulated |
| Icing sugar | Powdered (confectioners’) sugar |
| Double cream | Heavy cream |
| Cornflour | Cornstarch |
| Bicarbonate of soda | Baking soda |
Cup conversions are close enough for cakes, cookies, muffins, sauces and most everyday cooking. A few recipes depend on ratios too precise for cups:
For these, an inexpensive kitchen scale is more accurate than any conversion.
4 cups of all-purpose flour, measured by spooning and levelling. If you scoop from the bag, use a little less than 4 cups.
½ cup of granulated or caster sugar. 100 g of icing sugar is about ¾ cup + 1 tbsp.
About 1 cup + 2 tbsp (17.6 tbsp), or 2 US sticks plus about 1½ tbsp.
Modern UK, Australian and NZ recipes that use cups mean a 250 mL metric cup, about 6% larger than the 236.6 mL US cup. The grams here are for US cups.
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