Home / Guides
Cups to Grams: What a Cup of Flour, Sugar and Butter Weighs
There is no single answer to "how many grams in a cup," because a cup measures space and a gram measures mass. A cup of honey and a cup of oats fill the same space and weigh nearly four times apart.
No. 12 — Volume & Liquid
Kitchen Conversions
Set an amount, pick what you have and what you need. Works both directions, gallons down to milliliters.
—
Typical weight of one US cup
These are typical figures, rounded. Published charts disagree by a few grams on the dry ingredients, mostly because of how the cup was filled, so treat every flour and sugar number as a good default rather than a lab result. Water, butter and the other liquids are more consistent.
| Ingredient (1 US cup) | Grams | Ounces | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | about 120 g | 4.2 oz | Spooned into the cup and leveled |
| Granulated sugar | about 200 g | 7.1 oz | |
| Brown sugar, packed | about 213 g | 7.5 oz | Packed firmly |
| Powdered sugar | about 120 g | 4.2 oz | Unsifted |
| Unsalted butter | 227 g | 8 oz | Exactly 2 sticks |
| Vegetable oil | about 218 g | 7.7 oz | |
| Water | 237 g | 8.3 oz | 1 ml of water weighs 1 g |
| Milk | about 245 g | 8.6 oz | |
| Honey | about 340 g | 12 oz | Much denser than water |
| Rolled oats | about 90 g | 3.2 oz | Old-fashioned oats |
| Cocoa powder | about 85 g | 3 oz | Unsifted |
| Chocolate chips | about 170 g | 6 oz | A 12 oz bag is about 2 cups |
| Long-grain white rice, uncooked | about 185 g | 6.5 oz |
The weights for butter, water and oil follow directly from their density. Flour, sugar, oats and cocoa depend on how the cup is filled, so expect a spread of roughly 5-10% between sources.
Grams per tablespoon
Handy when a recipe calls for a small amount and you'd rather weigh it. Each figure is the cup weight above divided by 16.
| Ingredient | 1 tablespoon | ¼ cup |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 7.5 g | 30 g |
| Granulated sugar | 12.5 g | 50 g |
| Brown sugar, packed | 13 g | 53 g |
| Butter | 14 g | 57 g |
| Honey | 21 g | 85 g |
| Water | 15 g | 59 g |
Why the same cup of flour weighs different amounts
Flour settles in the bag and compacts. If you plunge the measuring cup into the bag and level it, you scoop up flour that has been pressed down, and the cup can hold 140 g or more. If you fluff the flour with a fork, spoon it lightly into the cup and level it, you get closer to 120 g. That 20 g gap is the difference between a tender cake and a dense one, and it's why serious bakers weigh flour instead of measuring it.
The same effect shows up with brown sugar (packed or loose), cocoa (lumpy or sifted) and anything else that can be compressed. Liquids don't have this problem, which is why a cup of water is always about 237 g.
How to measure flour by volume without a scale
- Stir or fluff the flour in its container to loosen it.
- Spoon it into a dry measuring cup until it mounds over the top. Don't tap or shake the cup.
- Sweep a straight edge across the rim to level it.
Use this method and the 120 g figure above holds up. Skip it and you're guessing.
Worked example: a cup recipe in grams
Say a cookie recipe lists 2¼ cups flour, 1 cup granulated sugar and ½ cup butter. Using the table:
- Flour: 2.25 × 120 g = 270 g
- Sugar: 1 × 200 g = 200 g
- Butter: ½ cup = 1 stick = 113 g
Write those on the recipe card once and you never have to scoop it again.
Fluid ounces and ounces are different things
A fluid ounce is a measure of volume: 8 of them fill a cup. An ounce is a measure of weight: 16 of them make a pound. The two happen to line up for water, where 1 fluid ounce weighs about 1.04 ounces, and that coincidence is why people mix them up. For anything else they diverge. A cup of flour is 8 fluid ounces of volume and about 4.2 ounces of weight.
Salt is the one that surprises people
A teaspoon of fine table salt weighs about 6 g. A teaspoon of Morton kosher salt is closer to 5 g, and a teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt is closer to 3 g, because its flakes are hollow and light. Swap one for another by volume and the dish can be twice as salty or half as salty. If a recipe doesn't name the salt, weigh it or start low and taste.
If you bake often
A digital scale is the cheapest way to make baking repeatable. See what we'd buy on the kitchen tools page.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in a cup of flour?
About 120 g for all-purpose flour when you spoon it in and level it. Scooped straight from the bag, a cup can reach 140 g or more.
How many grams are in a cup of sugar?
About 200 g for granulated sugar, about 213 g for packed brown sugar, and about 120 g for unsifted powdered sugar.
How many grams are in a stick of butter?
113 g. A stick is 8 tablespoons, ½ cup or 4 ounces. Two sticks make a cup at 227 g.
How many grams are in an ounce?
28.35 g, or 28.3495 g if you want the exact figure. For cooking, 28.35 is close enough.
How do I convert pounds to kilograms?
Multiply by 0.4536, or divide by 2.2046. One pound is 453.6 g and 2 pounds is 0.907 kg.