How the Cooking Measurement Converter works

Enter an amount, choose the unit you have, and choose the unit you want. The converter supports cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, millilitres and fluid ounces. Every amount is converted to millilitres first and then into your target unit, so the maths stays consistent whichever pair you pick. It is built on a 240 millilitre cup, the size commonly used on nutrition labels and in modern metric-friendly recipes.

Worked examples

1 cup is 240 millilitres, or about 16.23 tablespoons, 48.69 teaspoons and 8.12 fluid ounces. 2 tablespoons is 29.57 millilitres. 1 teaspoon is 4.93 millilitres, and 3 teaspoons make 1 tablespoon. In the other direction, 250 millilitres is about 1.04 cups, and 500 millilitres is about 2.08 cups.

Volume is not weight

This tool converts volume to volume. It cannot turn cups of flour into grams, because that depends on the ingredient. A cup of water weighs about 240 grams, while a cup of plain flour is closer to 120 grams, even though both fill the same space. For dry or dense ingredients such as flour, sugar and butter, a kitchen scale gives more reliable results than any volume conversion.

Not every cup is the same size

Cups vary around the world. A US customary cup is about 236.6 millilitres, a metric cup is 250 millilitres, and this tool uses the rounded 240 millilitre cup. The differences are small, about 1 to 4 percent, and rarely matter for soups or sauces. For precise baking, check which cup the recipe author used and, where possible, follow the grams listed.

Tablespoons and teaspoons

Spoon sizes also differ slightly by country. This converter uses the US tablespoon of about 14.79 millilitres and teaspoon of about 4.93 millilitres. Some countries define a tablespoon as 15 or even 20 millilitres, which matters more with strong ingredients such as baking powder, salt or spices. When in doubt, measure small amounts level, not heaped.

Scaling a recipe up or down

Conversions come in handy when you change the number of servings. If a recipe calls for half a cup of milk and you want to triple it, you need 1.5 cups, or 360 millilitres. Halving 1 tablespoon leaves 1.5 teaspoons. Converting small amounts into teaspoons or millilitres makes the arithmetic easier, and you can convert back to cups or tablespoons for measuring.

Tips for accurate measuring

Use liquid measuring jugs for liquids and read them at eye level. For dry ingredients, spoon the ingredient into the cup and level it off instead of scooping, which can pack in noticeably more flour than the recipe intends. Keep a set of measuring spoons rather than using cutlery, since dinner spoons vary widely in size.