Grams to cups
Ingredient data verified against USDA FoodData Central on
There is no single grams-to-cups conversion, and any site giving you one is guessing. A cup measures space. A gram measures weight. So the same weight fills a different number of cups for every ingredient.
Compare that with weight-to-weight. 100 grams is 3.5274 standard ounces, and that is true of flour, honey, lead and feathers alike. One number, no conditions. The moment volume enters, the single answer disappears.
The same 100 grams, four ingredients
Read the ounce column first: it never moves. Then read the cup column, which does nothing but move. That contrast is the entire argument for owning a scale.
| 100 g of | In ounces | In US cups | Reads as | Rounding error |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 3.5274 oz | 0.8 | ¾ cup | -6.2% |
| Granulated sugar | 3.5274 oz | 0.5 | ½ cup | exact |
| Water | 3.5274 oz | 0.423 | ½ cup | +18.3% |
| Honey | 3.5274 oz | 0.295 | ⅓ cup | +13% |
Water is the one that surprises people. 100 g of water is 0.423 of a US cup, so calling it half a cup is 18% out. The ounce reading was right to four decimal places without knowing what the substance was.
A cup is eight fluid ounces, which is not a weight
This is where most kitchen conversion errors start. One US cup is 8 fluid ounces by definition, and a fluid ounce measures volume. What a cup weighs in ounces is a completely separate question, and the answer is only 8 for water.
| One US cup of | Fluid ounces | Weighs in grams | Weighs in ounces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 8 fl oz | 236.6 g | 8.35 oz |
| Whole milk | 8 fl oz | 244 g | 8.61 oz |
| Olive oil | 8 fl oz | 216 g | 7.62 oz |
| Honey | 8 fl oz | 339 g | 11.96 oz |
Honey is the clearest case: 8 fluid ounces of it weighs about 12 ounces. Treat "8 oz" as a cup of honey and you are out by half again. More on fluid ounces versus ounces →
Common gram amounts, in cups
The three ingredients most recipes weigh. Ounces are shown alongside because a US recipe that gives dry ingredients in ounces means weight, not cups.
| Grams | Ounces | US cups | Reads as | Metric cups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 g | 1.76 oz | 0.4 | ⅓ | 0.379 |
| 100 g | 3.53 oz | 0.8 | ¾ | 0.757 |
| 125 g | 4.41 oz | 1 | 1 | 0.946 |
| 200 g | 7.05 oz | 1.6 | 1⅔ | 1.514 |
| 250 g | 8.82 oz | 2 | 11 | 1.893 |
| 500 g | 17.64 oz | 4 | 31 | 3.785 |
| Grams | Ounces | US cups | Reads as | Metric cups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 g | 1.76 oz | 0.25 | ¼ | 0.237 |
| 100 g | 3.53 oz | 0.5 | ½ | 0.473 |
| 125 g | 4.41 oz | 0.625 | ⅔ | 0.591 |
| 200 g | 7.05 oz | 1 | 1 | 0.946 |
| 250 g | 8.82 oz | 1.25 | 1¼ | 1.183 |
| 500 g | 17.64 oz | 2.5 | 2½ | 2.366 |
| Grams | Ounces | US cups | Reads as | Metric cups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 g | 1.76 oz | 0.22 | ¼ | 0.208 |
| 100 g | 3.53 oz | 0.441 | ½ | 0.417 |
| 125 g | 4.41 oz | 0.551 | ½ | 0.521 |
| 200 g | 7.05 oz | 0.881 | 1 | 0.834 |
| 250 g | 8.82 oz | 1.101 | 1⅛ | 1.042 |
| 500 g | 17.64 oz | 2.203 | 2¼ | 2.084 |
Every ingredient, 100 g in cups
All 37 ingredients, worked out from density rather than stored as cup weights, so the US and metric columns cannot drift apart. The ounce column is the same on every row, which is rather the point.
| 100 g of | In ounces | US cups | Metric cups | 1 US cup weighs | Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flours, grains and starches | |||||
| All-purpose flour | 3.5274 oz | 0.8 | 0.757 | 125 g · 4.41 oz | 0.5284 |
| Bread flour | 3.5274 oz | 0.73 | 0.691 | 137 g · 4.83 oz | 0.5791 |
| Rolled oats | 3.5274 oz | 1.234 | 1.168 | 81 g · 2.86 oz | 0.3424 |
| Cornstarch / cornflour | 3.5274 oz | 0.781 | 0.739 | 128 g · 4.52 oz | 0.5411 |
| White rice, long grain, raw | 3.5274 oz | 0.541 | 0.512 | 185 g · 6.53 oz | 0.7819 |
| Whole wheat flour | 3.5274 oz | 0.833 | 0.789 | 120 g · 4.23 oz | 0.5072 |
| Cornmeal | 3.5274 oz | 0.82 | 0.776 | 122 g · 4.3 oz | 0.5157 |
| Semolina | 3.5274 oz | 0.599 | 0.567 | 167 g · 5.89 oz | 0.7059 |
| Quinoa, uncooked | 3.5274 oz | 0.588 | 0.557 | 170 g · 6 oz | 0.7185 |
| Brown rice, raw | 3.5274 oz | 0.541 | 0.512 | 185 g · 6.53 oz | 0.7819 |
| Lentils, dry | 3.5274 oz | 0.521 | 0.493 | 192 g · 6.77 oz | 0.8115 |
| Sugars and syrups | |||||
| Granulated sugar | 3.5274 oz | 0.5 | 0.473 | 200 g · 7.06 oz | 0.8454 |
| Brown sugar | 3.5274 oz | 0.455 | 0.43 | 220 g · 7.76 oz | 0.9299 |
| Powdered / icing sugar | 3.5274 oz | 0.833 | 0.789 | 120 g · 4.23 oz | 0.5072 |
| Honey | 3.5274 oz | 0.295 | 0.279 | 339 g · 11.96 oz | 1.4329 |
| Maple syrup | 3.5274 oz | 0.317 | 0.3 | 315 g · 11.11 oz | 1.3314 |
| Molasses | 3.5274 oz | 0.297 | 0.281 | 337 g · 11.89 oz | 1.4244 |
| Corn syrup, light | 3.5274 oz | 0.293 | 0.278 | 341 g · 12.03 oz | 1.4413 |
| Fats and dairy | |||||
| Butter | 3.5274 oz | 0.441 | 0.417 | 227 g · 8.01 oz | 0.9595 |
| Whole milk | 3.5274 oz | 0.41 | 0.388 | 244 g · 8.61 oz | 1.0313 |
| Olive oil | 3.5274 oz | 0.463 | 0.438 | 216 g · 7.62 oz | 0.913 |
| Vegetable oil (canola) | 3.5274 oz | 0.459 | 0.434 | 218 g · 7.69 oz | 0.9214 |
| Heavy cream | 3.5274 oz | 0.42 | 0.398 | 238 g · 8.4 oz | 1.006 |
| Sour cream | 3.5274 oz | 0.435 | 0.411 | 230 g · 8.11 oz | 0.9722 |
| Cream cheese | 3.5274 oz | 0.431 | 0.408 | 232 g · 8.18 oz | 0.9806 |
| Yogurt, plain whole milk | 3.5274 oz | 0.408 | 0.386 | 245 g · 8.64 oz | 1.0356 |
| Cottage cheese | 3.5274 oz | 0.476 | 0.451 | 210 g · 7.41 oz | 0.8876 |
| Parmesan, grated | 3.5274 oz | 1 | 0.946 | 100 g · 3.53 oz | 0.4227 |
| Milk powder, whole | 3.5274 oz | 0.781 | 0.739 | 128 g · 4.51 oz | 0.541 |
| Nuts, chocolate and other | |||||
| Cocoa powder, unsweetened | 3.5274 oz | 1.163 | 1.1 | 86 g · 3.03 oz | 0.3635 |
| Table salt | 3.5274 oz | 0.342 | 0.324 | 292 g · 10.3 oz | 1.2342 |
| Water | 3.5274 oz | 0.423 | 0.4 | 237 g · 8.35 oz | 1 |
| Peanut butter, smooth | 3.5274 oz | 0.388 | 0.367 | 258 g · 9.1 oz | 1.0905 |
| Almonds, whole | 3.5274 oz | 0.699 | 0.662 | 143 g · 5.04 oz | 0.6044 |
| Walnuts, chopped | 3.5274 oz | 0.855 | 0.809 | 117 g · 4.13 oz | 0.4945 |
| Coconut, shredded sweetened | 3.5274 oz | 1.075 | 1.018 | 93 g · 3.28 oz | 0.3931 |
| Baking chocolate, grated | 3.5274 oz | 0.758 | 0.717 | 132 g · 4.66 oz | 0.5579 |
What to do when a recipe gives grams and you only have cups
- Find your ingredient in the table above rather than using a general figure. The general figure is wrong for everything except whatever it was calculated from.
- Spoon it in and level it off. Dipping the cup into the bag packs flour by up to 20%, which is larger than most of the errors you are trying to avoid.
- Round in the safe direction. Slightly less flour and slightly less raising agent forgives more than slightly more of either.
- Weigh anything that sets. Bread, pastry and anything with a hydration ratio will not tolerate a rounded cup. The printable chart covers the amounts that come up most.
Frequently asked
How many cups is 100 grams?
It depends entirely on what you are measuring, which is the honest answer rather than a dodge. In US cups, 100 g is about 0.8 cups of all-purpose flour, 0.5 cups of granulated sugar, 0.42 cups of water and 0.29 cups of honey. Grams measure weight and cups measure volume, so one number cannot serve them all. Converting 100 g to ounces gives 3.5274 every time, because that is weight to weight.
How many cups is 250 g of flour?
About 2 US cups of all-purpose flour, or 1.9 metric cups. A US cup of flour spooned in and levelled is roughly 125 g. If the flour is scooped straight from the bag it packs to around 150 g per cup, so the same 250 g would be closer to 1.7 cups. That spread is why recipes that matter are written by weight.
Why does grams to cups change depending on the ingredient?
Because a cup measures the space something takes up and a gram measures how much it weighs. A cup of honey and a cup of flour occupy the same space but weigh very different amounts, so the same weight fills a different number of cups. Weight to weight never has this problem: one ounce is 28.349523125 grams whatever you are weighing.
How many cups is 500 g of sugar?
About 2.5 US cups of granulated sugar, or 2.4 metric cups. Granulated sugar is convenient here because a US cup holds almost exactly 200 g, so the arithmetic stays tidy. Icing sugar is much lighter and the same 500 g fills roughly 4 cups.
How do I measure a gram amount accurately without a scale?
Spoon the ingredient into the cup and level it off with a straight edge rather than dipping the cup into the bag, which packs in up to 20% more. Then accept that the result is approximate. A cup set can only produce eighths, quarters, thirds, halves and so on, so most gram amounts land between two marks and you round. A basic kitchen scale removes the problem entirely and costs less than a set of cups.