Cooking Units Converter

Convert between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, millilitres, fluid ounces, and more. Perfect for adapting recipes across US, metric, and imperial systems.

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Cooking Measurement Guide

Cooking measurements vary between countries. US recipes use cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons that differ from metric and UK equivalents. This converter handles all three systems so you can adapt any recipe with confidence.

US vs Metric vs UK

Unit	US	Metric	UK
1 Cup	236.588 mL	250 mL	284.131 mL
1 Tablespoon	14.787 mL	15 mL	17.758 mL
1 Teaspoon	4.929 mL	5 mL	5.919 mL
1 Fluid Ounce	29.574 mL	—	28.413 mL

Handy Kitchen Equivalents

1 US Cup = 16 US Tablespoons = 48 US Teaspoons
1 US Cup = 8 US Fluid Ounces
1 US Pint = 2 US Cups = 473.18 mL
1 US Quart = 4 US Cups = 946.35 mL
4 US Quarts = 1 US Gallon = 3,785.41 mL

Tips for Recipe Conversion

Volume-based ingredients (liquids, sugar, salt) convert directly with this tool. For weight-based ingredients (flour, butter), densities vary — use a kitchen scale for best results. For example, 1 US cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 125 g, but 1 cup of packed brown sugar weighs about 200 g.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. A US cup = 236.588 mL and a metric cup = 250 mL. The difference is about 5.7%, which can matter in baking. Australian and some Asian recipes use metric cups.

There are 16 US tablespoons in 1 US cup. In the metric system, 1 metric cup (250 mL) ≈ 16.67 metric tablespoons (15 mL each).

A US fluid ounce (29.574 mL) and a UK fluid ounce (28.413 mL) are based on different gallon definitions. The UK system was based on the volume of 10 pounds of water, while the US system diverged historically.

Why cooking conversions are tricky

Cooking units sit at a stubborn intersection of three systems — US customary, imperial, and metric — and several units share names but not values. A US cup is 236.6 ml, a metric cup is 250 ml, and an Australian "cup" used in popular cookbooks is also 250 ml. A US tablespoon is 14.79 ml; an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml. These small gaps stack up in baking where ratios matter more than in stovetop cooking.

The most useful anchors

1 US cup = 16 US tablespoons = 48 US teaspoons = 236.59 ml
1 US tablespoon = 3 US teaspoons = 14.79 ml
1 metric cup = 250 ml
1 fluid ounce (US) = 29.5735 ml
1 imperial fluid ounce = 28.4131 ml
1 stick of butter = 8 tablespoons = 113.4 g = 0.5 cup

Volume vs. weight: when to switch

For dry ingredients, weight is far more reliable than volume. A "cup of flour" can vary by 30% depending on whether it was scooped or spooned. Professional baking recipes are almost always written in grams. If you are converting an old family recipe to a modern precise version, weigh once with a kitchen scale and write the gram figure into the recipe.

Country-specific notes

British recipes often use grams for solids and millilitres for liquids, but call for teaspoons and tablespoons in metric (5 ml and 15 ml). US recipes mix volume measures even for dry ingredients. Indian recipes commonly use the katori (about 150 ml) and chamcha (about 5 ml or 15 ml depending on type) — if a recipe specifies, use it as given.