• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Stress Baking
  • Recipes
  • Baking Basics
  • Resources
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Baking Basics
  • Subscribe
  • Shop
  • Desserts
  • About
  • Resources
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Baking Basics
    • Subscribe
    • Shop
    • Desserts
    • About
    • Resources
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Baking Basics

    Volume Conversions for Baking Recipe Ingredients

    Published: Feb 2, 2020 · Last modified: Nov 9, 2022 by Leslie Kiszka / This post may contain affiliate links.

    Part 5 of my Baking Basics series: These handy conversion charts will help you bake with ease, no matter which units of measurement you use. Includes the most common dry and liquid volume conversions, and tips for measuring different kinds of ingredients.

    A counter full of equipment for measuring dry and liquid ingredients for baking

    One of the most frequent questions I receive is around converting recipe ingredients to different units of measurement. Since I live in the United States of America and the majority of my readers are here as well, I opt to write my recipes in U.S. customary units:

    • teaspoons
    • tablespoons
    • ounces
    • cups
    • pints
    • quart
    • pounds
    • gallons

    Mind you, those last two don’t come up very often around this site! Could you imagine if they did? I’d be over here telling you to grab 6 gallons of milk and 14 pounds of butter to make frosting … yikes. This isn’t the Costco of food blogs.

    Aaaaaanyway, I know this must be frustrating to non-U.S. readers, since almost every other country in the world uses the metric system (and I wish I could tell you why the U.S. hasn’t gotten on board – let’s chalk it up to… we’re busy, or something).

    I would like to go back to each recipe and add the equivalent measurements in metric units, but that’s going to take quite some time – so in the meantime, I’d like to at least provide you with some charts with common metric conversions to help my non-U.S readers.

    But first, let’s run through the various unit abbreviations you might see to make sure that’s all clear:

    Common volume unit abbreviations

    UnitAbbreviation
    teaspoont, tsp
    TablespoonT, Tbsp
    ounceoz
    cupC, c
    pintpt
    quartqt
    poundlb
    gallongal
    millilitersmL, ml
    literL
    killigramskg
    gramsgm, g

    US to Metric liquid volume conversions

    The formula per tablespoon is 1 Tablespoon x 14.787 to get the measurement in milliliters, or 1 Cup x 240.

    U.S. UnitsMetric (mL, L)
    1 teaspoon4.93 milliliters (commonly rounded to 5 mL)
    1 Tablespoon14.79 milliliters (commonly rounded to 15 mL)
    1 ounce29.57 milliliters
    1 cup240 milliliters
    1 pint473.176 milliliters (commonly rounded to 473)
    1 quart0.95 liters
    1 gallon3.79 liters

    US to Metric dry volume conversions

    The formula per cup is 1 Cup x 240 to get the measurement in milliliters, and 1 Cup x 4.167 to get the measurement in liters.

    U.S. UnitsMetric Units (mL, L)
    1 cup240 milliliters
    1 pint550.61 milliliters (commonly rounded to 551), 0.6 L
    1 quart1.10 liters
    1 gallon4.40 liters

    Common baking conversions

    Keep in mind, the measurement of milliliters is rounded for easy reading. For a more precise conversion, the formula per tablespoon is 1 Tablespoon x 14.787 to get the measurement in milliliters:

    Common Baking Conversions Cheat Sheet

    Measuring butter

    Butter can be tricky when you’re reading recipes that call for 1 stick and ½ cup of butter interchangeably. Here’s a cheat sheet for butter conversions to make it a bit easier:

    Measuring Butter Cheat Sheet Conversion Chart

    Converting from cups to grams and ounces

    This is where things get really tricky. Each type of ingredient will have a different weight, therefore resulting in a different cups > grams > ounces conversion.

    The exceptions to the rule are water, milk and butter – they weigh the same (1 cup = 8 ounces).

    Here are some quick, high level conversions for various types of ingredients to show you what I mean:

    1 Cup of IngredientWeight in GramsWeight in Ounces
    Butter227 grams8 ounces
    Chocolate chips170 grams6 ounces
    Flour, all purpose120 grams4.25 ounces
    Flour, whole wheat113 grams4 ounces
    Honey252 grams12 ounces
    Maple syrup312 grams11 ounces
    Milk227 grams8 ounces
    Oats99 grams3.5 ounces
    Oil, coconut226 grams6 ounces
    Oil, vegetable198 grams7 ounces
    Peanut butter270 grams9.5 ounces
    Sugar, granulated198 grams7 ounces
    Sugar, packed brown213 grams7.5 ounces
    Sugar, powdered114 grams4 ounces
    Water227 grams8 ounces
    Yogurt242 grams8.5 ounces

    Doesn’t that feel like complete insanity? I mean, I guess not – it makes sense when you stop to think about it. These items all have different densities, therefore they have different weights.

    But that certainly makes it difficult to do a quick conversion of cups to grams or ounces, doesn’t it?

    You can certainly get into weighing your ingredients if you’d like to, as it is undoubtedly the most accurate way to go about things… but unless noted otherwise in my recipes, I try to keep things as easy as possible and stick to cups.

    I want my recipes to be accessible to people in all ranges of baking expertise, and I want you to have a little wiggle room to accommodate variants in your environment (oven calibration, elevation, climate, etc.), and I don’t expect everyone to own a kitchen scale – but if a particular recipe calls for it, I will make sure to call that out.

    Product Recommendations

    Image of Angled Measuring Cup

    Angled Measuring Cup

    Buy Now →
    Image of Adjust-A-Cup

    Adjust-A-Cup

    Buy Now →
    Image of Glass Measuring Cups

    Glass Measuring Cups

    Buy Now →
    Image of Measuring Spoons

    Measuring Spoons

    Buy Now →
    Image of Small Measuring Glass

    Small Measuring Glass

    Buy Now →
    Image of Stainless Steel Measuring Cups

    Stainless Steel Measuring Cups

    Buy Now →
    Featured Links powered by

    I hope this helps! Are there any questions about volume conversions that I didn’t answer? Let me know in the comments below!

    Other content in the Baking Basics series:

    • How to Make a Lemon Twist Garnish
    • How to Store Leftover Champagne
    • How to Make Simple Syrup
    • How To Freeze Cookie Dough
    • What is “stress baking”?
    • How to Make Buttermilk
    • Sprinkles 101: The different types of sprinkles and how to use them
    • How to Ship Cookies in the Mail
    • How to Make Cake Flour
    • Why You Mix Dry and Wet Ingredients Separately
    • How to Make Muffin Liners Out of Parchment Paper
    • Flour 101: How to Use Different Types of Flour
    • What Room Temperature Butter Means (and why it’s important)
    • How to Convert Temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius
    • How to Clean Your Silicone Mats
    • How to Calibrate Your Oven for Better Baking Results
    • Volume Conversions for Baking Recipe Ingredients
    • Baking Pan Conversions Made Easy
    • How to Measure Ingredients for Baking
    • Shelf Life of Common Baking Ingredients
    • How to Store Common Baking Ingredients
    • Introducing the Baking Basics Series
    • Essentials for Hosting a Stress-Free Thanksgiving
    • Baking Tips: 5 Steps You Should Never Skip
    • How to Store Fresh Fruit
    • 25+ Holiday Baking Tips
    • How to Make Shredded Chicken

    More Baking Basics

    • How to Make a Lemon Twist Garnish
    • How to Store Leftover Champagne
    • How to Make Simple Syrup
    • How To Freeze Cookie Dough
    Leslie Kiszka in a red dress

    About Leslie

    I'm the hot mess behind every recipe you see here! I use baking as an outlet for relieving stress and anxiety to provide you with approachable homemade recipes and a little humor, for good measure.

    learn more about Leslie →

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a rating and comment (and always be kind)! Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. C

      September 11, 2020 at 10:33 am

      I have an emulsion, measurement says add .1% to recipe. I added 1 drop to 11 ounces of water, which was so strong, that I am unable to decipher how to convert. I’m not a math wiz, but it seems like .1% is 1 drop to 5,500 ounces, USA (aka Imperial?) measurement? Thank you so much, these emulsions will go to waste otherwise. I will not purchase from this store – Natures Flavors – again, since they will not provide the answer, & did not fill my order for months, until I got my credit card involved, lol. Thank you! Carol

      Reply
      • Leslie Kiszka

        September 11, 2020 at 4:04 pm

        I’m sorry, Carol – I’m not familiar with that brand so I don’t think I can help. But I agree with you – that’s an odd way to instruct people to use it!

        Reply
      • Vivian

        December 24, 2020 at 12:51 am

        Good morning ma. I just saw your complaint. I want to try to be of assistance to you. We are not all perfect but we can always try and try again so don’t give up on the product just yet even if it means doing countless of trials just to get the perfect and accurate recipe for you. First of all I will love to get some informations from you
        1. What recipe are you making
        2. I would love to know the quantity of flour in grams if possible used in your recipe
        3. Then lastly I don’t know if you have a digital scale that can take readings of minimum 1g. Let’s see if the scale would be sensitive to take readings of a drop of emulsion.
        Thanks

        Reply
    2. Frieda Wendell

      March 09, 2020 at 7:21 pm

      Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.

      Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there, I'm Leslie! I use baking as an outlet for relieving stress and anxiety to provide you with approachable homemade recipes and a little humor, for good measure. About Leslie ⟶

    FAN FAVORITES

    • Easy Homemade Mozzarella Sticks
    • The Perfect Banana Bread
    • The Best Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting
    • Copycat Ruby Tuesday Pasta Salad

    BAKING BASICS

    • How to Make a Lemon Twist Garnish
    • How to Store Leftover Champagne
    • How to Make Simple Syrup
    • How To Freeze Cookie Dough

    My Favorite Thermometer

    Thermapen ONE

    Footer

    List of different websites that Stress Baking has been featured on

    About

    • What is "stress baking"?
    • Meet Leslie
    • Work With Me

    Disclaimers

    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimers

    Resources

    • Recipes
    • Baking Basics
    • Tips & Recommendations
    • Shop my favorites

    Newsletter

    • Sign up for email updates
    • Pinterest
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
    Blue Stress Baking logo

    Not responsible for computer or phone repairs caused by excessive amounts of drool ;)

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases - see disclaimers.

    COPYRIGHT © 2015-2023 Stress Baking

    207 shares