Kitchen Conversions: Cups, Grams and Oven Temperatures
You find a perfect recipe, then discover it measures flour in cups, butter in sticks and the oven in Fahrenheit. Here is how to convert any recipe confidently, and why weighing beats measuring by volume.
Cups and spoons in milliliters
| Measure | US | Metric (Australia and others) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 237 ml | 250 ml |
| ½ cup | 118 ml | 125 ml |
| 1 tablespoon | 14.8 ml | 15 ml (20 ml in Australia) |
| 1 teaspoon | 4.9 ml | 5 ml |
For most cooking these small differences do not matter. In baking, where proportions are important, try to use the same cup the recipe’s writer used.
A cup of flour is not a cup of sugar
Cups measure space, not weight. A cup of flour weighs much less than a cup of sugar, and flour that is packed down weighs more than flour that is spooned in lightly. That is why professional bakers weigh ingredients. These are typical weights for one US cup:
| Ingredient | 1 US cup weighs about |
|---|---|
| All-purpose (plain) flour | 120–125 g |
| White sugar | 200 g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 210–220 g |
| Butter | 227 g (2 US sticks) |
| Rice (uncooked) | 185–200 g |
| Water or milk | 237–245 g |
Oven temperatures
| Gas mark | °C | °F | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 140 | 275 | Very low |
| 2 | 150 | 300 | Low |
| 3 | 170 | 325 | Moderately low |
| 4 | 180 | 350 | Moderate |
| 5 | 190 | 375 | Moderately hot |
| 6 | 200 | 400 | Hot |
| 7 | 220 | 425 | Hot |
| 8 | 230 | 450 | Very hot |
If your oven has a fan (convection), recipes written for ordinary ovens usually need about 20 °C (around 25 °F) less heat.
Converting a whole recipe
- Convert everything before you start, and write the new amounts next to the old ones.
- Use weights in grams where you can; a cheap kitchen scale makes baking much more reliable.
- Round sensibly: 236.6 ml of milk is simply 240 ml, or 1 cup.
- Do not convert eggs. Use the same number, though egg sizes vary slightly between countries.
Convert any amount
For anything not in these tables, open the Unit Converter, choose Volume, Weight or Temperature, and type your number. The answer appears instantly, including US and UK gallons, cups, tablespoons and teaspoons.