The Grams to Cups Formula
The Grams to Cups Formula
The formula is simple: cups equals grams divided by grams-per-cup of the ingredient. Grams measure weight and cups measure volume, so every ingredient has its own grams-per-cup value. Flour is 120 grams per cup, sugar is 200, butter is 227, honey is 340. Divide your grams by that number and you get cups.
The reverse formula works the same way: grams equals cups multiplied by grams-per-cup. Two cups of sugar multiplied by 200 grams per cup gives 400 grams. Two cups of flour multiplied by 120 gives 240 grams.
Worked examples
Example 1: 250 grams of flour to cups. Divide 250 by 120, which gives 2.08 cups. In a recipe, that is 2 cups plus a little over 1 tablespoon, since one tablespoon of flour is about 8 grams.
Example 2: 2 cups of sugar to grams. Multiply 2 by 200, which gives 400 grams. This is the conversion people need most when a US recipe meets a kitchen scale.
Example 3: 100 grams of butter to cups. Divide 100 by 227, which gives 0.44 cups. That is just under half a cup, and it matches one stick of butter being about 113 grams.
Grams per cup for all 24 ingredients
| Ingredient | 1 cup in grams |
|---|---|
| Flour (all-purpose) | 120 grams |
| Bread flour | 127 grams |
| Cake flour | 100 grams |
| Whole wheat flour | 113 grams |
| Sugar (granulated) | 200 grams |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 220 grams |
| Powdered sugar | 120 grams |
| Butter | 227 grams |
| Milk | 240 grams |
| Water | 240 grams |
| Heavy cream | 240 grams |
| Honey | 340 grams |
| Oats (rolled) | 90 grams |
| Rice (uncooked) | 185 grams |
| Yogurt | 245 grams |
| Greek yogurt | 250 grams |
| Cheese (grated) | 110 grams |
| Cocoa powder | 100 grams |
| Vegetable oil | 220 grams |
| Salt | 288 grams |
| Peanut butter | 258 grams |
| Jam | 320 grams |
| Maple syrup | 315 grams |
| Sour cream | 230 grams |
Common mistakes
Using the wrong ingredient value. Flour and sugar look similar but weigh very differently per cup. Always check the value for your exact ingredient, not a nearby one.
Ignoring packing. The formula assumes flour is spooned and leveled and brown sugar is packed firmly. Scooped flour can be 30 grams heavier per cup, which breaks the formula through no fault of the math.
Mixing up cup sizes. This site uses US cups at 240 milliliters. A metric cup is 250 milliliters, so a recipe written in metric cups gives slightly larger amounts. The difference is small for one cup but grows when you scale a recipe.
Rounding too early. Round only at the end. Dividing 100 by 120 gives 0.83 cups, but if you round the grams-per-cup value first, small errors stack up across a whole recipe.
The converter on this site does this division for you across 24 ingredients. See also the Grams to Cups Conversion Chart and the Grams to Cups FAQ.