Cups to mL Converter (Cooking Measures)

About the Cups to mL Converter (Cooking Measures)

Convert cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, dessertspoons, fluid ounces, gills, millilitres, centilitres and litres into each other — with every convention kept apart. A US cup is 236.59 mL (8 US fl oz), a US nutrition-label cup 240 mL, a metric cup 250 mL (the Australian cup) and a Japanese cup 200 mL; a tablespoon is 14.79 mL in the US, 15 mL in metric sets and 20 mL in Australia, and a teaspoon 4.93 or 5 mL. Rice cookers measure in gō of about 180.39 mL.

Type a conversion in plain words (2 tbsp to ml, 1/2 cup in tbsp, 250 ml to metric cups) or use the boxes. The result comes with the amount in every measure, and with how to measure it using US or metric cups and spoons — 100 mL is ⅓ US cup + 1 tbsp + 1¼ tsp. The reference table below names the source of each size. To turn cups into grams of flour or sugar, use the Cups to Grams converter, which knows the ingredient.

Common uses

• Cooking from an American, Australian, British or Japanese recipe with your own cups and spoons.
• Converting tablespoons and teaspoons of vanilla, oil or sauce to millilitres.
• Reading US Nutrition Facts serving sizes, which use a 240 mL cup and 15 mL tablespoon.
• Measuring rice for a rice cooker in gō.

Which cup is which?

• US customary cup — 236.5882365 mL. NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C defines the measuring cup as 8 fluid ounces (½ liquid pint) exactly, the tablespoon as ½ fl oz (3 teaspoons) and the teaspoon as ⅓ tablespoon (p. C-25 and C-26); with the 231-cubic-inch gallon that is 236.59, 14.79 and 4.93 mL. USDA weighs ingredients in these measures.
• US nutrition-label cup — 240 mL. For nutrition labeling, 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii) says a teaspoon means 5 mL, a tablespoon 15 mL, a cup 240 mL and a fluid ounce 30 mL.
• Metric cup — 250 mL, with the 15 mL tablespoon and 5 mL teaspoon of metric spoon sets.
• Japanese cup — 200 mL, the measuring cup of Japanese recipes (a convention rather than a legal unit), with 15 mL and 5 mL spoons.

The Australian 20 mL tablespoon

Australia uses the 250 mL cup and the 5 mL teaspoon, but its tablespoon is 20 mL — four teaspoons, a third more than a 15 mL tablespoon. The food-measures data that Food Standards Australia New Zealand publishes for Australian surveys uses 250 mL cups, 20 mL tablespoons and 5 mL teaspoons. For salt, baking powder or yeast in an Australian recipe, the difference matters: use Tablespoon (Australian).

The gō and the rice cup

Japan’s Weights and Measures Act of 1891 (Law No. 3, articles 2 and 3; Official Gazette scan) set the shaku at 10/33 of a metre and the shō at 64,827 cubic bu (a bu is 1/100 shaku), with the gō a tenth of a shō. That makes the shō 2401/1331 L ≈ 1.8039 L and the gō ≈ 180.39 mL — the size of the rice cup that Japanese rice cookers measure in. The 200 mL cup of Japanese recipes is a separate convention.

Old British cups and spoons

An old British “cup” or “teacup” was never a defined unit. Schedule 1 of the UK Weights and Measures Act 1985 defines the gallon, quart, pint, gill and fluid ounce — the imperial pint is 568.26125 mL, the gill ¼ pint (142.0653125 mL) and the fluid ounce 1/20 pint (28.4130625 mL) — but no cup and no spoon. If an old recipe gives gills, ounces or pints as well, convert those: type 1 uk gill to ml. An old American recipe’s gill is the US one, 4 US fl oz (118.29 mL) in NIST Handbook 44. A dessertspoon is usually taken as 10 mL (2 teaspoons), a customary rather than a defined size.

Limitations

• Cups and spoons measure volume. A cup of flour and a cup of sugar weigh different amounts — for grams, use the Cups to Grams converter.
• A pinch, a dash and a handful are not defined measures, so they cannot be converted.
• Sizes assume level, full measures; heaped spoons or spoons from a cutlery set hold different amounts.
• The dessertspoon (10 mL) is a customary size, not a legal unit.
• For medicines, use the dosing cup, spoon or syringe that comes with the medicine, not kitchen measures.

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