Recipe Scaler — Scale Servings & Pan Size
Paste the ingredients, pick the servings, get amounts you can measure.
Scale by
× 1The amounts are scaled by the area of the pans, so the batter stays the same depth. Baking time may change — check it a little early.
Units
Scaled recipe
Paste a recipe above — or press Example — to see it scaled.
“≈” marks amounts that the nearest kitchen fraction rounds by more than 3%. Grams come from USDA FoodData Central (open a line’s note to see which food).
About the Recipe Scaler — Scale Servings & Pan Size
Paste an ingredient list, say how many servings you want — or a multiplier, or the size of your pan — and every amount is scaled and written back in measures you can actually use: 1 ½ cups rather than 1.5, 3 tbsp rather than 0.1875 cup, 1.2 kg rather than 1200 g. Ranges (1–2 tsp), mixed numbers (1 ½, 1-1/2, 1 and 1/2), unicode fractions (¾, 1⁄2), glued units (200g), sums (1 cup + 2 tbsp, 1 lb 4 oz) and pack sizes (2 × 400 g tins, 1 can (400 g)) are all understood; headings, “salt to taste”, times, oven temperatures and pan sizes are left alone. When you scale by servings, a line such as “Serves 4” is updated too.
Switch the units if you like: metric turns cups of 75 common ingredients — flour, sugar, butter, rice, besan, ghee and more — into grams using the US Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central weights (liquids become millilitres), and US turns grams back into cups and spoons. Choose the cup size the recipe was written for — the US cup of 236.6 mL, the 240 mL nutrition-label cup or a 250 mL cup — and kitchen fractions or decimals.
How to use it
- Paste the ingredients, one per line (or press Example). A line like “Serves 4” or “Makes 24” fills in the servings for you.
- Choose Servings (from → to), Multiplier (×2, ×½ …) or Pan size (round, square or rectangular, in cm or inches).
- Under Units, keep the recipe’s units or pick Metric or US, the cup size and whether to weigh common ingredients in grams.
- Read the scaled list — each line shows what it was, and “How it was converted” names the USDA weight used.
- Copy or Download the scaled recipe.
Examples
1 ½ cups basmati rice · 2 tbsp ghee · 3 cups water
× 1.5 → 2 ¼ cups basmati rice · 3 tbsp ghee · 4 ½ cups water
2 cups all-purpose flour · 1 cup sugar · ½ cup butter (Metric)
250 g flour · 200 g sugar · 114 g butter
USDA FoodData Central: 1 cup all-purpose flour = 125 g, granulated sugar = 200 g, butter = 227 g.
Recipe for a 20 cm round tin; you have a 24 cm one
Area 314 → 452 cm²: × 1.44
A round tin’s area is π × diameter² ÷ 4.
3 eggs × ½
1 ½ eggs — beat them and use about 75 g (1 large egg ≈ 50 g)
2 × 400 g tins chopped tomatoes, × 2
4 × 400 g tins chopped tomatoes
Common uses
- Cooking for more or fewer people than the recipe serves.
- Baking a recipe written for a different tin or tray.
- Turning an American recipe in cups into grams for a kitchen scale — or the other way round.
- Halving a recipe without the maths of ⅓ cup ÷ 2.
Cups, spoons and grams
- US customary measures (NIST Handbook 44, 2026 edition, Appendix C): 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = ½ pint, 1 tablespoon = ½ fluid ounce = 3 teaspoons. The US gallon is exactly 231 cubic inches, so 1 cup = 236.5882365 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.787 mL and 1 tsp = 4.929 mL.
- Nutrition-label cup: for US nutrition labelling a cup is 240 mL, a tablespoon 15 mL and a teaspoon 5 mL (21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii)).
- 250 mL cup: if your measuring cup is marked 250 mL, choose it; spoons are then 15 mL and 5 mL.
- Grams: the weight of a cup depends on the ingredient. The tool uses the household-measure weights of USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, public domain), for example 125 g for a cup of all-purpose flour, 120 g for whole wheat flour (atta), 92 g for gram flour (besan), 200 g for sugar, 220 g for packed brown sugar, 227 g for butter and 185 g for uncooked long-grain rice. With another cup size the weight is scaled to that cup. Each converted line names the USDA food and its FDC number.
- Ounces and pounds are converted with 1 oz = 28.349523125 g and 1 lb = 453.59237 g.
For single conversions use the volume converter, the weight converter and, for oven settings, the temperature converter.
How amounts are written
Spoon and cup amounts are tidied the way a cook would measure them: under a tablespoon in teaspoons (to the nearest ⅛), under ¼ cup in tablespoons (with teaspoons left over, such as 2 tbsp + 1 tsp), and above that in cups — to the nearest eighth or third when that is within 4%, otherwise as cups plus tablespoons (1 cup + 3 tbsp), or plus teaspoons when a whole tablespoon would be too far off for a small amount (¼ cup + 2 tsp). Whatever is written — a fraction, cups plus tablespoons or tablespoons plus teaspoons — is marked “≈” when it is more than 3% away from the exact amount. In metric, spoonfuls under 2 tablespoons stay spoons (a kitchen scale cannot weigh 2 g reliably) with the grams in the note. Grams and millilitres are whole numbers from 10 up and change to kg and L at 1,000. When a line already gives its own conversion in brackets — “1 ½ cups (190 g) flour” — that figure is used for metric (or US) output instead of the USDA average.
Scaling by pan size
For the same depth of batter, the amounts scale with the area of the pan: π × d² ÷ 4 for a round pan, side² for a square one and length × width for a rectangle. A 20 cm round tin is 314 cm² and a 24 cm one 452 cm², so the factor is 1.44. An 8-inch square (64 in²) to a 9 × 13-inch tray (117 in²) is × 1.83. Measure across the inside of the pan.
Limitations
- Cooking times and oven temperatures are not scaled — a larger or deeper bake usually needs longer; check it early and often.
- Seasoning, leavening and liquid that boils off may not need to change exactly in proportion; taste and adjust, especially when multiplying a lot.
- A cup of a dry ingredient weighs more when packed or scooped and less when sifted or spooned; the USDA figures are for the measure described in each note.
- Ingredients outside the list of 75 are scaled but not converted between volume and weight. So are cooked, canned, soaked, puffed or ground forms of a listed food and foods that only share its name (cooked rice, almond flour, sugar snap peas, butter beans, tomato purée): the USDA figure is for the plain food, and a cup of cooked rice weighs much less than a cup of raw rice. Pints and fluid ounces are US measures unless the line says “UK pint” or “imperial pint”.
- Up to 300 lines at a time; longer pastes are flagged and the rest is left out.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. Your recipe and settings are saved in this browser only so they are there next time; nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
How do I scale a recipe for more people?
Divide the servings you want by the servings the recipe makes and multiply every amount by that: from 4 to 6 servings is × 1.5, so 2 cups becomes 3 cups. The tool does this for every line and writes the results in measurable amounts.
How many grams is a cup of flour?
For all-purpose flour (maida), USDA FoodData Central gives 125 g per US cup (236.6 mL); whole wheat flour (atta) is 120 g and bread flour 137 g. Scooping straight from the bag packs more in, so weighing is the more reliable way.
How do I adjust a recipe for a different pan size?
Choose Pan size, enter the recipe’s pan and yours, and the amounts are scaled by the ratio of the areas. A 20 cm round recipe in a 24 cm round tin needs 1.44 times everything for the same depth.
What size is a cup?
A US cup is 236.6 mL (8 US fluid ounces). US nutrition labels round it to 240 mL, and many measuring cups hold 250 mL. Pick the one your recipe or your cup uses under A cup is.
How do I halve an egg?
Beat the egg and use half by weight. A large egg is about 50 g without the shell (USDA), so half an egg is about 25 g — the tool adds this to any line where the eggs no longer come out whole.
Will the cooking time change?
Often, yes — but not in proportion. A doubled batch in the same pan takes longer; the same batter spread thinner takes less. The tool scales the ingredients only; start checking a little before the original time.