Reference data

How much does a cup weigh?

Name: Ingredient weights per US cup
Creator: TidyTools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Grams and ounces per US cup for 65 common ingredients, taken straight from USDA FoodData Central. Every row cites the record it came from, so you can check any number at source.

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Ingredient	Grams	Ounces	USDA source
Flours, grains & pulses
Flour, all-purpose (bleached)	125	4.41	168894Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, bleached — “cup”
Flour, all-purpose (unbleached)	125	4.41	168936Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, unbleached — “cup”
Flour, whole wheat	120	4.23	168893Wheat flour, whole-grain (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup”
Flour, bread	137	4.83	168896Wheat flour, white, bread, enriched — “cup”
Flour, self-rising	125	4.41	168895Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, self-rising, enriched — “cup”
Cornstarch	128	4.52	169698Cornstarch — “cup”
Cornmeal, yellow (degermed)	157	5.54	168867Cornmeal, degermed, enriched, yellow — “cup”
Oats, rolled	156	5.5	169705Oats (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup”
Rice, white long-grain (raw)	185	6.53	168877Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched — “cup”
Rice, brown long-grain (raw)	185	6.53	169703Rice, brown, long-grain, raw (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup”
Quinoa (uncooked)	170	6	168874Quinoa, uncooked — “cup”
Lentils (raw)	192	6.77	172420Lentils, raw — “cup”
Black beans (dried, raw)	194	6.84	173734Beans, black, mature seeds, raw — “cup”
Sugars & syrups
Sugar, granulated	200	7.05	169655Sugars, granulated — “cup”
Sugar, brown — packedWhat almost every recipe means.	220	7.76	168833Sugars, brown — “cup packed”
Sugar, brown — unpacked34% lighter than packed. Same cup.	145	5.11	168833Sugars, brown — “cup unpacked”
Sugar, powdered — unsifted	120	4.23	169656Sugars, powdered — “cup unsifted”
Sugar, powdered — siftedSifting removes 20 g per cup.	100	3.53	169656Sugars, powdered — “cup sifted”
Honey	339	11.96	169640Honey — “cup”
Maple syrup	315	11.11	169661Syrups, maple — “cup”
Molasses	337	11.89	168820Molasses — “cup”
Corn syrup, light	341	12.03	168837Syrups, corn, light — “cup”
Fats & oils
Butter, salted	227	8.01	173410Butter, salted — “cup”
Butter, unsalted	227	8.01	173430Butter, without salt — “cup”
Butter, whippedWhipping cuts a third of the weight.	151	5.33	173411Butter, whipped, with salt — “cup”
Olive oil	216	7.62	171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking — “cup”
Vegetable shortening	205	7.23	171011Shortening, household, soybean (partially hydrogenated)-cottonseed (partially hydrogenated) — “cup”
Dairy & eggs
Milk, whole	244	8.61	171265Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D — “cup”
Buttermilk	245	8.64	172225Milk, buttermilk, fluid, whole — “cup”
Buttermilk, dried	120	4.23	171274Milk, buttermilk, dried — “cup”
Cream, heavy — liquid	238	8.4	170859Cream, fluid, heavy whipping — “cup, fluid (yields 2 cups whipped)”
Cream, heavy — whippedAir is half the cup.	120	4.23	170859Cream, fluid, heavy whipping — “cup, whipped”
Half and half	242	8.54	171255Cream, fluid, half and half — “cup”
Sour cream	230	8.11	171257Cream, sour, cultured — “cup”
Cream cheese	232	8.18	173418Cheese, cream — “cup”
Yogurt, plain whole milk	245	8.64	171284Yogurt, plain, whole milk — “cup (8 fl oz)”
Parmesan, grated	100	3.53	171247Cheese, parmesan, grated — “cup”
Cheddar — shredded	113	3.99	173414Cheese, cheddar (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup, shredded”
Cheddar — dicedDicing packs 19 g more in.	132	4.66	173414Cheese, cheddar (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup, diced”
Egg, whole rawAbout 4.9 large eggs.	243	8.57	171287Egg, whole, raw, fresh — “cup (4.86 large eggs)”
Nuts, seeds & dried fruit
Walnuts — chopped	117	4.13	170187Nuts, walnuts, english — “cup, chopped”
Walnuts — halves	100	3.53	170187Nuts, walnuts, english — “cup shelled (50 halves)”
Walnuts — groundGrinding drops it to 80 g.	80	2.82	170187Nuts, walnuts, english — “cup, ground”
Pecans — chopped	109	3.84	170182Nuts, pecans — “cup, chopped”
Pecans — halves	99	3.49	170182Nuts, pecans — “cup, halves”
Sesame seeds, whole	144	5.08	170150Seeds, sesame seeds, whole, dried — “cup”
Coconut, shredded sweetened	93	3.28	168586Nuts, coconut meat, dried (desiccated), sweetened, shredded — “cup, shredded”
Raisins — loose	145	5.11	168165Raisins, dark, seedless (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup (not packed)”
Raisins — packed	165	5.82	168165Raisins, dark, seedless (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) — “cup, packed”
Chocolate chips, semisweet	182	6.42	167976Candies, semisweet chocolate — “cup large chips”
Chocolate chips, mini	173	6.1	167976Candies, semisweet chocolate — “cup mini chips”
Peanut butter, smooth	258	9.1	172470Peanut butter, smooth style, without salt — “cup”
Fruit & veg
Strawberries — whole	144	5.08	167762Strawberries, raw — “cup, whole”
Strawberries — halved	152	5.36	167762Strawberries, raw — “cup, halves”
Strawberries — sliced	166	5.86	167762Strawberries, raw — “cup, sliced”
Strawberries — puréedSame fruit, 88 g heavier than whole.	232	8.18	167762Strawberries, raw — “cup, pureed”
Blueberries	148	5.22	171711Blueberries, raw — “cup”
Banana — sliced	150	5.29	173944Bananas, raw — “cup, sliced”
Banana — mashed	225	7.94	173944Bananas, raw — “cup, mashed”
Liquids & seasoning
Water	237	8.36	174158Water, bottled, generic — “cup”
Cocoa powder, unsweetened	86	3.03	169593Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened — “cup”
Salt, table	292	10.3	173468Salt, table — “cup”
Vinegar, distilled	238	8.4	172237Vinegar, distilled — “cup”
Vinegar, balsamic	255	8.99	172241Vinegar, balsamic — “cup”
Soy sauce	255	8.99	174277Soy sauce made from soy and wheat (shoyu) — “cup”

No ingredient matches that filter.

Per 1 US cup (236.588 ml). Click a column to sort; click again to reverse.

Free to reuse — just credit us

This table is published under CC BY 4.0. Copy it, adapt it, use it commercially — all we ask is a link back. Copy the credit line:

TidyTools, "Ingredient weights per US cup" (v1.0), compiled from USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy. https://tidytools.net/reference/ingredient-weights

Why one cup has more than one right answer

A cup measures volume. Grams measure weight. Converting between them needs a third thing — how densely the ingredient packs into the cup — and that is not a fixed property of the ingredient. It depends on what you did to it first.

The USDA data shows this plainly, because it records the same food more than once with different handling. Brown sugar is 220 g packed and 145 g unpacked: the identical sugar in the identical cup, 75 g apart. Powdered sugar drops from 120 g to 100 g simply by being sifted. Heavy cream is 238 g as a liquid and 120 g once whipped, because half the cup has become air.

Strawberries make the point best of all. One cup of the same raw strawberries weighs 144 g whole, 152 g halved, 166 g sliced and 232 g puréed. Nothing was added; the pieces just pack differently.

So when two websites disagree about a cup of flour, they are usually not contradicting each other. They are assuming different filling methods and not saying so.

The flour disagreement, specifically

This is the conversion people search for most, and the two most-cited sources differ:

USDA FoodData Central: 125 g per cup of all-purpose flour (the figure in the table above).
King Arthur Baking: 120 g per cup, the standard most American recipe developers write to.

Neither is an error. Spooning flour loosely into a cup and levelling it gives a lighter cup than dipping the cup into the bag, which compresses the flour. The gap between the two sources is about 4%, which is less than the variation you introduce by scooping instead of spooning. If a recipe does not tell you which method it assumed, either figure will bake fine.

The real fix is to stop converting: weigh the flour. A cheap kitchen scale removes the ambiguity entirely, which is why almost every serious baking book now gives weights first.

How to use this table

Match the preparation, not just the ingredient. If the recipe says “1 cup chopped walnuts”, use the chopped row (117 g), not the halves row (100 g).
Assume packed for brown sugar unless a recipe says otherwise — that is the near-universal convention.
Check the cup. These are US cups of 236.588 ml. An Australian or European metric cup is 250 ml and will give you about 6% more.
Treat these as typical, not exact. Brand, humidity and grind all move the number by a few percent.

What is in the data

Every row comes from the USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy release (April 2018), the final version of the USDA Standard Reference. It is in the public domain under CC0, so there are no restrictions on reusing the underlying figures.

We selected 65 entries that correspond to ingredients people actually measure in cups, converted each portion to a per-cup basis, and kept the original FDC ID and USDA portion wording against every row so nothing is untraceable. The ounce column is derived from grams at 28.349523125 g per ounce. Nothing has been rounded beyond the precision USDA published.

Frequently asked questions

How many grams is a cup of flour?

USDA FoodData Central puts a cup of all-purpose flour at 125 g. King Arthur Baking, whose chart most US recipe writers follow, says 120 g. Both are defensible: the number depends on whether the flour is spooned into the cup or scooped, and neither source is wrong. If a recipe does not say which it used, the 5 g gap is smaller than the error from scooping, so either is fine.

Why do different websites give different grams per cup?

Because a cup measures volume and grams measure weight, so the answer depends on how densely the ingredient sits in the cup. USDA lists brown sugar at 220 g packed and 145 g unpacked, and powdered sugar at 120 g unsifted and 100 g sifted. These are the same ingredient in the same cup. Sites differ because they assume different filling methods.

Is a US cup the same as a metric cup?

No. A US customary cup is 236.588 ml, while the metric cup used in Australia and much of Europe is 250 ml, about 6% larger. Every figure on this page uses the US cup.

Can I use this data on my own site?

Yes. The page is licensed CC BY 4.0, so you may republish or adapt the table, including commercially, as long as you credit TidyTools with a link. The underlying USDA source data is public domain (CC0).

Where do these numbers come from?

Every row is extracted from the USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy release (April 2018), which is public domain. Each row lists the FDC ID it came from and the exact USDA portion description, so you can verify any figure at source.

Stop converting, start weighing

Every ambiguity on this page disappears with a scale:

Digital kitchen scales → Baking-by-weight books →