OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Ingredient Weight Chart
Grams Per Cup for Flour, Sugar and Butter, Plus Density in g/ml
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How the Ingredient Densities works
This ingredient weight chart gives the USDA's measured weight of a US cup for more than 2,800 foods, with grams per tablespoon and density in grams per millilitre alongside. Type an ingredient to see every way the USDA measured it — packed or unpacked, sifted or spooned, whole or chopped — and use the grams figure to convert a cup recipe to a scale.
How to use the ingredient weight chart
Search for the ingredient and pick the row whose measure matches your recipe. "cup packed" and "cup unpacked" brown sugar differ by half, and a cup of chopped nuts weighs less than a cup of whole ones. Multiply the grams per cup by the number of cups in the recipe, or use the tablespoon column for small amounts. The density column is the same number divided by 236.6, the millilitres in a US cup, so you can scale to any volume.
Where the numbers come from
Every row is a cup portion from the USDA's National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, now published as SR Legacy in FoodData Central. The USDA weighed these portions in its labs over several decades for nutrient labelling, which makes them the most widely cited public source for cup weights. Where the USDA also weighed a tablespoon, that figure is used; otherwise the tablespoon column is the cup weight divided by 16.
Why cup weights vary
A cup is a volume, so its weight depends on how tightly the food packs. Flour scooped straight from the bag can weigh 20% more than flour spooned in and levelled, which is why baking books disagree. The USDA figure is one careful measurement, not the only right answer. For baking where precision matters, weigh once with your own cup and method and note the result.
US cups and metric cups
All figures are for the US customary cup of 236.6 ml. An Australian, New Zealand or Canadian metric cup is 250 ml, about 6% larger, and a UK recipe that says "cup" usually means the metric one too. Multiply by the density column and 250 to get the metric-cup weight.
FAQ
How many grams are in a cup of flour?
The USDA measures a US cup of all-purpose white flour at 125 grams, which is about 7.8 grams per tablespoon. Bread flour and whole wheat flour weigh slightly more. If you scoop flour from the bag instead of spooning it, your cup may weigh closer to 150 grams.
Why do some foods have several rows?
The USDA weighed many foods more than one way — packed and unpacked, chopped and whole, sifted and unsifted — because each gives a different weight for the same cup. Pick the row whose wording matches the recipe, or the one closest to how you fill the cup.
Is the density the same as specific gravity?
For most foods it is close. Density here is grams per millilitre of the food as it sits in a cup, air gaps included, so powders and chopped foods come out far lighter than their solid material. Water is 1.00, oils sit around 0.92 and honey around 1.43.
See also: all Everyday Data tools, Tech Data.
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