How to use the cooking measurement converter
- Type the amount in Value. Use decimals for fractions: ¾ cup is 0.75 and ⅓ cup is about 0.333.
- Choose the unit in From, for example US cups.
- Choose the unit you want in To, such as millilitres or metric tablespoons.
- Read the answer, or scan the table of all 16 units to find the one that suits your measuring spoons.
What it does and when to use it
Recipes travel, but measuring cups do not match. An American recipe uses US cups and spoons, an Australian one uses 250 mL cups and 20 mL tablespoons, a Japanese one uses 200 mL cups, and a British one may give fluid ounces or pints. Getting the wrong cup can change a cake by several percent, and the wrong tablespoon of baking powder by a third.
Use this converter when you scale a foreign recipe for your own measuring set, or turn cups into millilitres for a measuring jug. For oven settings in the same recipe, the gas mark converter and the temperature converter do the rest. For larger volumes like litres and gallons, the volume converter has more units.
How it works
Every unit is stored in millilitres.
| Unit | mL | Defined as |
|---|---|---|
| US teaspoon | 4.92892159375 | 1/768 US gallon |
| US tablespoon | 14.78676478125 | 3 US teaspoons |
| US fluid ounce | 29.5735295625 | 1/128 US gallon |
| US cup | 236.5882365 | 1/16 US gallon |
| US legal cup | 240 | US labelling rule |
| metric teaspoon / tablespoon | 5 / 15 | metric convention |
| Australian tablespoon | 20 | Australian convention |
| metric cup | 250 | AU/NZ/CA convention |
| Japanese cup | 200 | Japanese convention |
| UK fluid ounce | 28.4130625 | 1/160 imperial gallon |
| UK pint | 568.26125 | 1/8 imperial gallon |
The US units come from the US gallon, exactly 3.785411784 L, and the UK units from the imperial gallon, exactly 4.54609 L. The metric, Australian and Japanese sizes are round numbers fixed by custom and standards bodies in those countries.
Worked examples
Scaling down a US recipe. 0.75 US cups = 12 US tablespoons (or 36 US teaspoons, or 177.4 mL).
An Australian tablespoon with metric spoons. 1 Australian tablespoon = 4 metric teaspoons, which is 20 mL.
A 250 mL metric cup in US terms. 250 mL = 1.05668820943 US cups, about 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon.
Limits and tips
- Volume only. Butter, flour and sugar are often better weighed. This tool does not know ingredient densities.
- Small differences rarely matter in cooking, but they do in baking. Use the same set of cups and spoons for the whole recipe.
- UK recipes do not have a separate “UK cup” option here. If one appears, check whether the writer means a US or a 250 mL cup.
Frequently asked questions
How many mL is a cup?
Is an Australian tablespoon different?
Are UK and US fluid ounces and pints the same?
Can I convert a cup of flour to grams here?
What is a US legal cup?
Sources
- 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii), household measures for nutrition labelling — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, accessed 2026-10-08
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