If you're wondering how many grams are in cup, this cups to grams converter"cheat sheet" will help you quickly make the conversion. You'll find all the most common vegan baking ingredients listed with their corresponding cups to grams conversions. You can even download this chart and print it for easy reference.
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I'm an American who's been living in the UK for many years, so I can sympathize with how hard it is to switch from using cups to weighing ingredients on a scale. Cups are more intuitive, and we all like to stick with what we're comfortable with, which is fine if you're measuring carrots for a stew where a few grams difference won't effect the outcome. But, they're not so great if you're measuring flour for a cake, where a few grams could be the difference between "fallen and flat" to "light and fluffy."
All professional chefs use scales to measure ingredients. But, why are grams superior to cups? Simply because they're far more accurate. Read on to learn why weighing your ingredients on a scale insures that your baked goods come out perfectly.
What Are Grams?
A gram is a metric unit used to measure the weight of dry or liquid ingredients. While you can cook and bake using measuring cups, tablespoons and teaspoons, it's much more accurate to use metric grams. This is especially true in baking.
How Many Grams Are In A Cup?
One cup of flour is equal to 125 grams. Because each ingredient has it's own density, other dry ingredients might weigh more or less than this. For instance, if you have a look at the chart above, you'll notice that one cup of cocoa weighs 200 grams.
Why Using A Scale is Essential
I always recommend using a scale rather than cups. On Daily Dish I give you cup units (in addition to metric measurements) in all my recipes. I do this to make it easier for American cooks who don't have a digital scale. But, if you have the opportunity to use a scale, I highly recommend it. Even the best measuring cups aren't as accurate as a scale, and for precision activities like baking accuracy is important.
One example of how inaccurate cup measurements can be is in the measurement of flour. Different bakers will load the cup differently. Some will use the sweep-and-scoop method, which loosely packs the cup, resulting in less flour. Others will spoon the flour into the cup, which tends to compact it, resulting in more flour. Sifted flour can even weigh 50% less than flour filled by the sweep and scoop or spoon method. As you can see, volume measurements (cups) can vary greatly and that means that the outcome of your baked goods will also vary. Not ideal.
What's The Difference Between Dry And Liquid Measurements?
There are two kinds of measuring cups, and it's important to understand the difference between them. Dry measuring cups come in sets with different size cups for different measurements. They come in incremental sizes so that dry goods can easily be leveled with a knife. Liquid measuring cups are generally glass and have a spout and handle for ease of pouring. You can see the difference in the above images.
Dry measuring cups are meant to measure dry goods like flour, grains, sugar and nuts, while liquid measuring cups are used for measuring liquids such as water, cooking oil, milk and yogurt.
Liquid measuring cups will almost always have measurements in cups as well as fluid ounces. It's important to note that ounces and fluid ounces are different. Fluid ounces measure volume, while ounces measure weight. When using a liquid measuring cup, use fluid ounces. If the recipe calls for cups you can convert it into fluid ounces using this chart:
| Measurements | FLUID OZ | tablespoon | teaspoon | Liter (1) Mililiter (ml) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 gallon | 4 quarts | 256 tbsp | 768 tsp | 3.1 l |
| 4 cups | 1 quart | 64 tbsp | 192 tsp | 0.95 l |
| 2 cups | 1 pint | 32 tbsp | 96 tsp | 470 ml |
| 1 cup | 8 oz | 16 tbsp | 48 tsp | 237 ml |
| ¾ cup | 6 oz | 12 tbsp | 36 tsp | 177 ml |
| ⅔ cup | 5 oz | 11 tbsp | 32 tsp | 158 ml |
| ½ cup | 4 oz | 8 tbsp | 24 tsp | 118 ml |
| ⅓ cup | 3 oz | 5 tbsp | 16 tsp | 79 ml |
| ¼ cup | 2 oz | 4 tbsp | 12 tsp | 59 ml |
| ⅛ cup | 1 oz | 2 tbsp | 6 tsp | 30 ml |
| 1/16 cup | .5 oz | 1 tsp | 3 tsp | 15 ml |
How To Choose The Right Scale
Instead of having to rely on a cups to grams converter or calculator, you can easily buy a scale that does all the hard work for you. They're very affordable, and most are small, so storage won't be an issue in small kitchens. Here are the pros and cons of each of three kinds of digital kitchen scales:
- Bowl Scale: These are my top pick! Many of them even have a cup measurement function, which I still don't recommend using, but it might help segway the metric -reluctant into a full scale pro (see how I did that?) Bowl scales are great because you can measure each ingredient in the same bowl. All you need to do is to use the "tare" function, which resets the scale to zero between ingredients. Whipping everything up in one bowl saves on dishes too, and who doesn't love that? When you're done mixing everything, pop the bowl out and throw it in the dishwasher. Easy. This is the bowl scale that I use all the time.
- Flat Scale: These do what they say on the tin. They measure ingredients with precision, are easy to clean and are slim enough to pop into any cupboard or drawer. They're also the cheapest of the three scales, and are really all you need to get started. This is a really affordable flat scale that will do everything you need a scale to do!
- Traditional/Analog Scales: If you like the retro feel, this scale might be for you. They do take up some space, and I don't find them as precise as digital scales, but they do look charming in your kitchen. You could try this analog scale, which comes in a fun and funky retro color.
Final Thoughts
I hope you find some of these resources helpful in answering how many grams are in a cup. Please feel free to leave a comment about any further resources that you might useful!
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