Grams to Cups Converter

1. Grams and cups in recipes
2. How many grams equal a cup?
3. Converting between grams and cups
4. Grams to cups conversion tables
• Grams to cups of water conversion table
• Grams of flour to cups conversion table
• Grams of butter to cups conversion table

    Grams and cups in recipes

The gram is an internationally recognized unit for measuring mass. It is by far the most widely used unit of measurement for non-liquid ingredients in cooking and grocery shopping around the world. It is best practice to specify recipe measurements in units of mass as this leads to an unambiguous interpretation and makes following the recipe accurately a possible task.

The cup is a unit for measuring volume with several possible definitions. The commonly used definition is that of the US legal cup defined as containing 240 ml of volume. While it has been around for decades, some older recipes might contain measurements in Imperial cups. They are slightly larger with a milliliter equivalent of 284 ml and are also supported in our converter.

In most cases you should refrain from converting weights into volumes such as grams to cups for the simple reason that doing so introduces a third variable - density, which is known only approximately in each particular case. This can introduce significant discrepancies in the quantities of ingredients which may be particularly troublesome when preparing desserts. It is advised to use a kitchen scale and not take shortcuts. All the while, if you decide to use cups anyways, our grams to cups converter is a good choice.

    How many grams equal a cup?

This question cannot be answered without first knowing the density of the substance. The reason is that the same weight of a different ingredient will fill a different amount of volume depending on its density, a.k.a. bulk density. Any two substances can have different densities so knowing the density of what is being measured is vital. That is why a cup of water weighs about 240 grams, while a cup of butter weighs 228 grams and a cup of flour is even lighter at just 161 grams on average.

Some cooking ingredients can vary significantly in their density, even if they bear the same name, and this is especially true for anything that can be fine-grained or be composed of larger particles, for example sugar. In our grams to cups converter we've provided a list of commonly used recipe ingredients that you might need to convert so you do not need to know their specific density to convert them with reasonable accuracy.

    Converting between grams and cups

The conversion from grams to cups becomes possible once the density of the substance is known. For example, a recipe lists 500 grams of water and 250 grams of flour, and you may want to convert these quantities to cups. To do so, follow these steps:

500 grams of water to cups

Sample task: convert 500 grams of water to cups, knowing that the density of water is 1 gram per milliliter and using the US definition of a cup, meaning a cup holds 240 ml. Solution:

Formula:
g / 240 = cups
Calculation:
500 g / 240 = 2.083333 cups
End result:
500 g is equal to 2.083333 cups

For all practical purposes this is equal to two cups.

250 grams of flour to cups

Sample task: convert 240 grams of flour to cups, knowing that the density of flour is 0.67 grams per milliliter and a cup holds 240 ml. Solution:

Formula:
g / 161 = cups
Calculation:
240 g / 161 = 1.490683 cups
End result:
240 g is equal to 1.490683 cups

The result can safely be rounded to one and a half cups of water.

    Grams to cups conversion tables

For your convenience, we present g to cups conversion charts for some of the most used cooking ingredients.

Grams to cups of water conversion table

Here is a convenient table with often used quantities of water in grams and their corresponding values in approximate number of cups, rounded to the nearest quarter.

Grams of flour to cups conversion table

Below is a conversion chart in grams of flour and the corresponding number of cups (US).

Grams of butter to cups conversion table

Here is a conversion chart between grams of butter and the equivalent number of cups (US legal cups). Numbers in cups are rounded to the nearest quarter where necessary.