Printable Kitchen Conversion Chart for Everyday Cooking
Why Conversions Matter When You Cook From Recipes
Recipes come from everywhere — a British cookbook using grams and millilitres, an American blog using cups and tablespoons, a YouTube video calling for "a stick of butter." A conversion chart lets you move between those systems without guessing, which is the difference between a light biscuit and a brick.
The most common mistake home cooks make is treating every ingredient as if it weighs the same. One cup of flour and one cup of granulated sugar both measure 237 millilitres by volume, but the flour weighs about 120 grams and the sugar weighs about 200 grams. A digital kitchen scale solves this, but when you only have measuring cups, knowing the standard conversions keeps you accurate enough for almost any recipe.
Volume Conversions at a Glance
These are the numbers worth memorising, because they appear in nearly every recipe you will encounter:
- 1 teaspoon = 3 teaspoons
- 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 15 mL
- 1 fluid ounce = 2 tablespoons = 30 mL
- 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons = 236.6 mL (often rounded to 240 mL)
- 1 pint = 2 cups = 473 mL
- 1 quart = 4 cups = 946 mL
- 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 16 cups = 3.785 litres
- 1 stick of butter = ½ cup = 8 tablespoons = 113 grams
If a recipe asks for 2¾ cups, that is 22 fluid ounces or 653 mL. Divide and multiply by these base numbers rather than trying to remember them all individually.
Volume Versus Weight: The Honest Truth
Volume measurements are convenient but imprecise because ingredients pack differently. Flour sifted into a cup weighs far less than flour scooped and shaken down. Sugar is measured by weight most of the time, while liquids are reliable by volume because they fill the container completely.
For best results with baking — cakes, breads, pastries — weigh your ingredients. The standard conversions most recipe writers use are:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour = 120 grams (about 4¼ oz)
- 1 cup bread flour = 127 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar = 200 grams (about 7 oz)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar = 200 grams
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar = 113 grams
- 1 cup butter = 227 grams (2 sticks)
- 1 cup milk or water = 237 grams
- 1 cup honey or maple syrup = 340 grams
- 1 cup rolled oats = 90 grams
When substituting by weight, one ounce equals 28.35 grams, and one pound equals 454 grams. If a recipe calls for 12 oz of chocolate chips, weigh out roughly 340 g.
| Amount | Cups | Tablespoons | Fluid ounces | Millilitres | Grams (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | — | ⅓ | ⅛ | 5 | 5 g water |
| 1 tablespoon | — | 1 | ½ | 15 | 15 g water |
| ¼ cup | ¼ | 4 | 2 | 60 | 50 g flour |
| ⅓ cup | ⅓ | 5⅓ | 2⅔ | 80 | 65 g flour |
| ½ cup | ½ | 8 | 4 | 120 | 113 g butter |
| ¾ cup | ¾ | 12 | 6 | 180 | 150 g flour |
| 1 cup | 1 | 16 | 8 | 237 | 200 g sugar |
| 2 cups (1 pint) | 2 | 32 | 16 | 473 | 380 g rice |
| 4 cups (1 quart) | 4 | 64 | 32 | 946 | 1 kg flour |
Gram figures vary by ingredient — the table shows typical values for the ingredient listed in each row, not universal equivalents.
Oven Temperature Conversions
Gas marks are used in the UK, while American recipes give Fahrenheit. Round to the nearest 10 °F when converting down to Celsius, since most home ovens can't hold an exact temperature anyway.
- 250 °F = 120 °C (gas mark ½)
- 275 °F = 135 °C (gas mark 1)
- 300 °F = 150 °C (gas mark 2)
- 325 °F = 165 °C (gas mark 3)
- 350 °F = 175 °C (gas mark 4)
- 375 °F = 190 °C (gas mark 5)
- 400 °F = 200 °C (gas mark 6)
- 425 °F = 220 °C (gas mark 7)
- 450 °F = 230 °C (gas mark 8)
- 475 °F = 240 °C (gas mark 9)
If your oven runs hot — a common problem in older electric ovens — place an inexpensive oven thermometer on the middle rack and adjust the recipe temperature rather than fighting the dial. Expect discrepancies of 10–15 °C in the first five minutes as the oven cycles to temperature.
How to Print and Use Your Chart
Print the chart on US Letter or A4 paper at 100% scale so the table stays readable, then laminate it or slide it into a plastic sheet protector. A chart that gets splashed with tomato sauce is useless; a laminated one wipes clean in seconds. Keep a copy in the cupboard nearest your measuring cups, and a second copy clipped to the fridge door with a magnet for quick reference while cooking.
For a durable copy, print on cardstock and use a laminator pouch at 5 mil thickness — it survives grease, water, and years of daily use. If you prefer digital, save a copy to your phone's notes app and screenshot it so it works offline when you're following a recipe video.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 1 cup really 240 mL? Yes, in practice. The exact US liquid cup is 236.6 mL, but nearly every US recipe and measuring cup is calibrated to 240 mL, so that's the number to use. One exception: a "metric cup" used in Australia is 250 mL, so Australian conversions are slightly larger than American ones.
How many cups are in 2000 mL? 2000 mL divided by 237 mL equals about 8.4 US cups, or 8.44 cups if you use 240 mL per cup. For practical cooking, 2000 mL is just over 8 cups — close enough to 2 quarts plus a splash for soups and sauces.
Should I convert by volume or by weight? Weight, whenever possible. Volume measurements vary by up to 20% depending on how you scoop an ingredient. A digital kitchen scale costs less than most ingredients and removes the guesswork entirely — but if you're working with a measuring cup, the conversions above are accurate to within a couple of grams for most staples.