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Unit Conversions
Cooking Measurement Converter — Teaspoons, Tablespoons, Cups & mL
Scale recipes and read metric instructions without guessing your spoons and cups
Every home cook eventually hits the same wall: a recipe calls for 3/4 cup but you only have a tablespoon handy, a European baking blog lists flour in milliliters, or you're doubling a sauce and need to know how many teaspoons are really in two tablespoons. This cooking measurement converter moves any amount between the eight volume units that show up in American kitchens — teaspoon (tsp), tablespoon (tbsp), fluid ounce (fl oz), cup, pint, quart, milliliter (mL) and liter (L).
The method is simple and exact. Every unit is first converted to a single base — the milliliter — and then back out to the unit you want. That way the answer never depends on a chain of rounded shortcuts. The factors used here follow the US customary definitions, where the cup is the modern legal cup of 236.5882365 mL and the fluid ounce is 29.5735295625 mL.
The relationships worth memorizing form a clean ladder:
- 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce
- 8 fluid ounces = 1 cup
- 2 cups = 1 pint, 2 pints = 1 quart, 4 quarts = 1 gallon
So 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons, and 1 cup ≈ 236.6 mL. A tablespoon is about 14.79 mL and a teaspoon about 4.93 mL — close to the rounded 15 mL and 5 mL printed on many measuring spoons, which is exactly why bakers prefer weighing for precision.
A critical warning about grams. Cups and milliliters measure volume; grams measure weight. There is no single universal cup-to-gram number, because it depends entirely on the ingredient's density. One cup of all-purpose flour ≈ 120 g, one cup of granulated sugar ≈ 200 g, and one cup of butter ≈ 227 g — same cup, very different weights. This tool converts volume to volume exactly, and shows those three ingredient weights as a reference so you never assume a cup of flour and a cup of sugar weigh the same. For larger liquid amounts (gallons, cubic units) use the general volume converter instead.
📖 See also: Cups to mL: A Complete Kitchen Conversion Guide
Calculator
Fill in the fields and click "Calculate" for instant results.
📰 Formula
• Convert to milliliters: mL = value × (factor of the FROM unit) • Convert out: result = mL ÷ (factor of the TO unit) • tsp = 4.92892159 mL • tbsp = 14.78676478 mL • fl oz = 29.5735295625 mL • cup = 236.5882365 mL • pint = 473.176473 mL • quart = 946.352946 mL • mL = 1 mL • L = 1000 mL • Volume→grams is ingredient-specific (no single factor): flour ≈120 g/cup, sugar ≈200 g/cup, butter ≈227 g/cup
📰 Formula
• Convert to milliliters: mL = value × (factor of the FROM unit) • Convert out: result = mL ÷ (factor of the TO unit) • tsp = 4.92892159 mL • tbsp = 14.78676478 mL • fl oz = 29.5735295625 mL • cup = 236.5882365 mL • pint = 473.176473 mL • quart = 946.352946 mL • mL = 1 mL • L = 1000 mL • Volume→grams is ingredient-specific (no single factor): flour ≈120 g/cup, sugar ≈200 g/cup, butter ≈227 g/cup
🧪 Worked examples
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Example 2
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Example 3
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Example 4
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Treating a cup of one ingredient as the same weight as another — a cup of flour (~120 g) is far lighter than a cup of sugar (~200 g) or butter (~227 g).
- Assuming 1 cup is exactly 250 mL — the US cup is 236.59 mL; the 250 mL 'metric cup' is a different, Australian standard.
- Confusing fluid ounces (volume) with weight ounces — 1 fl oz of water weighs about 1 oz, but most ingredients do not.
- Forgetting there are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon (not 2), which throws off doubled or halved recipes.
- Using a US pint (16 fl oz) where a recipe means a UK/imperial pint (20 fl oz) — they are not the same.
💡 Tips
- Lock in the ladder: 3 tsp = 1 tbsp, 16 tbsp = 1 cup, 2 cups = 1 pint, 2 pints = 1 quart.
- For precision baking, weigh ingredients in grams instead of scooping by volume — flour especially varies with how it's packed.
- Measuring spoons are stamped 5 mL (tsp) and 15 mL (tbsp); the exact US values are 4.93 mL and 14.79 mL, close enough for cooking.
- When a recipe is metric, convert to milliliters first, then read the cups/spoons equivalent from the table.
- Need gallons, barrels or cubic feet? Use the general volume converter — this one is tuned for kitchen-scale amounts.
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❓ Frequently asked questions
How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?
Exactly 3 teaspoons make 1 tablespoon. In milliliters that's about 4.93 mL per teaspoon and 14.79 mL per tablespoon, so a tablespoon is three times a teaspoon.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
There are 16 tablespoons in 1 US cup, which is also 48 teaspoons or 8 fluid ounces. So 1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons and 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons.
How many milliliters are in a US cup?
One US customary cup is 236.5882365 mL, usually rounded to 236.6 mL or about 237 mL. Note this differs from the 250 mL metric cup used in Australia and some other countries.
How do I convert cups to grams?
You can't with a single number, because grams measure weight and cups measure volume. It depends on the ingredient: 1 cup of flour is ~120 g, sugar ~200 g, and butter ~227 g. Always use an ingredient-specific weight.
Is a fluid ounce the same as an ounce?
No. A fluid ounce measures volume (29.57 mL) while an ounce measures weight (28.35 g). They happen to be close for water, but for flour, oil, or honey the two values differ a lot.
How many cups are in a pint, quart, and gallon?
A US pint is 2 cups, a quart is 4 cups (2 pints), and a gallon is 16 cups (4 quarts). In milliliters: pint ≈ 473 mL, quart ≈ 946 mL, gallon ≈ 3,785 mL.
Why is my recipe's cup different from mine?
Cup sizes vary by country. The US legal cup is 236.59 mL, the US 'customary' cup used in older cookbooks is about 240 mL, and the metric cup is 250 mL. For US recipes, use the 236.59 mL value this tool applies.
How accurate do kitchen measurements need to be?
For cooking (soups, sauces, sautés) small rounding is fine — that's why spoons are stamped 5 and 15 mL. For baking, where ratios matter, weigh ingredients in grams for the best, most repeatable results.
What's the difference between this and the volume converter?
This converter is tuned for kitchen-scale amounts (teaspoons through liters) with the exact US cooking factors. The general volume converter handles larger and engineering units like gallons, cubic feet, and cubic meters.