NumberTally Cooking Converter
Convert between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, grams, and ounces for 13 common ingredients. A cup of flour and a cup of honey weigh very different amounts — pick the ingredient and get the exact conversion with the formula shown.
US volume ladder (quick reference)
| 1 cup | = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp = 236.6 ml |
| 1 tbsp | = 3 tsp = 14.8 ml |
| 1 tsp | = 4.9 ml |
| 1 oz (weight) | = 28.35 g |
Note: a metric cup is 250 ml, slightly larger than the US cup (236.6 ml). Most US recipes mean the US cup.
Why cups and grams don’t convert 1:1
A cup measures volume; a gram measures weight. What connects them is the ingredient’s density — how much a cup of it weighs. A cup of all-purpose flour is about 120 g, but a cup of honey is about 340 g because honey is far denser. That is why “1 cup = 120 grams” is only true for flour, and why serious bakers weigh ingredients: 120 g of flour is 120 g of flour no matter how you scoop it, while a “cup” can vary by 20% depending on packing.
Conversions between pure volume units (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons) need no ingredient at all — 1 cup is always 16 tablespoons. The ingredient only matters when weight (grams, ounces) is on either side of the conversion, which is exactly when the density table above kicks in.
The US volume ladder
US kitchen volumes nest neatly: 3 teaspoons make a tablespoon, 16 tablespoons make a cup, 2 cups make a pint, 2 pints make a quart, 4 quarts make a gallon. If you only memorize one rung, make it 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp — it rescues nearly every halved or doubled recipe. One caution for international recipes: the metric cup is 250 ml while the US cup is 236.6 ml, a 6% difference that matters in baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many grams are in a cup of flour?
About 120 g for all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled). Bread flour is a touch denser at 127 g per cup. Packing the flour into the cup can push it past 140 g — another reason to weigh.
Why do baking recipes use weight instead of cups?
Weight is exact and repeatable; volume depends on how you fill the cup. A 20% swing in flour changes a cake’s texture, so grams give far more consistent results.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
16 tablespoons, which is 48 teaspoons. So half a cup is 8 tablespoons and a third of a cup is 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon.
Is a US cup the same as a metric cup?
No. A US legal cup is 240 ml (and the customary cup 236.6 ml), while the metric cup used in Australia and many international recipes is 250 ml. For baking, check which one your recipe means.
How do I convert ounces to grams for cooking?
Multiply by 28.35. So 8 oz of butter is about 227 g — which is also why a US stick of butter (½ cup) weighs 4 oz / 113 g.