How Many Grams in a Cup?
The honest answer is: it depends on what you are measuring. Here is a precise gram-per-cup chart for the ingredients you actually bake with.
Last updated: 2026-05-21
It depends on the ingredient. There is no single conversion from cups to grams, because the two units measure different things. A gram measures weight, while a cup measures volume. The bridge between them is density — how much mass an ingredient packs into a given space. A cup of feathers and a cup of lead occupy the same volume but weigh wildly different amounts, and the same logic applies to flour versus honey.
The useful baseline is water. One US cup of water weighs about 236 grams, because water has a density very close to 1 gram per milliliter. Lighter, fluffier ingredients weigh less than that per cup; dense, sticky ingredients weigh more. Use the chart below to convert by ingredient, and weigh whenever accuracy matters.
Grams per Cup by Ingredient
These are widely accepted approximate values for one US cup (240 mL). Real-world weights vary with humidity, brand, grind, and how firmly you pack or scoop, so treat every figure as a close estimate rather than an exact constant.
| Ingredient (1 US cup) | Approx. weight |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | ~120 g |
| Bread flour | ~127 g |
| Granulated white sugar | ~200 g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | ~220 g |
| Powdered (icing) sugar | ~120 g |
| Butter | ~227 g |
| Water | ~236 g |
| Milk | ~244 g |
| Vegetable oil | ~218 g |
| Honey | ~340 g |
| White rice (uncooked) | ~185 g |
| Rolled oats | ~90 g |
| Cocoa powder | ~100 g |
| Cornstarch | ~128 g |
| Chocolate chips | ~170 g |
Notice the spread: a cup of rolled oats (~90 g) weighs less than a third of a cup of honey (~340 g). That gap is exactly why a single “grams in a cup” number cannot exist.
Why Weighing Beats Cups
For baking, weight wins. Volume measurements are easy to get wrong: a firmly packed cup of flour can hold 30 to 50 percent more than a spooned-and-leveled cup, which is enough to turn a tender cake dense or a cookie dry. A digital scale removes that variable entirely — 120 grams of flour is 120 grams of flour no matter who scoops it.
Weighing is also faster and cleaner once you start. You can add ingredients straight into one bowl, taring between each, with no nested measuring cups to wash. For the full case — including how professional bakeries standardize recipes — read our guide on baking by weight vs volume.
US Cup Assumed
All figures on this page assume a US customary cup of 240 mL (often rounded from 236.6 mL). That distinction matters, because “cup” is not universal. A metric cup is 250 mL, an imperial (UK) cup is roughly 284 mL, and an Australian cup is 250 mL. Using the wrong cup standard shifts every weight in the chart, so always confirm which cup your recipe was written for before converting.
When a recipe lists weights in grams, follow them directly — that is the precise version. When it lists cups and you want to switch to a scale, use the chart above and convert ingredient by ingredient rather than applying one blanket number.
Need to run the numbers for a specific amount? Open the cooking converter to convert cups, grams, ounces, and milliliters for your exact ingredient and quantity in one step.