US cups to milliliters converter

How to convert cups to ml

Multiply US cups by 236.5882365, the exact number of milliliters in one US customary cup, or use 237 mL in the kitchen. So 1 cup = 236.59 mL, ½ cup = 118.29 mL and 3 cups = 709.76 mL. This is the 8-fluid-ounce cup of American recipes and measuring cups.

Which cup does your recipe use?

Three cups are in common use, and the answer above is for the first:

• US customary cup, 236.5882365 mL. Half a US pint, or 8 US fluid ounces (NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C). American cookbooks and measuring cups use it.
• US nutrition-label cup, 240 mL. 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii) rounds the cup for serving sizes on Nutrition Facts panels. It is 3.4117635 mL larger than the customary cup, about two-thirds of a teaspoon.
• Metric cup, 250 mL. Used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as in the NSW cooking-measure reference. It is 13.4117635 mL larger, or 5.7%.

A metric cup needs no conversion factor: 2 metric cups are 500 mL.

Fractions of a cup in milliliters

• ¼ cup: 59.15 mL
• ⅓ cup: 78.86 mL
• ½ cup: 118.29 mL
• ⅔ cup: 157.73 mL
• ¾ cup: 177.44 mL
• 1½ cups: 354.88 mL

Thirds are worth entering as fractions, 1/3 or 2/3, rather than 0.33 or 0.67, so the result matches the measuring cup exactly.

Cups to ml chart

A cup measures volume, not weight

A cup of flour and a cup of sugar fill the same 236.59 mL but weigh very different amounts. King Arthur Baking's chart puts a cup of all-purpose flour at 120 g and a cup of granulated sugar at 198 g.

To weigh a cup-based recipe, use the cooking converter, which applies published ingredient weights. Level each cup, since a heaped or packed cup holds more.

Mistakes with cups

• Swapping cup sizes in a recipe that also uses eggs or grams. A 250 mL cup for everything just makes the batch 5.7% larger. Eggs and gram amounts stay fixed, though, so 4 cups of liquid gain 53.6 mL against them.
• Using a mug or teacup as the cup. Drinking cups have no standard size, so measure with a marked measuring cup or a jug in milliliters.
• Converting dry ingredients by volume when the recipe gives grams. Weigh instead; the gram figure is the more precise instruction.

For the reverse direction, use ml to cups. To split cups into spoons, use cups to tablespoons, and for fluid ounces, cups to ounces.