How to Convert Any Recipe from Cups to Grams

By Patrick · Updated October 22, 2026

A step-by-step method for converting a recipe written in cups and spoons into grams, with a worked example, rounding tips and what to do with eggs and liquids.

Converting a favorite recipe to grams takes about ten minutes once, and then it is more reliable forever. Here is a straightforward method.

Step 1: List every ingredient with its amount

Write out each ingredient on its own line, exactly as the recipe gives it. Note the wording carefully: "1 cup packed brown sugar" and "1 cup brown sugar" are not the same, and neither are "1 cup sifted flour" and "1 cup flour, sifted". If you are unsure what a term means, see our guide to measuring terms.

Step 2: Convert each ingredient using its own weight

Every ingredient has a different weight per cup, so look each one up separately. You can use the charts on this site, or the converter on any ingredient page. For mixed amounts like "3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons", convert each part and add them together. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup and 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon.

Step 3: Handle liquids

Water and water-based liquids weigh about 1 g per milliliter, so a cup of water is about 237 g. Milk is slightly heavier, about 245 g per cup. Oil is lighter than water, about 218 g per cup. Sticky liquids like honey and maple syrup are much heavier, which is a good reason to weigh them.

Step 4: Handle eggs

Recipes usually assume US large eggs. A large egg weighs roughly 50 g out of its shell: about 30 g of white and 20 g of yolk. If your eggs are a different size, crack them into a bowl on the scale and add or remove a little beaten egg to reach the total.

Step 5: Round sensibly

• For flour, sugar, butter and liquids, round to the nearest 5 g. The difference is too small to matter.
• For leaveners, salt and spices, keep the original spoon measurement, or weigh to the nearest gram (or 0.1 g if you have a precise scale). Small errors here have a big effect.

A worked example

Here is a simple chocolate chip cookie dough converted from cups:

The 2 1/4 cups of flour is 2 × 120 g plus 1/4 × 120 g, which comes to 270 g. The brown sugar is 3/4 × 213 g ≈ 160 g.

Step 6: Test and adjust

Bake the converted recipe once and compare it to how it usually turns out. If the original was written by someone who scooped their flour, the "correct" gram amount may be higher than our spooned figure. If the dough seems wetter than usual, that is the likely reason, and you can add flour in 10 g steps until it matches. Then write your final numbers on the recipe.