Cooking Converter: Cups, Tablespoons, Teaspoons, and Milliliters
A cooking measurement converter expresses a recipe’s volume in another unit. Convert US customary cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and fluid ounces, along with milliliters, liters, and explicitly defined metric measures.
Enter a decimal, a fraction such as 1/2, or a mixed number such as 1 1/2. Choose the source and target units that match your recipe and measuring tools.
Why US and metric cups have different sizes
A US customary cup contains 8 US fluid ounces, approximately 236.5882365 mL. US tablespoons and teaspoons are approximately 14.78676478125 mL and 4.92892159375 mL. A metric cup is defined here as 250 mL, a metric tablespoon as 15 mL, and a metric teaspoon as 5 mL. These measure conventions are discussed in NIST’s household measurement reference.
Practical cooking charts can use rounded equivalents. For example, NIST’s kitchen chart lists 240 mL for a cup, 15 mL for a tablespoon, and 5 mL for a teaspoon. This page’s US cup uses the customary volume rather than that rounded 240 mL value.
“Cup” and “tablespoon” are not universally the same size in every recipe. Check the measure convention used by your source. The selector names identify the definitions this calculator uses.
How cooking volume conversions work
Multiply the amount by its source measure’s volume in milliliters, then divide by the target measure’s volume.
Converted amount = input amount × source mL factor ÷ target mL factor
For US customary measures, one cup equals 16 tablespoons or 48 teaspoons, and one tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons. For the metric definitions on this page, one 250 mL cup equals 16⅔ tablespoons of 15 mL or 50 teaspoons of 5 mL. The different cup-to-spoon ratio is a consequence of the selected definitions.
Worked recipe measurement examples
Half a US cup to milliliters: 0.5 × 236.5882365 = 118.29411825 mL. Half a 250 mL metric cup is 125 mL.
Three US teaspoons to US tablespoons: the result is one tablespoon. Three metric teaspoons of 5 mL also equal one metric tablespoon of 15 mL.
Two metric cups to liters: 2 × 250 mL = 500 mL, or 0.5 L. 1½ US cups to US tablespoons: 1.5 × 16 = 24 tablespoons.
How to enter fractions and mixed amounts
Use 1/4 for a quarter, 1/3 for a third, and 1/2 for a half. Enter a mixed number with a space between the whole number and fraction, such as 2 1/4. Common fraction characters such as ¼, ½, and ¾ are also accepted.
A fraction denominator must be greater than zero. Decimal values such as 0.75 work as well. The result is displayed as a decimal so different units can be compared consistently.
Why cups cannot be converted to grams without an ingredient
Cups and spoons measure volume. Grams and weight ounces measure mass. Converting between those quantities requires the ingredient’s density or a suitable ingredient-specific measurement.
The same volume of flour, sugar, and oil does not necessarily have the same mass. Packing and measuring technique can also change the amount of a dry ingredient in a cup. This converter therefore handles volume-to-volume conversions and does not supply gram or weight-ounce results.
Frequently asked questions
Are fluid ounces the same as weight ounces?
No. Fluid ounces measure volume; weight ounces measure mass. The fluid-ounce option here is explicitly US customary.
Does the converter support a 240 mL cup?
There is no separate 240 mL cup option. Enter the quantity in milliliters if your recipe defines one cup as 240 mL.
What about a 20 mL tablespoon?
This page’s metric tablespoon is 15 mL. For a recipe using a 20 mL tablespoon, enter its total volume in milliliters instead.
Can I use negative amounts?
No. Recipe quantities must be zero or positive. Zero converts to zero in every supported unit.
Does swapping reverse the conversion?
After a calculation, Swap uses the converted amount as the new input and reverses the units. Before a calculation, it reverses the units while retaining the current amount.
Why are some results long decimals?
Some unit ratios produce repeating decimals. Results show up to ten decimal places, while extremely small or large amounts use scientific notation.