Why does 1 cup of flour weigh less than 1 cup of sugar?

Density. Flour particles have air between them, so a cup of sifted flour weighs around 120g, while the same volume of granulated sugar — denser particles packed closer — weighs around 200g. This is why professional bakers weigh ingredients instead of measuring by volume.

Is a US cup the same as a metric cup?

No. US cup = 236.588 ml. Metric cup = 250 ml. UK imperial cup (legal) = 284.131 ml but is rarely used in modern British recipes. This tool uses US cups by default — the most common in online recipes.

What's the difference between a US fluid ounce and a dry ounce?

A US fluid ounce is a volume measurement (29.574 ml). An ounce on a kitchen scale is a weight (28.35 g). For water they're similar by coincidence — 1 fl oz of water weighs about 1 oz. For other ingredients the gap can be large: 1 fl oz of honey weighs ~1.5 oz.

Cooking Unit Converter (Cups, Tbsp, ml, g, oz)

Cooking & Kitchen· 5 tools

Free cooking unit converter. Unlike generic unit tools, this one knows ingredient density — 1 cup of flour is ~120g while 1 cup of sugar is ~200g. Pick your ingredient (all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, butter, water, honey, etc.), enter any amount in any unit, and get clean conversions across US cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, ml, grams, and ounces. For volume-only conversions (water or generic liquids), a generic water density preset is used.

Ingredient

Density: 1.000 g/ml

Amount

Unit

US cup1

Tablespoon (US)16

Teaspoon (US)48

Fluid ounce (US)8

Milliliter (ml)236.6

Gram (g)236.6

Ounce (oz, weight)8.345

Frequently Asked Questions

References

USDA FoodData Central — ingredient density references — USDA

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Frequently Asked Questions

References and sources

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