Cups or grams?
American recipes measure flour by volume, in cups and spoons, while most of the world weighs it in grams. Converting between the two is not a fixed unit conversion like inches to centimeters: it depends on how dense the flour is in the cup. This converter uses 125 g per US cup of all-purpose flour, the value for flour that is spooned into the cup and leveled, close to the figure used in USDA nutrition data.
How to use this converter
Type an amount in any field and every other measure updates as you type. Enter the cups from an American recipe to get grams for your scale, or enter the grams from a European recipe to find how many cups to measure. Each common pair below has its own page with the formula, an example and a chart.
Key equivalents
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour ≈ 125 g ≈ 4.4 oz
- 1 tablespoon ≈ 7.8 g, and 1 teaspoon ≈ 2.6 g
- 100 g ≈ 0.8 cup, and 500 g = 4 cups
- 1 lb ≈ 3.6 cups, and 1 kg = 8 cups
How to measure flour by volume
Fluff the flour in its bag or canister, spoon it into a dry measuring cup without pressing, then level the top with the back of a knife. Do not tap or shake the cup. Dipping the cup into the bag packs the flour and can give 20% more than the recipe intended, which leads to dense cakes and dry cookies. Sifted flour, on the other hand, is lighter, around 110 g per cup.
Other types of flour
The value of 125 g applies to all-purpose, or plain, wheat flour. Bread flour weighs about 130 g per cup, whole wheat flour about 128 g, and cake or pastry flour about 115 g. Almond flour, rice flour and other gluten-free flours vary even more, so weigh them whenever a recipe gives grams. When precision matters, as in bread baking, a scale is the simplest way to get consistent results.
Flour units compared
| Unit | Symbol | In grams |
|---|---|---|
| Gram | g | 1 |
| Kilogram | kg | 1,000 |
| Ounce | oz | 28.3 |
| Pound | lb | 454 |
| Cup of flour | cup | 125 |
| Tablespoon of flour | tbsp | 7.81 |
| Teaspoon of flour | tsp | 2.6 |
The units in detail
What is a gram?
Grams are the most reliable way to measure flour. A kitchen scale gives the same result whatever the scooping method, which is why bakers and most recipes outside the US weigh flour instead of using cups.
What is a kilogram?
A kilogram of flour, 1,000 grams, is the standard bag size in Europe. It holds about 8 US cups of all-purpose flour, enough for roughly two loaves of sandwich bread.
What is an ounce?
The avoirdupois ounce, 28.35 grams, is the weight unit of US kitchen scales. A cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 4.4 oz; it is not the same as a fluid ounce, which measures volume.
What is a pound?
The pound, 453.6 grams, is the unit of US flour bags, sold in 2, 5 and 10 lb sizes. A 5 lb bag of all-purpose flour holds about 18 cups.
What is a cup of flour?
A US cup of all-purpose flour, spooned into the cup and leveled with a knife, weighs about 125 g. Scooping straight from the bag packs the flour and can add 20 to 30 g per cup, enough to make cakes dry.
What is a tablespoon of flour?
A level US tablespoon of all-purpose flour weighs about 7.8 g, one sixteenth of a cup. Recipes use it for thickening sauces and gravies, where 1 to 2 tablespoons thicken a cup of liquid.
What is a teaspoon of flour?
A level US teaspoon of all-purpose flour weighs about 2.6 g, one third of a tablespoon. At this scale a scale is less practical than the spoon, and small variations do not matter.