Converters Cups to millilitres
Convert cups to millilitres, with the three different cups explained and a note on why baking should be weighed instead.
1 cup = 236.5882365 ml
millilitres = US cups × 236.5882365
US cups to millilitres
| cup | ml |
|---|---|
| 1 | 236.588237 |
| 2 | 473.176473 |
| 3 | 709.764709 |
| 4 | 946.352946 |
| 5 | 1,182.941183 |
| 10 | 2,365.882365 |
| 15 | 3,548.823548 |
| 20 | 4,731.76473 |
| 25 | 5,914.705913 |
| 50 | 11,829.411825 |
| 75 | 17,744.117737 |
| 100 | 23,658.82365 |
| 500 | 118,294.11825 |
| 1,000 | 236,588.2365 |
One US cup is exactly 236.5882365 millilitres.
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Cite this page
Reembun. (2026, July 28). Cups to millilitres. https://reembun.com/convert/volume/cups-to-ml
How to use it
Type the cups
Fractions of a cup are fine as decimals, so half a cup is 0.5.
Check which cup you mean
This converts the US cup of about 237 millilitres. A metric cup is 250 millilitres, and the unit list has both.
Copy it or read the table
The table covers the quantities a recipe usually calls for, from a quarter cup upwards.
Three different cups
| Cup | Millilitres | Where |
|---|---|---|
| US customary | 236.588 | US recipes |
| US legal | 240 | US nutrition labels |
| Metric | 250 | Australia, New Zealand |
| Imperial (historical) | 284.13 | Older UK recipes |
The metric cup is 5.7% larger than the US customary one. On a single ingredient that is invisible; compounded across flour, sugar, milk and butter it is enough to change how a cake rises.
This converter uses the US customary cup, which is what an unqualified “1 cup” means in the overwhelming majority of recipes online.
Conversion chart
| US cups | ml | Fluid ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 | 59 | 2 |
| 1/3 | 79 | 2.7 |
| 1/2 | 118 | 4 |
| 2/3 | 158 | 5.3 |
| 3/4 | 177 | 6 |
| 1 | 237 | 8 |
| 1 1/2 | 355 | 12 |
| 2 | 473 | 16 |
Smaller measures
| Measure | ml |
|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 4.93 |
| 1 tablespoon | 14.79 |
| 1 fluid ounce | 29.57 |
Most recipes round a teaspoon to 5 ml and a tablespoon to 15 ml, which is close enough for cooking. The Australian tablespoon is an exception at 20 ml, four teaspoons rather than three, which catches out anyone following an Australian recipe with a US spoon set.
Why weight beats volume
A cup measures space, and dry ingredients occupy different amounts of space depending on how they were put in the cup.
| Flour, 1 cup, by method | Weight |
|---|---|
| Sifted, spooned in | ~110 g |
| Spooned and levelled | ~125 g |
| Scooped from the bag | ~150 g |
That is a 36% spread on the ingredient that determines a baked good’s entire structure. No amount of careful conversion fixes it, because the ambiguity is in the measuring, not the arithmetic.
This is why professional and European recipes are written by weight, and why a cheap kitchen scale improves baking results more reliably than any technique.
Common ingredients by weight
| Ingredient | 1 US cup |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 125 g |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g |
| Brown sugar, packed | 220 g |
| Butter | 227 g |
| Milk | 240 g |
| Water | 237 g |
| Rolled oats | 90 g |
| Rice, uncooked | 185 g |
Note that only water and milk are close to their millilitre volume. Everything else diverges, sometimes considerably. A “cup” is only interchangeable between weight and volume for liquids of roughly water density.
Common questions
How many ml is a cup?
It depends whose cup. A US customary cup is 236.588 ml, a US legal cup used on nutrition labels is 240 ml, a metric cup as used in Australia and New Zealand is 250 ml, and a pre-1970s imperial cup was 284 ml. A recipe rarely says which it means.
Does it matter which cup I use?
For soup, no. For baking, yes. A metric cup is 5.7% larger than a US cup, and compounded across several ingredients that is enough to change a cake's texture. Recipes from Australian sites and US sites are not interchangeable by volume.
Why do bakers weigh instead?
Because a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 to 150 grams depending on whether it was scooped, spooned or sifted, a 25% variation in the main structural ingredient. A scale removes that entirely, which is why every professional recipe is written by weight.
How do I convert a cup of flour to grams?
Around 120-125 g for all-purpose flour spooned and levelled. But the range is exactly the problem: the same cup scooped straight from the bag can hold 150 g. If a recipe gives weights, use them.
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