Free Cooking Measurement Converter
Convert cooking measurements instantly — US and UK cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, milliliters, fluid ounces, pints, quarts, gallons. Free, symmetrical.
Exact Conversion Formula & Multipliers
Kitchen volume units convert through fixed metric equivalents: 1 US cup = 236.588 mL, 1 US tablespoon = 14.7868 mL, and 1 US teaspoon = 4.92892 mL (3 teaspoons per tablespoon, 16 tablespoons per cup). Critically, the US cup, the UK/imperial cup, and the metric cup used in Australia and elsewhere are three different sizes — 236.6 mL, roughly 284 mL, and exactly 250 mL respectively — so this converter keeps them as separate, clearly labeled options rather than one generic 'cup'.
Practical Real-World Scenarios
- Following international recipes: a UK recipe's tablespoon and cup measurements differ meaningfully from US ones, which can throw off baking ratios if treated as identical.
- Scaling recipes: doubling or halving a recipe measured in cups and tablespoons is more error-prone than working in milliliters, since fractional cup measures (⅔, ¾) compound rounding errors.
- Professional and home baking: professional bakers weigh ingredients in grams for consistency, converting from volume-based home recipes to reduce variation caused by how ingredients are packed into a cup.
Historical & Technical Background
Volume-based cooking measurement using cups and spoons became standardized in the US in the late 19th century, largely credited to home economist Fannie Farmer's insistence on precise, level measurements in her influential 1896 cookbook — a major shift from the vague 'a pinch of this, a handful of that' instructions common before. Most of the rest of the world, having adopted the metric system more broadly, measures cooking ingredients by weight (grams) rather than volume, which is inherently more precise since ingredient density varies with how tightly it's packed.
Precision & Accuracy Statement
Every conversion factor used on this page is checked against internationally recognized reference standards — NIST Handbook 44 volume standards and USDA reference measures — rather than approximated or rounded for display. Where a constant is fixed by international definition (such as 1 inch = 2.54 cm, or standard gravity = 9.80665 m/s²), we use the exact defined value. Where a figure is a practical industry convention rather than a physical constant, that distinction is stated explicitly above so results are never presented with false precision.
How This Converter Works
Cooking recipes use different volume measurements across US, UK, and metric systems. US and UK tablespoons and cups are different sizes. Our converter handles 15 cooking volume units simultaneously.
Common Conversions
| US Cups | Milliliters | US Tablespoons | US Fluid Oz |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 tsp | 4.93 mL | 0.333 tbsp | 0.167 fl oz |
| 1 tbsp | 14.79 mL | 3 tsp | 0.5 fl oz |
| ¼ cup | 59.15 mL | 4 tbsp | 2 fl oz |
| ½ cup | 118.3 mL | 8 tbsp | 4 fl oz |
| 1 cup | 236.6 mL | 16 tbsp | 8 fl oz |
| 1 pint | 473.2 mL | 32 tbsp | 16 fl oz |