Water cups to grams
Water is the one ingredient where volume and weight line up neatly: one milliliter of water weighs one gram. A US cup holds 236.6 mL, so a cup of water weighs about 237 grams. Every other number on this page follows from that.
| Cups | Milliliters | Grams | Fluid oz |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⅛ cup | 30 mL | 30 g | 1 fl oz |
| ¼ cup | 59 mL | 59 g | 2 fl oz |
| ⅓ cup | 79 mL | 79 g | 2.67 fl oz |
| ½ cup | 118 mL | 118 g | 4 fl oz |
| ⅔ cup | 158 mL | 158 g | 5.33 fl oz |
| ¾ cup | 177 mL | 177 g | 6 fl oz |
| 1 cup | 237 mL | 237 g | 8 fl oz |
| 1 ½ cups | 355 mL | 355 g | 12 fl oz |
| 2 cups | 473 mL | 473 g | 16 fl oz |
| 3 cups | 710 mL | 710 g | 24 fl oz |
Grams of water to cups
| Grams | Cups (decimal) | In the kitchen |
|---|---|---|
| 50 g | 0.21 | 3 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 60 g | 0.25 | ¼ cup |
| 100 g | 0.42 | ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp |
| 120 g | 0.51 | ½ cup + ½ tsp |
| 150 g | 0.63 | ½ cup + 2 tbsp + ½ tsp |
| 200 g | 0.85 | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp |
| 250 g | 1.06 | 1 cup + 2 ½ tsp |
| 300 g | 1.27 | 1 ¼ cups + 1 tsp |
| 350 g | 1.48 | 1 ⅓ cups + 2 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 500 g | 2.11 | 2 cups + 1 tbsp + 2 ½ tsp |
Why not 240 g, or 227 g?
Search for "a cup of water in grams" and you'll find three different answers. They all come from different definitions of a cup, not from water behaving differently:
- 237 g is the true weight of a US customary cup (236.6 mL). It's what fills the measuring cup in an American kitchen, and it's what we use.
- 240 g comes from the rounded 240 mL cup printed on US nutrition labels.
- 227 g comes from treating a cup as 8 ounces of weight. Eight fluid ounces of water happens to weigh close to 8 ounces, so the shortcut sticks, but it's about 4% light.
For a glass of water none of this matters. In bread dough it can: a few percent more or less water changes how sticky the dough feels and how open the crumb is. That's why many bread recipes list water in grams.
Fluid ounces and ounces aren't the same thing
A cup is 8 fluid ounces, which measures volume. An ounce on a kitchen scale measures weight. For water the two are close, since 8 fl oz of water weighs about 8.3 ounces, which is why people mix them up. For almost anything else they drift apart quickly. Eight fluid ounces of honey weighs nearly 12 ounces, while 8 fluid ounces of flour weighs a little over 4. If a recipe says "8 oz" of a dry ingredient, it means weight, and the cup won't help you.
Small amounts of water
One tablespoon of water is about 15 grams and one teaspoon about 4.9 grams. In practice most bakers round to 15 g and 5 g. A splash in a recipe is rarely precise enough for the difference to show.
Does temperature change the weight?
Barely. Water is densest at about 4°C (39°F) and gets slightly lighter as it warms, but between cold tap water and the warm water used for yeast the difference is well under 1%. A cup of boiling water does weigh a few grams less, but you won't be measuring that by the cup anyway.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of water?
One US cup of water weighs about 237 grams, because a cup holds 236.6 mL and a milliliter of water weighs one gram.
How many grams is ¼ cup of water?
A quarter cup of water is about 59 grams (59 mL). Half a cup is about 118 grams and a third of a cup about 79 grams.
How many cups is 100 grams of water?
100 grams of water is 100 mL, or about 0.42 cups. With measuring cups, that's ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp.
How many cups is 500 grams of water?
500 grams of water is about 2.11 cups, a little over 2 cups (2 cups + 1 tbsp + 2 ½ tsp).
Is a cup of water 8 ounces?
A cup is 8 fluid ounces by volume. By weight, a cup of water is about 8.3 ounces. The difference is small for water but large for most other ingredients.
Is 1 mL of water the same as 1 gram?
Yes, at kitchen temperatures. One milliliter of water weighs one gram, so you can measure water on a scale or in a measuring jug and get the same result.