Ingredient Weight Converter · flour
All-Purpose Flour: cups to grams
1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 grams. Use the converter below for any other amount, or check the quick-reference table.
By Andrew Flores, Editor and publisher, Nathan Management. Last reviewed .
Density source: USDA FoodData Central, cross-checked against the King Arthur Baking weight chart. How these figures are derived and corrected is documented in our editorial standards.
All-Purpose Flour baseline: 1 cup = 120 g.
Common amounts
| Cups | Tablespoons | Grams | Ounces (weight) | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 4.0 | 30 g | 1.06 oz | 59 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 5.3 | 40 g | 1.41 oz | 79 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 8.0 | 60 g | 2.12 oz | 118 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 10.7 | 80 g | 2.82 oz | 158 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 12.0 | 90 g | 3.17 oz | 177 mL |
| 1 cup | 16.0 | 120 g | 4.23 oz | 237 mL |
| 1.5 cups | 24.0 | 180 g | 6.35 oz | 355 mL |
| 2 cups | 32.0 | 240 g | 8.47 oz | 473 mL |
| 3 cups | 48.0 | 360 g | 12.70 oz | 710 mL |
| 4 cups | 64.0 | 480 g | 16.93 oz | 946 mL |
Spoon weights
Derived from the same 120 g per cup — a US tablespoon is 1/16 of a cup and a teaspoon is 1/48.
| Amount | Grams |
|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 7.5 g |
| 1 teaspoon | 2.5 g |
| 1/2 teaspoon | 1.3 g |
| 1/4 teaspoon | 0.63 g |
All-Purpose Flour at a glance
- Protein
- 10–12% (national brands; Southern brands like White Lily run 8–9%)
- 5 lb bag yields
- about 19 cups spoon-and-leveled (2,268 g ÷ 120 g)
- Baseline hydration
- roughly 60 g water per 100 g flour for a standard sandwich dough
What a cup of all-purpose flour actually weighs
The published 120 g assumes one specific way of filling the cup. Here is what the same cup weighs under the other common handling methods and product forms, and how far off the recipe you end up.
| How it was measured | Grams per cup | vs. published | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spooned into the cup, leveled with a knife | 120 g | published figure | The method almost every modern US recipe is calibrated to, and the figure published on this page. |
| Scooped straight through the bag | ~150 g | +25% | The rim of the cup compacts flour as it plows through. How bad it gets depends on how settled the bag is — a fresh bag scoops lighter than one that has been shipped and shelved. |
| Sifted first, then spooned | ~110 g | -8% | Sifting aerates. Old recipes that say 'sift before measuring' expect this lighter cup; sifting after measuring does not change the weight at all. |
A tilde (~) marks a working estimate rather than a published figure — it varies with brand, grind, or how hard the cup was packed.
Why measuring all-purpose flour by cup goes wrong
Flour is the recipe ingredient most likely to ruin a bake when measured by cup, and all-purpose flour is the worst offender because home bakers reach for it almost every time. A 'cup' of flour ranges from about 120 grams (spoon-and-level into the cup, sweep the top with a knife) to 160 grams (scoop the cup straight through the bag and pack it down). That 40-gram swing is a third of a cup of pure dry weight. In a chocolate-chip cookie it shows up as dryness. In a cake it shows up as a tight, gummy crumb that no amount of butter can fix.
Practical tips for working with all-purpose flour
If you only own measuring cups, fluff the flour first: jab a fork into the bag a few times to break up the compacted layer that forms during shipping. Then spoon the flour into the cup until it mounds over the rim and level it off with the back of a knife. Never tap the cup against the counter — every tap settles another two or three grams. Better, weigh it: 120 grams to one cup is what King Arthur, Bob's Red Mill, and most US recipe developers calibrate to today. Older American cookbooks (pre-1980) often use 140 grams per cup; if you're working from a vintage book, that's worth knowing before you blame your oven.
Note from this ingredient's record: Spoon-and-level. Scooping straight from the bag can add 30–40 g of compacted flour and is the single most common reason a recipe turns out dry.
Substitutions that work — and what they cost you
Bread flour
Ratio: 1:1 by volume (about 7 g more per cup)
Trade-off: Chewier and less tender. In cookies it is an improvement; in a delicate cake it toughens the crumb. Add a teaspoon of liquid per cup if the dough feels tight.
Cake flour
Ratio: 1 cup AP = 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
Trade-off: Softer crumb, weaker structure. Do not use it in bread or anything that has to hold its own height.
Whole wheat flour
Ratio: Replace up to half the AP by weight, plus 1 tablespoon extra water per cup swapped
Trade-off: Bran cuts gluten strands, so past 50% the loaf turns dense. Rest the dough 20 minutes before kneading to let the bran soften.
When all-purpose flour ruins the recipe
| What you see | What went wrong | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Cookies bake up cakey, dry, and pale | Flour scooped rather than spooned — up to 30 g of extra flour per cup. | Weigh 120 g per cup, or fluff, spoon, and level. Do not tap the cup. |
| Cake crumb is tight and gummy instead of tender | Too much flour plus overmixing, which develops gluten in a batter that should have almost none. | Weigh the flour and stop mixing the moment the last dry streaks disappear. |
Storing all-purpose flour
Airtight at room temperature for about a year — the oily germ has been milled out, so white flour does not go rancid quickly. In a humid kitchen it takes on moisture and a scooped cup gets heavier still, which is one more argument for the scale.
Frequently asked
Is one cup of flour really 120 grams or 125 grams?
Both numbers are honest. King Arthur and most US recipe sites use 120 grams. Some European-trained pastry references round to 125 grams. Either is within the normal measurement error of a home scale, so either works — what matters is staying consistent within a single recipe.
Do I sift before or after measuring?
It changes the answer, so follow the wording. 'One cup sifted flour' means sift, then measure (roughly 110 g). 'One cup flour, sifted' means measure, then sift (120 g). Pre-1970 American cookbooks nearly always mean the first.
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