Ingredient Weight Converter · dairy
Heavy Cream: cups to grams
1 cup of heavy cream weighs 238 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.
Heavy Cream baseline: 1 cup = 238 g.
Common amounts
| Cups | Tablespoons | Grams | Ounces (weight) | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 4.0 | 60 g | 2.10 oz | 59 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 5.3 | 79 g | 2.80 oz | 79 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 8.0 | 119 g | 4.20 oz | 118 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 10.7 | 159 g | 5.60 oz | 158 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 12.0 | 179 g | 6.30 oz | 177 mL |
| 1 cup | 16.0 | 238 g | 8.40 oz | 237 mL |
| 1.5 cups | 24.0 | 357 g | 12.59 oz | 355 mL |
| 2 cups | 32.0 | 476 g | 16.79 oz | 473 mL |
| 3 cups | 48.0 | 714 g | 25.19 oz | 710 mL |
| 4 cups | 64.0 | 952 g | 33.58 oz | 946 mL |
Spoon weights
Derived from the same 238 g per cup — a US tablespoon is 1/16 of a cup and a teaspoon is 1/48.
| Amount | Grams |
|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 15 g |
| 1 teaspoon | 5.0 g |
| 1/2 teaspoon | 2.5 g |
| 1/4 teaspoon | 1.2 g |
Heavy Cream at a glance
- Fat
- heavy cream 36%+, whipping cream 30–36%, half-and-half 10.5–18%
- Whipped yield
- 1 cup liquid cream whips to about 2 cups
- It will not curdle
- The high fat protects the proteins, which is why cream can go into an acidic or boiling sauce where milk cannot
What a cup of heavy cream actually weighs
The published 238 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid, measured in a liquid cup | 238 g | published figure | The published figure. |
| Whipped to soft peaks | ~119 g | -50% | Whipping roughly doubles the volume by beating in air. A cup of whipped cream is about half a cup of liquid cream — recipes that say 'whipped cream' by volume mean after whipping. |
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 heavy cream by cup goes wrong
Heavy cream is at least 36 percent milk fat by US standard. A cup weighs 238 grams. Whipping cream is 30–36 percent fat and weighs slightly less. The fat is what allows cream to whip — below about 30 percent fat, no amount of whisking produces a stable foam, because there is not enough fat to build the network that traps the air.
Practical tips for working with heavy cream
Cream whips best when everything is cold: the bowl, the whisk, the cream. Stick the mixer bowl in the freezer for ten minutes before you start. Soft peaks (the cream droops off the whisk) take about 90 seconds with a stand mixer; stiff peaks (the cream stands straight) take another 30 seconds; one more pass and you have butter. Stop early. You can always whip more, but you cannot un-whip butter.
Note from this ingredient's record: 36 percent fat. Whips to soft peaks in 90 seconds with a stand mixer when starting cold; warm cream will not whip.
Substitutions that work — and what they cost you
Evaporated milk for cream in a sauce
Ratio: 1:1
Trade-off: Works for body and heat stability in savoury sauces. It will not whip, and it carries a cooked-milk flavor.
Half-and-half for heavy cream
Ratio: 1:1 in sauces only
Trade-off: Fine where you want richness, useless where you want foam — under 30% fat it cannot hold whipped structure.
When heavy cream ruins the recipe
| What you see | What went wrong | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The cream went grainy and then split into butter and liquid | Over-whipped. The fat globules clumped past the point where they could hold air. | If it has only just turned grainy, fold in 2–3 tablespoons of fresh liquid cream by hand to bring it back. Past that, keep going and make butter. |
| Cream refused to whip at all | It was too warm, or it was labelled 'whipping cream' at under 30% fat, or ultra-pasteurised cream that whips more stubbornly. | Chill the bowl, whisk and cream to under 40 °F, and check the fat percentage on the carton. |
Storing heavy cream
Refrigerated, on an interior shelf. Ultra-pasteurised cream keeps for weeks; regular pasteurised cream is better-tasting and shorter-lived. Whipped cream holds a few hours — stabilise it with a teaspoon of powdered sugar's cornstarch or a little mascarpone if it must stand overnight.
Other ingredients
Browse every ingredient on the site, or jump to a related one: