Ingredient Weight Converter · liquid
Lemon Juice: cups to grams
1 cup of lemon juice weighs 244 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.
Lemon Juice baseline: 1 cup = 244 g.
Common amounts
| Cups | Tablespoons | Grams | Ounces (weight) | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 4.0 | 61 g | 2.15 oz | 59 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 5.3 | 81 g | 2.87 oz | 79 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 8.0 | 122 g | 4.30 oz | 118 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 10.7 | 163 g | 5.74 oz | 158 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 12.0 | 183 g | 6.46 oz | 177 mL |
| 1 cup | 16.0 | 244 g | 8.61 oz | 237 mL |
| 1.5 cups | 24.0 | 366 g | 12.91 oz | 355 mL |
| 2 cups | 32.0 | 488 g | 17.21 oz | 473 mL |
| 3 cups | 48.0 | 732 g | 25.82 oz | 710 mL |
| 4 cups | 64.0 | 976 g | 34.43 oz | 946 mL |
Spoon weights
Derived from the same 244 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 | 5.1 g |
| 1/2 teaspoon | 2.5 g |
| 1/4 teaspoon | 1.3 g |
Lemon Juice at a glance
- One medium lemon
- about 3 tablespoons juice (45 g) and 1 tablespoon zest
- pH
- about 2.2 — strong enough to curdle milk, set a custard, and activate baking soda
- Bottled vs. fresh
- Bottled is pH-standardised, which is why canning recipes require it, and it loses aromatic brightness within days of opening
What a cup of lemon juice actually weighs
The published 244 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshly squeezed | 244 g | published figure | Essentially the density of water with dissolved sugars and acids. |
| Bottled lemon juice | ~244 g | published figure | Same weight; the difference is in the aromatics, not the density. |
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 lemon juice by cup goes wrong
Freshly squeezed lemon juice weighs 244 grams per cup, essentially the same as water, and sits at about pH 2.2 — one of the strongest acids in a home kitchen. Bottled lemon juice weighs about the same and is acidified to a consistent pH, which makes it more reliable for canning and less pleasant for anything you actually taste.
Practical tips for working with lemon juice
One medium lemon yields about 3 tablespoons of juice (45 grams) and 1 tablespoon of zest. Always zest the lemon before juicing — zesting a juiced lemon is awkward and the yield is smaller. Store lemons at room temperature for a week or in the fridge for a month. Roll a cold lemon on the counter under your palm for 10 seconds before cutting; the cell walls break and the juice releases more completely.
Note from this ingredient's record: Freshly squeezed. The juice from one medium lemon is roughly 3 tablespoons (45 g).
Substitutions that work — and what they cost you
White vinegar for lemon juice as an acid
Ratio: 1:1 when the job is chemistry, not flavor
Trade-off: Works for souring milk or activating baking soda. It tastes nothing like lemon — do not do it in a lemon bar.
Lime juice
Ratio: 1:1
Trade-off: Slightly more acidic and distinctly different in flavor. Fine in a marinade, obvious in a dessert.
Bottled for fresh
Ratio: 1:1
Trade-off: Required for home canning because the acidity is standardised. Flat and faintly metallic anywhere the lemon is the point.
When lemon juice ruins the recipe
| What you see | What went wrong | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Cream sauce curdled when the lemon went in | Acid coagulating the milk proteins, especially in low-fat dairy. | Add lemon juice off the heat at the very end, and use full-fat cream, which is far more stable. |
| Lemon flavor is sour but not lemony | Juice alone carries acid; the aromatic oils are in the zest. | Add zest. Rubbing the zest into the recipe's sugar with your fingers first releases far more of the oil. |
Storing lemon juice
Fresh juice keeps 2–3 days refrigerated and freezes well in an ice-cube tray (1 tablespoon per cube). Whole lemons keep a month in the fridge crisper.
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