Ingredient Weight Converter · liquid
Water: cups to grams
1 cup of water weighs 240 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.
Water baseline: 1 cup = 240 g.
Common amounts
| Cups | Tablespoons | Grams | Ounces (weight) | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 4.0 | 60 g | 2.12 oz | 59 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 5.3 | 80 g | 2.82 oz | 79 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 8.0 | 120 g | 4.23 oz | 118 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 10.7 | 160 g | 5.65 oz | 158 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 12.0 | 180 g | 6.35 oz | 177 mL |
| 1 cup | 16.0 | 240 g | 8.47 oz | 237 mL |
| 1.5 cups | 24.0 | 360 g | 12.70 oz | 355 mL |
| 2 cups | 32.0 | 480 g | 16.93 oz | 473 mL |
| 3 cups | 48.0 | 720 g | 25.40 oz | 710 mL |
| 4 cups | 64.0 | 960 g | 33.86 oz | 946 mL |
Spoon weights
Derived from the same 240 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 | 1.3 g |
Water at a glance
- US customary cup
- 236.588 mL — the cup in American recipes
- US legal cup
- 240 mL — the cup on nutrition labels, and the figure most recipe sites round to
- Metric / Australian cup
- 250 mL, about 6% more than a US cup — a real problem when converting recipes
- Yeast water temperature
- 105–115 °F to bloom active dry yeast; above about 130 °F kills it
What a cup of water actually weighs
The published 240 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| One US customary cup | 237 g | -1% | 236.588 mL of water at room temperature. This is the physically exact figure. |
| One US legal cup (nutrition-label cup) | 240 g | published figure | The rounded 240 mL cup, which is what most published recipes and this site's tables use. |
| One metric / Australian cup | 250 g | +4% | 250 mL. If a recipe came from Australia, the UK, or New Zealand, every cup in it is about 6% larger than an American cup. |
Why measuring water by cup goes wrong
Water is the reference standard: one milliliter is one gram, by definition, at 4 °C. A US customary cup is 236.588 mL, so a cup of water weighs 236.6 g. Most recipes round to 240 g/cup, which matches the US 'legal cup' used on nutrition labels and is close enough that the 1.4 percent difference disappears into measurement error.
Practical tips for working with water
Tap water versus filtered water rarely matters in baking. The exception is sourdough — heavily chlorinated tap water can suppress the wild yeast and bacteria in a young starter. If your tap water smells like a swimming pool, let it sit uncovered for 30 minutes before using; free chlorine evaporates (chloramine, used by many US utilities, does not — a carbon filter handles that). Bottled spring water also works, but for most home bakers, plain tap is fine.
Note from this ingredient's record: Room-temperature water. One mL of water weighs one gram, but a US cup is 236.588 mL — most recipe writers round to 240 g for the reader's sanity.
Substitutions that work — and what they cost you
Milk for water in bread dough
Ratio: 1:1
Trade-off: Softer crumb, faster browning, longer shelf life. Scald fresh milk to 180 °F first — raw milk enzymes weaken gluten.
When water ruins the recipe
| What you see | What went wrong | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A young sourdough starter stalls and never bubbles | Chlorinated tap water suppressing the culture. | Let water stand uncovered 30 minutes to release free chlorine, or use filtered water. Chloramine needs a carbon filter — standing will not remove it. |
| Bread never rose after mixing | Water hot enough to kill the yeast, usually straight from the tap's hot side. | Use 105–115 °F water for blooming and under 90 °F for the dough itself. Above 130 °F the yeast is dead. |
Storing water
Not applicable — but note that recipes written in grams for water are unambiguous, while 'one cup' depends on which country wrote the recipe.
Other ingredients
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