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How Many Grams are in a Cup?

How many grams in a cup seems like a pretty straightforward question. But, since grams measure weight units in the metric system, and cups measure both volume and weight in the imperial system of measurements, it is worth knowing. You never know when you will need to make the weight conversion for a recipe.

spoon and jar of sugar and a kitchen scale measuring how many grams are in a cup

Different Types Of Ingredients Gram Weights To Make One Cup

Different ingredients of course weigh different amounts depending on the volume. For example, a cup of water weighs less than the same amount of oil in a fully filled cup measure, or a liter measurement, and so on.

So, it helps to know how many grams to fill a cup depending on different popular ingredients regularly used in cooking.

Using a scale and measuring ingredients in grams helps add a degree of accuracy to recipes. Also, some ingredients don’t fit in a measuring cup so weighing them is the best option.

And who measures flour the exact same way each time? Flour weight varies depending on the method of filling the cup and if it’s sifted first.

However, not everyone has a digital scale handy.

chocolate chips on a kitchen scale measuring grams in a cup

The Weight Per Cup In Grams For Popular Baking Ingredients

Since baking is where accuracy matters most, here are some of the popular grams conversions of typical ingredients in baking recipes.

Baking IngredientGrams in a Cup
Butter227g
All Purpose Flour128g
Granulated White Sugar240g
Packed Brown Sugar220g
Vegetable Oil221g
conversion table for grams to cups conversions

What About Grams of Vegetables And Meats?

Especially for the diet conscious, weighing amounts of things like meats and veggies in grams makes all the difference in the world.

If you want to familiarize yourself with the weight in grams of something, then here are handy tips.

  • With a digital scale, which is a great kitchen tool and very affordable too, set your imperial cup measure on the scale then zero out the weight. Usually all you have to do is hold down the “on” button a few seconds but some have a “zero balance” button too that makes it easy. You can also just set the cup on the scale, then turn the scale on. It will show “zero” even with the cup on it.
  • Fill your cup with the ingredient until it is a level cup of the ingredient you wish to measure. Make sure your scale is still set to measure in grams and not ounces.
  • You get a much more accurate measurement and idea of the number of grams if your ingredients are fairly well chopped or minced and packed down into the cup.
  • Make sure you account for uncooked vs cooked ingredients. Ingredients lose quite a bit of weight when cooked.

Cup to Grams Conversion Table

1 milligram0.001 grams
1 ounce28.35 grams
1 fluid ounce29.57 grams
1 kilogram1,000 grams
1 stone6,350.20 grams
1 ton907,185 grams

How Much Weight Do Meat And Vegetables Lose When Cooked?

No matter how you slice it, cooking will cause meat and vegetables to lose a lot of weight during cooking. Of course that is because veggies and fruits are mostly water.

Meats lose water as well as fats as they cook. How much is lost depends on the cooking time and type of ingredient, as well as how much the excess liquid, water and melted fats, strain out.

Meats like fish have less water in them, which is shocking of course because fish literally live in water. Chicken and pork are pretty similar depending on the cut or section.

In general though, a lean piece of pork has similar water weight to chicken breast, and both are reasonably lean of fats. (If the fat is trimmed from the tenderloin of pork for example and the chicken breast skin is removed. Beef is higher in fat and has a lot of water weight too.

With fish, you lose about 20% to 25% of the weight upon cooking. For chicken and pork it is about 25% to 35% depending on the type of cut, i.e., a fatty cut of pork loses a lot more than a leaner cut.

Dark meat chicken is higher in fats, so that will lose more weight during cooking too. Beef loses about 30% to 35% of its weight during the cooking process. Keep in mind these are rough estimates based on average cooking times.

If you want to cook that beef until it is a grey slab of super well done meat, then it will be a lot drier piece of beef.

And, of course, weigh a lot less than the starting uncooked weight.

Is It Better To Weigh Food Cooked Or Uncooked?

Certainly for diets, and if you plan on storing measured portions for later, then I recommend weighing cooked ingredients if you are pre-measuring meats, but weighing uncooked vegetables and fruits.

This has less to do with the volume of the actual ingredients and more to do with conveniently storing them for use later. For example, many cooked frozen veggies become mushy after being frozen.

Also, remember, placing either meats, fruits, or vegetables in the fridge or freezer will further evaporate water weight from the respective ingredient. It might work a lot slower than cooking of course, but it still makes an impact nonetheless.

scale with measuring cup on it

Pre-measuring Dry Ingredients by Gram in a Cup

Say you want to prepare most of your dry ingredients ahead of time for baking cakes or breads…

You can mix the dry ingredients ahead of time and measure by weight in grams in a cup to make sure everything is accurate. The only thing you have to watch out for is letting moisture get into your storage container.

You definitely don’t want that to happen so make sure to store the pre-mixed dry ingredients in an airtight container and store it in the coolest and driest spot possible.

You can keep premixed cake and bread dry ingredients, including flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, for months at a time as long as everything stays high and dry.

Then you can conveniently take it out when that urge to bake hits you… Only this time, instead of thinking, “No, that is just going to be too big a pain in the butt”, you will remember those pre-weighed perfectly mixed dry ingredients you have stored.

The warm and inviting smell of freshly baked cake or bread will be rising from the oven before you even think twice about baking again.

If you love this recipe as much as I do, please write a five-star review in the comment section below (or on Pinterest with the “tried it” button – you can now add pictures into reviews, too!), and be sure to help me share on facebook!

kitchen scale with chocolate chips

Recipes To Try

Practice, practice, practice…

If you really want to hone your skills, and have a digital scale handy,then try measuring ingredients by weight.

Make sure the scale is set to grams, then fill your imperial cup measure to get a sense of how many grams to fill it.

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