A gram is one thousandth of a kilogram, which is the basic unit of weight measurement in the SI system. A cup on the other hand is a measurement of volume. Generally, when it comes to measuring dry ingredients, Americans use measurements of volume (cups, tablespoons) while Europeans use measurements of weight (grams, dekagrams).
So whereas an American recipe would state “1 cup of sugar”, a European recipe would state “250g of sugar”. You might be wondering how we convert grams into cups, when we use them to measure different values. It’s quite simple actually. To go from mass to volume, we also need density:
V=\frac{m}{\rho}
V stands for volume, m for mass and the Greek letter ρ (pronounced rho) stands for density.
Below this, you will find a brief list of density values for some ingredients. Also there is our Grams to Tablespoons Calculator where you can do the conversions as well.
Grams per cup ratios for different ingredients
For starters, 1 cup of butter is equal to 227g of butter, while margarine is slightly denser at 230g per cup. In terms of flour, the least dense type is cake flour at only 117g per cup. All purpose flour and bread flour are both denser at 125g per cup, and 130g per cup respectively. Sugar is even denser at 201 g per cup, but unsurprisingly trails behind honey which is 336g per cup. Uncooked rice is around 178g per cup. However, keep in mind that rice expands up to 4 times once it is cooked, greatly reducing its density. Out of all these, the least dense are oats, which are only 102g per cup.
However, it is difficult to keep track of all these values. That’s where our grams to cups calculator comes in handy, as it does all the work for you. Our database contains density values for a large number of ingredients, so all you have to do is input the mass and choose the ingredient you want.
