How many grams in a cup depends entirely on what’s in the cup — a cup of flour and a cup of honey are the same volume, but nowhere near the same weight, which is exactly why cup measurements cause so many baking failures.
Quick answer
Weight per cup depends entirely on the ingredient’s density, not the cup itself. For a fast, no-guesswork conversion for volumes (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons), use our Cooking Unit Converter. For weight, use the reference chart below, since converting to grams also depends on the ingredient.
Common baking ingredient weights (1 cup)
These are commonly used reference values from baking sources such as King Arthur Baking and the USDA. Treat them as a solid starting point, not a lab-precise measurement — see the note below on why they vary.
| Ingredient | Weight per cup (approx.) |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) | 120 g |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 220 g |
| Butter | 227 g |
| Honey | 340 g |
| Whole milk | 240 g |
| Cocoa powder | 90 g |
| Rolled oats | 90 g |
| Uncooked white rice | 190 g |
Why the same cup gives different weights
A cup measures volume — the space something takes up — not mass. Honey is dense and packs tightly with almost no air pockets, so a cup of it weighs nearly three times as much as a cup of flour, which is light and full of air gaps between the particles. This is why recipes that give weight (grams) instead of volume (cups) tend to be more accurate and repeatable: the weight doesn’t change based on how you scooped it.
Why your flour measurement might be off
Flour is the biggest source of error in home baking measurements. Scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour bag packs it down and can add 20–30% more flour than intended. The more accurate method: spoon flour lightly into the cup until it’s overfilled, then level it off with a straight edge, without pressing down. The chart above assumes this spoon-and-level method.
Worked example
A recipe calls for 2½ cups of all-purpose flour, and you want to weigh it instead of measuring by volume:
- 1 cup ≈ 120 g (spooned and leveled)
- 2.5 × 120 g = 300 g of flour
Weighing this out on a kitchen scale removes the scooping-versus-spooning variable entirely, which is why professional and serious home bakers weigh flour rather than measure it by cup.
When precision matters most
Volume measurements are usually fine for soups, sauces and most everyday cooking, where being off by a spoonful doesn’t change the outcome. Baking is different — the ratio of flour to fat to liquid affects gluten development and rise, so small measurement errors compound into noticeably different results (dense bread, dry cookies, cakes that don’t set). If you bake often, a kitchen scale is a worthwhile investment specifically for this reason.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams in a cup of flour?
About 120 grams for all-purpose flour when spooned into the cup and leveled off, not scooped directly from the bag.
Why do recipes from different countries give weight instead of cups?
Most countries outside the US use metric weight measurements as the baking standard, since a gram of flour is always the same, while a “cup” of flour can vary by up to 30% depending on how it’s measured.
Is a cup of sugar heavier than a cup of flour?
Yes. Granulated sugar is denser than flour, so a cup weighs about 200 g compared to roughly 120 g for flour, even though both fill the same size cup.
Does this chart work for converting cups to milliliters too?
No — milliliters measure volume, the same as cups, so 1 cup is always about 237 ml regardless of ingredient. Use our Cooking Unit Converter for volume-to-volume conversions; this chart is specifically for converting volume to weight.
Final checklist
- Remember: weight per cup depends on the specific ingredient’s density.
- Spoon flour into the cup and level it — don’t scoop directly from the bag.
- For baking accuracy, weigh ingredients on a kitchen scale where possible.
- Use a volume converter for cups-to-tablespoons-to-teaspoons; use this chart for cups-to-grams.