Cups of All-Purpose Flour to Grams
1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 g (4.2 oz) when it is spooned into the cup and levelled off, according to King Arthur Baking ("All-Purpose Flour: 1 cup = 120 g"). Half a cup is 60 g, a quarter cup is 30 g, and one tablespoon is 7.5 g. Use these numbers and your bread, cake and cookie recipes will behave the way their authors intended.
Source: All-Purpose Flour: 1 cup = 120 g (King Arthur Baking, Ingredient Weight Chart). Spooned and levelled. Scooped straight from the bag it can weigh 140 g or more. USDA lists 125 g (fdcId 169761).
| Cups | Grams (US cup) | Ounces (US cup) | Grams (metric cup, 250 ml) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 15 | 0.529 | 16 |
| 1/4 cup | 30 | 1.06 | 32 |
| 1/3 cup | 40 | 1.41 | 42 |
| 1/2 cup | 60 | 2.12 | 63 |
| 2/3 cup | 80 | 2.82 | 85 |
| 3/4 cup | 90 | 3.17 | 95 |
| 1 cup | 120 | 4.23 | 127 |
| 1 1/2 cups | 180 | 6.35 | 190 |
| 2 cups | 240 | 8.47 | 254 |
| 3 cups | 360 | 12.7 | 380 |
| 4 cups | 480 | 16.93 | 507 |
| Grams | US cups | Measuring-cup version |
|---|---|---|
| 25 g | 0.208 | 3 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 50 g | 0.417 | ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 100 g | 0.833 | ¾ cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 125 g | 1.04 | 1 cup + 2 tsp |
| 150 g | 1.25 | 1 ¼ cups |
| 200 g | 1.67 | 1 ⅔ cups |
| 250 g | 2.08 | 2 cups + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 300 g | 2.5 | 2 ½ cups |
| 400 g | 3.33 | 3 ⅓ cups |
| 500 g | 4.17 | 4 cups + 2 tbsp + 2 tsp |
| 1,000 g | 8.33 | 8 ⅓ cups |
| Measure | Grams | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 tsp | 0.6 | 1.23 |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.2 | 2.46 |
| 1 tsp | 2.5 | 4.93 |
| 1 tbsp (3 tsp) | 7.5 | 14.79 |
| 2 tbsp (1/8 cup) | 15 | 29.57 |
| 4 tbsp (1/4 cup) | 30 | 59.15 |
| 8 tbsp (1/2 cup) | 60 | 118.3 |
Worked example: a recipe that needs 2 ¼ cups of flour
- Take the weight of one cup: 120 g.
- Multiply by the cups needed: 2.25 × 120 g = 270 g.
- Check the quarter-cup piece separately: 0.25 × 120 g = 30 g, which added to 240 g gives the same total.
- If you used the USDA figure instead, the answer would be 2.25 × 125 g = 281 g, a difference of 11.3 g. Pick one source and stay with it for the whole recipe.
Why some charts say 125 g instead
You will see 125 g per cup on other charts. That is the USDA FoodData Central household-portion figure, and it is 5 g (4%) heavier than King Arthur Baking's number. Neither is wrong: they come from different sources and methods. King Arthur Baking states that it fluffs the flour, spoons it in and levels it, while the USDA number is a published household-portion weight.
On one cup the gap is small. On a 3-cup recipe it grows to 15 g, because 360 g becomes 375 g. That is why this site defaults to 120 g and tells you where it came from. If your recipe's author gives grams, always trust their grams over any cup conversion.
Scooped flour is a different ingredient
Dip the cup straight into the bag and the flour compacts. King Arthur Baking notes that a scooped cup can weigh 140 g or more, which is 20 g extra, or 17% more than the spooned cup. Three scooped cups carry 60 g more flour than the recipe wanted, close to half a cup of surplus. Dense cookies, dry cakes and tough muffins are the usual result.
For a consistent cup:
- Stir or fluff the flour in its container with a fork.
- Spoon it lightly into the dry measuring cup until it mounds over the rim.
- Sweep a straight knife across the top without pressing down.
The same cup holds less of other flours
Cup measures hide the fact that flours differ in density. Using the same King Arthur Baking method, one cup weighs:
- bread flour: 120 g (see bread flour by the cup)
- cake flour: 120 g, though bleached cake flours are often lighter
- whole wheat flour: 113 g, which is 7 g less than all-purpose
- pastry flour: 106 g
- self-rising flour: 113 g
So swapping whole wheat for all-purpose by cup alone quietly changes the weight of flour in the bowl. If you are changing flour types, convert to grams first.
If your recipe uses a 250 ml cup
Recipes from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa use a 250 ml cup, not the US 236.6 ml one. Flour in a metric cup weighs about 127 g (0.5072 g per ml × 250 ml), roughly 6% more than the US cup. See the cups to ml guide for the full cup comparison.
Mistakes that cost you a good bake
- Packing the cup by tapping or pressing it down; you add grams without noticing.
- Measuring flour in a liquid measuring jug, where levelling is impossible.
- Sifting flour before measuring when the recipe says "1 cup, sifted" (the order changes the weight).
- Mixing cup and gram quantities from two different recipes in one dough.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of all-purpose flour?
1 US cup of all-purpose flour is 120 g when spooned and levelled (King Arthur Baking). USDA lists 125 g.
How many grams are in half a cup of flour?
Half a cup of all-purpose flour is 60 g, and a third of a cup is 40 g.
Why does my cup of flour weigh more than 120 g?
Scooping packs flour into the cup, and a scooped cup can reach 140 g or more. Fluff, spoon and level instead.
Is plain flour the same as all-purpose flour?
Plain flour is the usual UK and Australian name for the same everyday wheat flour, so the same cup weight is a sound starting point.
Do I need to sift flour before measuring?
Only if the recipe says so. Sifting before measuring makes a lighter cup, so follow the wording "sifted" exactly.