Cooking Converter
Convert kitchen measures between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, millilitres and fluid ounces — with the US, metric and UK cup all handled separately.
How it works
Kitchen measures are volumes, so everything converts through the millilitre. The awkward part is that a 'cup' is not one size: the US customary cup is 236.6 ml, the metric cup used in Australia and much of Europe is 250 ml, and older UK recipes may mean something else again.
That 5% difference rarely matters for a stew and matters a great deal for baking, where ratios of flour to liquid decide whether the thing works. If a recipe's origin is unclear, the safest reading is usually the US cup for American sources and 250 ml for metric ones.
Volume measures are a poor way to measure solids in any case. A cup of flour can vary by 20% depending on whether it was scooped or spooned — weighing in grams removes the problem entirely, which is why serious baking recipes give weights.
The formula
cup → ml
ml = cup × 236.5882
ml → cup
cup = ml ÷ 236.5882
Any pair in this family
result = value × (factor of source ÷ factor of target)
Every unit is defined against the ml, so any combination converts in one step.
Worked examples
| Scenario | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 US cup to ml | 1 × 236.588 | 236.6 ml |
| 1 metric cup to ml | Defined value | 250 ml exactly |
| 1 tablespoon to teaspoons | 1 × 3 | 3 tsp |
When you'd use it
- Following a recipe written for another country
- Scaling a recipe up or down
- Converting between cups and grams-friendly volumes
- Working out a measure without the right spoon or cup
Common questions
How many millilitres are in a cup?
It depends whose cup. The US customary cup is 236.6 ml, the metric cup is 250 ml, and older UK recipes may use a different measure again. This tool lists them separately rather than picking one.
Does the cup size difference actually matter?
For soups and stews, rarely. For baking, yes — the ratio of flour to liquid is what makes a dough work, and a 5% error compounds across several ingredients.
Should I measure flour by volume or weight?
Weight, whenever the recipe allows it. A cup of flour can vary by up to 20% depending on how it was filled, which is why professional recipes specify grams. Volume is fine for liquids.
Is anything I enter sent anywhere?
No. Every conversion runs in your browser, so nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored. There is no account and no record of what you converted.