Why isn't 1 cup of flour just 240 grams?

Because 240 grams assumes flour weighs the same as water, and it doesn't — flour is light and full of air pockets, so a cup of it weighs about half what a cup of water weighs. All-purpose flour is 125 g/cup, not 240 g/cup.

Is 1 cup always 240 mL?

1 US cup is 236.588 mL exactly — commonly rounded to 240 mL in casual recipe writing. That's a volume fact and is the same for every ingredient. It's different from an ingredient's weight per cup (like 125 g for flour), which changes by what you're measuring.

Does the measuring method matter?

Yes. This converter uses the scoop-and-level method (standard USDA). Spoon flour into the cup instead of scooping, and you'll get closer to 120 g/cup — about 4% less. Recipes should be measured using the specified method.

Cups ↔ Grams Cooking Converter

Every ingredient weighs differently. Now your converter knows that too.

Free · no email needed

Ingredient-aware unit conversions for baking and cooking, using standard reference densities (approximate — measuring method matters).

Ingredient

Quantity

From

Popular conversions

All-Purpose Flour · Bread Flour · Cake Flour · Granulated Sugar · Brown Sugar · Powdered Sugar · Butter · Honey · Rolled Oats · Whole Milk · Cocoa Powder · Cornstarch · Almond Flour · Whole Wheat Flour · Cornmeal · White Rice · Chocolate Chips · Maple Syrup · Peanut Butter · Coconut Oil · Olive Oil · Greek Yogurt · Sour Cream · Cream Cheese

Add this converter to your site

Free to embed — a link back to Feminine Balance is all we ask.

<iframe src="https://balancecomplex.com/tools/embed/cups-to-grams" width="440" height="260" style="border:0" title="Cups to Grams Converter by Feminine Balance"></iframe>