Cups to Milliliters: The Short Answer
1 US cup = 236.6 mL. That is the number to remember for American recipes. But “cup” is not an international unit, and three different values are in daily use around the world:
- US customary cup = 236.6 mL — every American cookbook and recipe site.
- US legal cup = 240 mL — what nutrition labels and food packaging use.
- Metric cup = 250 mL — Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and most of Europe.
- UK imperial cup = 284.1 mL — older British cookbooks, pre-metrication.
If you convert a 250 mL metric cup as though it were a US cup, you are short by about 6%. On a single cup of stock that is nothing. Across a six-cup batch of batter, that is a third of a cup missing — enough to change crumb, rise, and bake time.
Rather than juggle four numbers by hand, our Kitchen Measurement Converter applies the right standard and the right ingredient density in a single step. If you want the arithmetic, keep reading.
The Full Cups to Milliliters Chart
| Cups | US customary (236.6 mL) | US legal (240 mL) | Metric (250 mL) | UK imperial (284.1 mL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 236.6 mL | 240 mL | 250 mL | 284 mL |
| ¾ cup | 177 mL | 180 mL | 187.5 mL | 213 mL |
| ⅔ cup | 158 mL | 160 mL | 166.7 mL | 189 mL |
| ½ cup | 118 mL | 120 mL | 125 mL | 142 mL |
| ⅓ cup | 79 mL | 80 mL | 83.3 mL | 95 mL |
| ¼ cup | 59 mL | 60 mL | 62.5 mL | 71 mL |
| ⅛ cup | 29.6 mL | 30 mL | 31.25 mL | 35.5 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 14.8 mL | 15 mL | 15 mL | 17.8 mL |
| 1 tsp | 4.93 mL | 5 mL | 5 mL | 5.9 mL |
For everyday cooking, rounding 236.6 to 237 mL is fine. For baking where hydration matters — bread, laminated dough, macarons — the difference between 236 and 240 mL is worth respecting, because a 1.4% hydration swing is audible in the crumb.
Which Cup Does Your Recipe Use?
Four quick signals decide it:
- The recipe is from a US site or cookbook → 236.6 mL. Flours and sugars are usually given in cups, and the author is almost certainly scooping US cups.
- The recipe lists grams or millilitres first → you are looking at a metric or Australian source. Assume 250 mL when it says “cup,” or just use the gram figure and skip cups entirely.
- The recipe mentions “gas mark” or was published in the UK before the 1970s → 284 mL. Modern British recipes are metric.
- The numbers come from a nutrition panel → 240 mL. Labels use the US legal cup so serving sizes are consistent across brands.
One more signal that saves a lot of pain: if a recipe gives both cups and grams for the same ingredient, trust the grams. A cup measurement is a volume guess with a density assumption baked in; a gram figure is the author telling you exactly what they weighed.
Cups to Milliliters by Ingredient
This is where the conversion stops being pure arithmetic. A cup is always the same volume in millilitres, but what that cup weighs depends entirely on what you put in it. The millilitre column never changes; the gram column does.
| Ingredient | 1 cup (mL) | 1 cup (g) | ½ cup (mL) | ½ cup (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 236.6 | 237 | 118 | 118 |
| Milk | 236.6 | 244 | 118 | 122 |
| Vegetable oil | 236.6 | 216 | 118 | 108 |
| All-purpose flour | 236.6 | 120 | 118 | 60 |
| Bread flour | 236.6 | 127 | 118 | 64 |
| Granulated sugar | 236.6 | 200 | 118 | 100 |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 236.6 | 220 | 118 | 110 |
| Powdered sugar | 236.6 | 120 | 118 | 60 |
| Butter | 236.6 | 227 | 118 | 113 |
| Honey | 236.6 | 340 | 118 | 170 |
| Cocoa powder | 236.6 | 85 | 118 | 43 |
| Rolled oats | 236.6 | 90 | 118 | 45 |
Honey stands out: a cup is 340 g, which is a full 44% heavier than the same cup of flour. If a recipe tells you “1 cup honey, 240 mL,” it is simply saying 1 cup — the two notations are the same volume. It is when someone converts 1 cup of honey to 240 grams that the recipe breaks.
How to Convert Cups to Milliliters Yourself
The arithmetic is short:
- Cups → mL (US): multiply by 236.6. 2½ cups × 236.6 = 591.5 mL.
- mL → cups (US): divide by 236.6. 500 mL ÷ 236.6 = 2.11 cups.
- Cups → mL (metric): multiply by 250.
- Cups → mL (UK imperial): multiply by 284.1.
Two rounding traps to avoid:
- Do not convert mid-recipe. Convert one round-trip only. If you go cups → mL → cups you will drift, because 236.6 is not a round number.
- Round up only on non-critical liquids. Stock, milk, and water tolerate a few millilitres of slop. Leavening, salt, and gelatine do not — keep those in grams.
Milliliters Make Scaling Easier
Millilitres are what you want when you scale a recipe, for one reason: they are additive and linear. Cups are fraction-heavy (⅓, ⅔, ¾, ⅛) and the fractions do not divide cleanly. Multiply ⅔ cup by 1.5 and you get 1 cup — fine. Multiply ⅓ cup by 2.5 and you are stuck doing tenths of a cup in your head.
Compare:
| Original | ×1.5 | ×2 | In mL (×2, US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⅓ cup | ½ cup | ⅔ cup | 473 mL |
| ⅔ cup | 1 cup | 1⅓ cups | 631 mL |
| ¾ cup | 1 cup + 2 tbsp | 1½ cups | 355 mL |
| 1¼ cups | 1⅞ cups | 2½ cups | 592 mL |
This is also the reason European and professional formulas are written in grams and millilitres. Run your batch through the Recipe Servings Calculator and it will rescale every line — flour, sugar, leavening, liquid — while keeping the ratios intact, so you do not have to wrestle with fractions at all.
Liquids vs Dry Ingredients: Do Not Use the Same Cup
A US liquid measuring cup is marked with a spout and headspace; a dry measuring cup is meant to be filled level and swept. Using one for the other costs you accuracy:
- Liquid in a dry cup → you cannot level it, and you will usually over-pour by 5–10%.
- Dry in a liquid cup → flour settles unevenly and you cannot sweep the top flat. Expect up to 25% too much flour.
For anything between one tablespoon and one cup, a simple Conversion Chart next to the mixing bowl removes the guesswork entirely.
Try Our Free Tools
Hand-converting cups to millilitres across four different cup standards is busywork. The Kitchen Measurement Converter does cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, millilitres, and grams in one pass, with per-ingredient density for flour, sugar, butter, honey, cocoa, and more. Pair it with the Recipe Servings Calculator when you change batch size, and the Baking Pan Converter when the tin changes shape rather than the recipe changing size. Free, no signup, and fast enough to use mid-bake.