This converter translates recipe quantities between the volume units cooks actually use — cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, pints, quarts, millilitres and litres. It is ideal for following a recipe written in unfamiliar units, scaling a batch up or down, or switching between US and metric measures. Enter any quantity in any unit and every equivalent appears at once. Everything runs in your browser.
How it works
Every unit is defined relative to millilitres using US customary volumes, with a cup set at 240 ml. The tool converts your input to millilitres, then converts out to every other unit at once:
| Unit | Millilitres |
|---|---|
| Teaspoon (tsp) | 4.929 ml |
| Tablespoon (tbsp) | 14.787 ml |
| Fluid ounce (US) | 29.574 ml |
| Cup (US) | 240 ml |
| Pint (US liquid) | 473.176 ml |
| Quart (US liquid) | 946.353 ml |
| Litre | 1,000 ml |
Quick reference: the relationships that matter in the kitchen
Certain conversions come up constantly when scaling recipes, and it helps to have them memorised:
- 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon — useful when a recipe calls for 1.5 tbsp and you only have a teaspoon measure.
- 16 tablespoons = 1 cup — so halving a cup recipe means 8 tablespoons.
- 8 fluid ounces = 1 cup — the most common US recipe ratio to know.
- 2 cups = 1 pint, 2 pints = 1 quart — handy for scaling soups and stocks.
- 240 ml = 1 US cup — the key metric conversion. A 250 ml metric cup (used in Australia and Canada) is slightly larger, so international recipes can differ by about 4%.
When volume measurements let you down
This converter handles liquids and liquid-like ingredients accurately. For dry ingredients — flour, sugar, oats, cocoa powder — volume measurement is unreliable because how densely you pack the cup changes the actual amount. A loosely scooped cup of flour can differ from a packed one by 20% or more. For baking precision, weigh dry ingredients in grams on a kitchen scale and use this converter only for the liquid components. For liquids and fresh herbs, volume works well.
Scaling recipes up or down
One of the most practical uses for this converter is batch scaling. If a recipe is written for 4 servings but you need 12, multiply each ingredient by 3 — then use the converter to make sense of the resulting unit. For example, 3 × ⅓ cup = 1 cup, which is clean. But 3 × ¾ cup = 2¼ cups, which might be easier measured as 2 cups plus 4 tablespoons. The converter gives you all the equivalent amounts at once so you can pick the most practical measuring vessel for what you have in the kitchen.