Cooking Measurement Conversions — Cups, ml, Tablespoons

Following a recipe from another country? Half the battle is figuring out whether “1 cup” means 236 ml (US), 250 ml (metric/Australian), or 284 ml (Imperial). Here’s how to navigate cooking measurement chaos.

The core conversions

US Customary:
  1 cup         = 236.6 ml (often rounded to 240 ml)
  1 tablespoon  = 14.8 ml (often rounded to 15 ml)
  1 teaspoon    = 4.9 ml (often rounded to 5 ml)
  1 cup         = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons
  1 fluid ounce = 29.6 ml

Metric (Australia/NZ):
  1 cup         = 250 ml
  1 tablespoon  = 20 ml (!)
  1 teaspoon    = 5 ml

Imperial (UK):
  1 cup         = 284 ml (10 fl oz)
  1 tablespoon  = 15 ml
  1 teaspoon    = 5 ml

Note: Australian tablespoons are 20 ml vs. 15 ml everywhere else. This trips up many bakers following Australian recipes.

Quick reference table

US Cups	Tablespoons	Milliliters	Fluid Ounces
1/4 cup	4 tbsp	60 ml	2 fl oz
1/3 cup	5 tbsp + 1 tsp	80 ml	2.7 fl oz
1/2 cup	8 tbsp	120 ml	4 fl oz
2/3 cup	10 tbsp + 2 tsp	160 ml	5.3 fl oz
3/4 cup	12 tbsp	180 ml	6 fl oz
1 cup	16 tbsp	240 ml	8 fl oz

Worked example

A US recipe calls for 2/3 cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of butter. You have metric tools.

Milk:   2/3 cup × 240 ml = 160 ml
Butter: 3 tbsp × 15 ml = 45 ml (or about 42g since butter ≈ 0.93 g/ml)

If the recipe were Australian and called for 2 tablespoons of vanilla:

Australian: 2 × 20 ml = 40 ml
US equivalent: 40 / 15 = 2.67 US tablespoons

Weight vs. volume: why it matters for baking

Cups measure volume, not weight. This creates problems:

Ingredient	1 Cup weighs
Water	240g
All-purpose flour	120–130g
Sugar (granulated)	200g
Brown sugar (packed)	220g
Butter	227g
Cocoa powder	85g

A “cup of flour” can vary by 30g depending on how you scoop it. Professional bakers use weight (grams) for consistency.

When to use this conversion

• Adapting recipes between US, UK, and metric cookbooks
• Scaling recipes up or down (halving or doubling)
• Substituting measurement tools (no tablespoon? use 3 teaspoons)
• Converting between volume and weight for baking precision

Tips for accurate measurement

• Spoon flour into cups and level with a knife (don’t scoop — it packs)
• Liquid measurements: read at eye level on the meniscus
• Invest in a kitchen scale for baking — it’s faster and more accurate
• “Heaping” vs. “level” tablespoon can differ by 50%
• Stick butter in the US has tablespoon markings on the wrapper

Convert any cooking measurement instantly with OurDailyCalc’s cooking converter — switch between cups, ml, tablespoons, and grams for any ingredient.

TL;DR

• 1 US cup = 240 ml = 16 tablespoons
• Australian tablespoons are 20 ml (not 15!)
• UK cups are 284 ml — significantly larger than US
• Baking is more accurate by weight (grams) than volume (cups)
• When in doubt, convert everything to milliliters or grams