Convert cooking measures between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, millilitres, litres, fluid ounces, pints and quarts — with exact factors.
What Is a Cooking Converter?
A cooking converter translates kitchen measures: 1 US cup = 236.5882 mL = 16 tablespoons = 8 fl oz. American recipes use cups and spoons; European recipes use millilitres and grams. The cup is legally defined as exactly 236.5882365 mL in the US (the metric cup is a rounder 250 mL — used in Australia, Canada and New Zealand). A tablespoon is exactly 3 teaspoons everywhere.
How to Use
- Enter the value.
- Pick the “from” unit.
- Pick the “to” unit.
- Click “Convert Measure”.
Formula
Convert to millilitres first (value × from-factor), then divide by the to-factor.
Worked Example
1 cup → mL: 236.5882 mL. And 2 tbsp → mL: 2 × 14.7867648 = 29.5735 mL.
How It Works, In Plain Words
Like the angle converter, this tool stores one factor per unit — but here the anchor is millilitres. A US cup is 236.5882365 mL, a tablespoon 14.7867648, a teaspoon 4.92892159, a fluid ounce 29.5735295625, a pint 473.176473 and a quart 946.352946, with the litre at 1,000. Your value is multiplied by its factor to become millilitres, then divided by the target unit’s factor. That is why the worked example’s second line is just the first hop on its own: 2 tablespoons times 14.7867648 gives 29.5735 mL before any second step is needed.
The factors also explain the neat kitchen relationships the page quotes. A cup holds 16 tablespoons because 236.5882 divided by 14.7867648 is 16, and 8 fluid ounces because the cup is exactly 8 times the fluid ounce factor. A tablespoon is exactly 3 teaspoons everywhere, as the introduction notes, because the teaspoon factor is a third of the tablespoon factor. Results display to four decimal places, so the cup shows as 236.5882 mL even though the stored factor runs to 236.5882365 — the extra digits are kept inside the calculation, not lost.
Real-World Uses
An American baking recipe lands in a metric kitchen: the batter calls for cups and spoons, the jug is marked in millilitres, and 1 cup becomes 236.5882 mL before anything is mixed. A cook scaling a sauce down works in spoons instead — 2 tablespoons is 29.5735 mL — and checks the small measures in millilitres where a spoon set would be guesswork. A shopper comparing drink bottles uses the bigger units at the top of the list, pints and quarts, against the litre’s 1,000 mL to see which bottle actually holds more. In every case the ingredient stays the same; only the language of the recipe changes. That is also why the tool keeps both directions one click apart, from millilitres back into cups just as easily.
Benefits
- Eight units covering US and metric recipes
- The US-vs-metric-cup trap flagged
- Exact defined factors
- Both directions in one tool
Features of Our Tool
- Instant results in your browser
- No sign-up, no download, 100% free
- Works on mobile, tablet and desktop
- Clear step-by-step explanation below the tool
- Private — your entries never leave your device
Common Mistakes
- Using the US cup (236.59 mL) for a metric-cup recipe (250 mL) — 5.7% off
- Confusing weight and volume: cups measure volume, grams measure weight (flour vs sugar differ)
- Using dessert spoons or soup spoons instead of measuring spoons
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The cup trap tops this page’s list: a metric cup is 250 mL and a US cup is 236.5882 mL, and using one for the other puts a recipe 5.7% off before cooking starts. Weight and volume are the second confusion — cups measure volume and grams measure weight, and flour and sugar differ, so a cup of each does not weigh the same. Third, the spoon problem the list names: dessert spoons and soup spoons are not measuring spoons, and a tablespoon is exactly 3 teaspoons only when real measuring spoons are used. Finally, fluid ounces measure volume here — the 8 fl oz in a cup is space, not weight.
FAQ
How many mL in a US cup?
236.5882 mL.
How many tablespoons in a cup?
16 tbsp.
How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?
3 tsp.
Is a metric cup the same as a US cup?
No — a metric cup is 250 mL, a US cup is 236.5882 mL.
How many mL in 2 tablespoons?
29.5735 mL.
How many fluid ounces are in a US cup?
8 fl oz — the relationship the introduction starts from: 1 US cup = 236.5882 mL = 16 tablespoons = 8 fl oz.
Can I convert millilitres back into cups?
Yes — pick Millilitre as the from unit and Cup (US) as the to unit. The tool runs both directions, so 236.5882 mL returns 1 cup.