All-purpose flour: cups to grams
All-purpose flour is the ingredient where measuring by weight makes the biggest difference. Scoop a cup straight from the bag and you can pack in 140 g or more; spoon it in and level it and you get about 120 g, which is what US recipe writers mean.
1 cup of all-purpose flour = 120 g
½ cup = 60 g · ¼ cup = 30 g · 1 tablespoon = 8 g
Convert any amountAll-purpose flour: cups to grams
| US cups | Grams |
|---|---|
| ⅛ cup | 15 g |
| ¼ cup | 30 g |
| ⅓ cup | 40 g |
| ½ cup | 60 g |
| ⅔ cup | 80 g |
| ¾ cup | 90 g |
| 1 cup | 120 g |
| 1½ cups | 180 g |
| 2 cups | 240 g |
| 3 cups | 360 g |
| 4 cups | 480 g |
Tablespoons and teaspoons
| Spoon | Grams |
|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 8 g |
| 2 tablespoons | 15 g |
| ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) | 30 g |
| 1 teaspoon | 3 g |
Grams to cups
Going the other way, for a metric recipe in US cups:
| Grams | Cups of all-purpose flour |
|---|---|
| 25 g | about 3½ tbsp |
| 50 g | about ⅜ cup |
| 100 g | about ⅞ cup |
| 125 g | about 1 cup |
| 150 g | about 1¼ cups |
| 200 g | about 1⅔ cups |
| 250 g | about 2⅛ cups |
| 300 g | about 2½ cups |
| 400 g | about 3⅓ cups |
| 500 g | about 4⅛ cups |
| 1 kg | about 8⅓ cups |
Spoon and level
If you do use cups, stir the flour, spoon it into the cup without shaking or tapping, then sweep the top flat with a knife. That lands close to 120 g. Scooping compacts the flour and can make cakes dry and cookies cakey.
Outside the US
All-purpose flour is sold as plain flour in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It behaves the same, so use it gram for gram.
Self-raising instead?
Self-raising flour already contains baking powder and salt, so don't swap it in unless the recipe says so. If a US recipe calls for self-rising flour, see its own entry in the calculator.
Weights are for a level US cup (236.6 ml), spooned in, based on published baking ingredient-weight charts. Weighing will always be more accurate than any cup.