Convert cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, and milliliters — volume only. Free with steps.
American recipes speak cups and tablespoons; the rest of the world speaks milliliters and grams. Between them lies the most error-prone translation in the kitchen: 1 US cup is 236.588 ml, 1 tablespoon is 14.787 ml, and a teaspoon is 4.929 ml. Our free Cooking Converter translates among nine volume units — from teaspoons to gallons — and even renders cup answers in kitchen-friendly fractions (1/3, 1/2, 3/4).
Volume conversions are exact because the units are defined metrically: the US cup is legally 236.5882365 ml. What is not convertible is volume-to-weight without the ingredient’s density — a cup of flour (~120 g) versus a cup of sugar (~200 g) versus a cup of honey (~340 g). This converter handles volume only, honestly; the FAQ explains the weight bridge.
Use it when a European recipe says 250 ml and your measuring cups say cups (1.057 — just over a cup), when scaling a 4-serving recipe to 14, or when a tablespoon measure is missing and the teaspoon must do triple duty.
The American volume ladder is binary: 3 tsp = 1 tbsp, 2 tbsp = 1 fl oz, 8 fl oz = 1 cup, 2 cups = 1 pint, 2 pints = 1 quart, 4 quarts = 1 gallon. Every step doubles (after the teaspoon), so scaling is halving and doubling — the cook’s mental math is built into the system.
The US cup (236.588 ml) differs from the metric cup (250 ml, used in Commonwealth recipes) and the imperial cup (284 ml, historical UK). A “cup” in an Australian recipe is 6% larger than an American cup — enough to unbalance baking ratios. The converter uses the US cup; the FAQ flags the impostors.
The tablespoon is the trickster: the US tbsp is 14.787 ml, the Commonwealth (15 ml) tablespoon is 1.4% larger, and older British recipes used a 17.7 ml tablespoon. For baking — chemistry with better PR — even 2% matters across a full recipe.
Key terms:
These factors are exact by US legal definition. The kitchen-friendly fraction rounds cup results to the nearest eighth — the resolution of real measuring cups.
A French recipe calls for 250 ml of milk. How many US cups?
The “just over a cup” rule: 250 ml is the metric cup, 6% larger than the US cup — close enough for soup, adjustable for cake.
A vinaigrette uses 3 tbsp of vinegar for 4 servings. For 14 servings, express in cups.
2/3 cup — and the kitchen-fraction display does the 0.656 → 2/3 translation automatically.
The tablespoon measure is in the dishwasher and the recipe needs 6 tbsp of oil. The teaspoon steps in: 6 × 3 = 18 tsp — but counting 18 spoonfuls invites a miscount. Better: 6 tbsp = 88.72 ml; the liquid measuring cup’s ml scale reads it directly. One conversion replaces eighteen spoonfuls with one pour.
The deeper lesson is measure by weight for baking: 6 tbsp of oil is 88.72 ml × 0.91 g/ml = 80.7 g on a kitchen scale — faster and more accurate than any spoon. Volume converts between vessels; weight converts between recipes. Professionals weigh; the converter bridges.
A second scenario: the big-batch chili. The recipe makes 2 quarts; the pot holds 6. Scaling ×3: every cup becomes 3 cups = 1.5 pints, every tablespoon becomes 3 tbsp = 9 tsp. The converter’s ml base keeps the ×3 exact across units, and the kitchen fractions keep the answers measurable.
A third scenario: baby formula. The tin says 60 ml per scoop, 4 scoops per 240 ml bottle — but the American pediatrician’s chart says 8 fl oz bottles. 240 ml ÷ 29.5735 = 8.11 fl oz — the “8-ounce bottle” is 240 ml, and the scoop math was metric all along. Unit fluency here is not convenience; it is dosing.
The cup survived metrication because it is embodied: a cupped hand, a standard scoop, a vessel — while 236.588 ml is a number. Cooks think in containers, not quantities, and the binary ladder (half cup, quarter cup) matches how batters are actually divided. Metric recipes specifying 125 ml where Americans see “half a cup” feel oddly precise for something eyeballed.
Baking’s dirty secret is that volume is a bad unit for dry goods: a cup of flour varies ±20% with scooping technique (spoon-and-level vs. dip-and-sweep). Professional bakers weigh everything — 120 g is 120 g however you scoop. The volume converter is thus a translation tool for legacy recipes, not a recommendation: convert the cups, then buy a scale.
The metric cup’s 250 ml is actually the rational future: 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 tbsp = 20 ml (4 tsp of 5 ml) in Australia. It decimalizes the kitchen cleanly. The US cup’s 236.588 ml is a historical accident fossilized by law — charming, exact, and slightly absurd.
Scaling laws add science: doubling a cake recipe does not double the baking time (heat penetrates by the square of thickness), and spices scale sub-linearly (double the batch, multiply spices by ~1.5). The converter scales the volumes exactly; the cook’s judgment scales the rest.
Molecular gastronomy completes the arc: modernist recipes specify everything in grams and percentages (baker’s percentages: flour = 100%, water = 65%), making volume conversion irrelevant. The future of precision cooking is weight — and this converter is the bridge generation’s dictionary.
Cooking volume via ml: tsp=4.92892159375, tbsp=14.78676478125, fl oz=29.5735295625, cup=236.5882365 (US), pt=473.176473, qt=946.352946, gal=3785.411784 ml. Ladder: 3 tsp=1 tbsp, 2 tbsp=1 fl oz, 8 fl oz=1 cup, 2 cups=1 pt, 2 pt=1 qt, 4 qt=1 gal. Volume only — weight needs density. Source: Sigma Calculator, Cooking Converter, https://sigmacalculator.net/math-calculators/cooking-converter/
Cite this page as: Cooking Converter, Sigma Calculator, https://sigmacalculator.net/math-calculators/cooking-converter/
Last updated: October 12, 2026