Cooking Conversion Calculator
Convert any cooking volume — cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, millilitres, pints — between US customary, UK imperial and metric (250 mL) cups, with a kitchen-equivalents breakdown.
1 US cups in mL
236.6 mL
- Millilitres
- 236.6 mL
- US cups
- 1 cups
- US fluid ounces
- 8 fl oz
- US tablespoons
- 16 tbsp
- US teaspoons
- 48 tsp
1 US cups = 236.6 mL, the canonical volume. Dividing by the millilitre value of the target unit (1 mL per mL) gives 236.6 mL.
How to use this calculator
Type the amount you have, pick the unit it is in (for example "US cup"), and pick the unit you want it in (for example "millilitre"). The main result is the converted value; the breakdown shows the same volume expressed in millilitres, US cups, fluid ounces, tablespoons and teaspoons — handy when a recipe mixes units or when you only have one set of measuring cups.
How the calculation works
Every volume routes through millilitres, the SI base for volume. The conversion factors are exact: 1 US gallon is defined as 231 cubic inches = 3.785 411 784 litres (NIST SP 1038), so 1 US cup = 1/16 gal = 236.588 mL, 1 US fluid ounce = 1/128 gal = 29.5735 mL, 1 US tablespoon = ½ fl oz = 14.7868 mL, and 1 US teaspoon = ⅓ tbsp = 4.92892 mL. The UK imperial pint is fixed at 568.261 mL by the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (1 imperial gallon = 4.546 09 L exactly). The metric cup used in Australian and New Zealand recipes is 250 mL by convention. To convert, the calculator multiplies the input by the from-unit's millilitre value, then divides by the to-unit's millilitre value.
Worked example
"1 US cup of milk in millilitres" — 1 × 236.5882365 = 236.59 mL, which most recipes round to 240 mL. "2 tablespoons of butter in teaspoons" — 2 × 14.78676 = 29.57 mL, ÷ 4.92892 = 6 tsp exactly (because 1 tbsp = 3 tsp). "1 metric cup of flour in US cups" — 1 × 250 = 250 mL, ÷ 236.588 = 1.057 US cups, so the US measure is slightly smaller. "1 US pint vs 1 UK pint" — 473.18 mL vs 568.26 mL: the imperial pint is ≈ 20% larger, which is why a "pint" of beer in London is bigger than one in New York.
Frequently asked questions
How many millilitres in a cup?
It depends which cup. The US customary cup is 8 US fluid ounces = 236.5882365 mL, often rounded to 237 mL or 240 mL on nutrition labels (the FDA "legal" labelling cup is exactly 240 mL). The metric cup used in Australian and New Zealand recipes is 250 mL exactly. The historical UK imperial cup of 284 mL is rarely used in modern British recipes — most UK cookbooks now use metric mL/g, or the 250 mL metric cup if a recipe is adapted from a US source.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
1 US cup = 16 US tablespoons = 48 US teaspoons. This follows directly from the definitions: 1 cup = 8 fl oz, 1 fl oz = 2 tbsp, 1 tbsp = 3 tsp. So a half-cup is 8 tbsp, a quarter-cup is 4 tbsp, and a third-cup is 5⅓ tbsp (often rounded to 5 tbsp + 1 tsp in recipes). The Australian tablespoon is 20 mL (not 15 mL), so an Australian "1 tbsp" is closer to 4 US teaspoons — worth checking when an Australian recipe calls for a tablespoon.
Why is a US pint smaller than a UK pint?
The two systems were standardised separately. The US adopted the Queen Anne wine gallon of 231 cubic inches (1707), which gives a US pint of 473.176 mL. The UK Weights and Measures Act 1824 redefined the imperial gallon based on the volume of 10 pounds of water, giving an imperial pint of 568.261 mL — about 20% larger. The US fluid ounce (29.57 mL) and UK fluid ounce (28.41 mL) are also different. For most cooking the difference is small, but for beer, milk and beverage recipes it matters.
Can I convert weights (grams) using this calculator?
No — this is a volume-only converter. Cups, tablespoons and millilitres all measure volume; grams and ounces (weight) measure mass. The conversion between the two depends on the ingredient: 1 US cup of water is 237 g, but 1 cup of all-purpose flour is about 125 g and 1 cup of granulated sugar is about 200 g. Use an ingredient-specific weight-to-volume calculator or a kitchen scale for accurate baking. For pure water at standard temperature, 1 mL ≈ 1 g is a good approximation.
What is the difference between fluid ounces and ounces?
A fluid ounce (fl oz) measures volume; an ounce (oz) measures weight. They share a name because 1 US fluid ounce of water weighs about 1.04 ounces — close, but not equal. For non-water liquids the ratio differs (1 fl oz of honey is about 1.5 oz by weight). Recipes almost always mean fluid ounces when they list a liquid in "ounces", and weight ounces when they list a dry ingredient. This calculator handles fluid ounces only — for weight, use a kitchen scale.
Are the imperial and US tablespoons the same?
They are very close but not identical. The US tablespoon is exactly 14.78676 mL (½ US fl oz). The historical UK imperial tablespoon was 17.76 mL, but modern UK recipes use the metric 15 mL tablespoon. Australian and New Zealand recipes use a 20 mL tablespoon — noticeably larger. When a recipe doesn't specify the origin, the safest assumption is 15 mL (the metric tablespoon used in most European and UK cookbooks).