Cooking Measurement Converter
This cooking measurement converter converts between the volume units most commonly found in recipes: US cups, tablespoons (tbsp), teaspoons (tsp), millilitres (mL), litres (L), and US fluid ounces (fl oz). Recipe volumes can be confusing because the same word can mean different amounts depending on the country of origin: a US cup is 236.588 mL, an Australian metric cup is 250 mL, and an Imperial cup is 284 mL. This converter uses US customary definitions throughout, since the majority of online recipes and cookbooks use US measurements. One US cup equals 16 tablespoons, 48 teaspoons, 236.588 mL, and 8 US fluid ounces. One tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons or 14.787 mL. One teaspoon equals 4.929 mL. The converter uses millilitres as its internal reference: your input is converted to mL first, then all other units are derived from that figure. You select the unit you are working with, enter a quantity, and all five other measurements appear immediately. The tool is especially useful when you have a recipe in cups but you want to measure in mL, when scaling a recipe up or down and the arithmetic involves awkward fractions of tablespoons, or when a New Zealand or Australian recipe uses metric mL but an overseas source gives the same recipe in cups. Note that this converter handles volume only; converting by weight (grams) requires knowing the density of the specific ingredient, which varies by substance.
How it works
The converter uses mL as its internal reference. Each unit has a fixed mL equivalent: 1 US cup = 236.5882 mL; 1 tbsp = 14.7868 mL; 1 tsp = 4.9289 mL; 1 L = 1,000 mL; 1 fl oz (US) = 29.5735 mL. Your input is multiplied by the appropriate mL factor, and each output is then derived by dividing the mL total by the relevant factor. The relationship between cups, tablespoons and teaspoons follows exactly: 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp.
Worked example
Starting from 1 US cup: 1 times 236.5882 gives 236.59 mL. Dividing by 14.7868 gives 16.00 tablespoons. Dividing by 4.9289 gives 48.00 teaspoons. Dividing by 29.5735 gives 8.00 fl oz. These match the default values pre-filled in the converter above.
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