Kitchen Conversion Chart

Kitchen & Storage · Reference · 4 min read

Kitchen Conversion Chart

Every recipe assumes you already know this, and nobody does. Here is the whole thing in one place — cups, ounces, tablespoons, grams — plus the two conversions that trip everyone up. Bookmark it; you will be back.

The chart

How many ounces in a cup?

Eight fluid ounces. That is the answer for anything you pour — water, milk, stock, oil. It is not the answer for anything you weigh. A cup of flour is about 4.25 oz on a scale; a cup of sugar is about 7 oz. Same cup, different weight, because "ounce" means two different things depending on whether you are measuring volume or mass.

How many ounces in a pound?

Sixteen — and this one is always weight, never volume. A pound of butter is four sticks. A pound of pasta is a standard box.

How many ounces in a gallon?

128 fluid ounces. Half a gallon is 64, a quart is 32, a pint is 16.

How many cups in a quart?

Four. And four quarts make a gallon, so a gallon is sixteen cups. If you can remember 4-4-4 you can rebuild most of this chart from memory.

How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?

Three. This is the one people get wrong under pressure, usually while doubling a recipe. Three teaspoons up to a tablespoon, sixteen tablespoons up to a cup.

How many tablespoons in a cup?

Sixteen. So a quarter cup is 4 tablespoons, a third of a cup is 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon, and half a cup is 8.

How many quarts in a gallon?

Four. A standard carton of milk is a half gallon, which is two quarts.

How many grams in an ounce?

28.35 g. Most recipes round it to 28. If you are baking, use the scale rather than the rounding — a 5% error on flour is the difference between a loaf and a brick.

How many litres in a gallon?

3.79 litres for a US gallon. A UK gallon is 4.55 litres, which is why an American recipe scaled with a British measuring jug comes out wrong.

How long to boil eggs

Times are for large eggs lowered into water that is already boiling, then straight into ice water when the timer goes. From cold water the timing drifts with your pan and your hob, which is why boiling first is more repeatable.

• 6 minutes — set white, liquid yolk
• 8 minutes — jammy centre, the one most people actually want
• 10 minutes — just set, still bright yellow
• 12 minutes — fully hard, for egg salad and packed lunches

A lid and a heavy base matter more than the timer. Thin pans lose the boil the moment the eggs go in, and you lose a minute you never account for.

How to cook rice

White long-grain: 1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water. Bring to a boil uncovered, cover, drop to the lowest heat for 15 minutes, then take it off the heat and leave the lid on for 10 more. That rest is the whole trick — it is where the grains finish and separate.

Brown rice: 1 cup to 2 cups water, 40 to 45 minutes, same 10-minute rest.

What we use for this

• 13-Piece Non-Stick Cookware Set — matched lids and a heavy base, which is what keeps the boil steady
• Wireless Meat Thermometer — for the conversions this chart cannot help with: doneness by temperature, not by time
• 15-in-1 Automatic Bread Maker — measures nothing for you, but holds the schedule so you only have to get the flour right
• 16-Piece Vegetable Chopper Set — even dice, which is the other half of a recipe working

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