Cooking conversions: ounces to cups, tablespoons, quarts and milliliters
One US cup is 8 fluid ounces, 16 tablespoons or 48 teaspoons, and about 236.6 milliliters. Two cups make a pint, four cups a quart and sixteen cups a gallon. Nutrition labels round a cup to 240 mL.
Inputs used by this calculator
Cooking Unit Converter uses the fields below. The starting values reproduce the page example; replace them with values from the same units and time period before using the result.
| Input | Starting example | Accepted value | How it is used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 1 | -1e+100 to 1e+100 | Supplies the value quantity used by the published equation or result breakdown. |
| From | US fluid ounces | teaspoons · tablespoons · US fluid ounces · 7 more choices | Selects the unit or conversion path used by Cooking Unit Converter. |
| To | US cups | teaspoons · tablespoons · US fluid ounces · 7 more choices | Selects the unit or conversion path used by Cooking Unit Converter. |
Ounces to cups
A US cup holds 8 US fluid ounces, so divide fluid ounces by 8 to get cups: 12 fl oz is 1.5 cups and 20 fl oz is 2.5 cups. This works for water, milk, broth and other liquids measured by volume.
cups = fluid ounces ÷ 8fluid ounces = cups × 8Fluid ounces are not weight ounces
A fluid ounce measures volume; an ounce on a kitchen scale measures weight. They match closely only for water and similar liquids. A cup of flour holds 8 fluid ounces of space but weighs far less than 8 ounces, so recipes that list ounces of a dry ingredient mean weight and need a scale.
Spoons, cups, pints, quarts and gallons
Three teaspoons make a tablespoon and sixteen tablespoons make a cup. Two cups make a pint, two pints a quart and four quarts a gallon. These US customary units all come from the gallon of 231 cubic inches, which NIST relates exactly to the liter.
Why nutrition labels say 240 mL
For nutrition labeling, federal rules round household measures: a teaspoon is 5 mL, a tablespoon 15 mL, a cup 240 mL and a fluid ounce 30 mL. That is why a label and this calculator can differ slightly: the calculator uses the exact US cup of 236.6 mL unless you choose the nutrition-label cup.
US, metric and imperial cups
Recipes from other countries may use a 250 mL metric cup, and older British recipes use imperial pints of about 568 mL. When a recipe's origin is unclear, check whether it lists grams or milliliters and use those numbers directly.
Measuring accurately
Use liquid measuring cups with a spout for liquids and read them at eye level. For dry ingredients, spoon into a dry measuring cup and level it off. For baking, weighing ingredients in grams avoids most volume errors.
US kitchen volume equivalents
| Measure | Fluid ounces | Tablespoons | Milliliters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 1/6 | 1/3 | 4.9 |
| 1 tablespoon | 1/2 | 1 | 14.8 |
| 1/4 cup | 2 | 4 | 59.1 |
| 1/3 cup | 2 2/3 | 5 1/3 | 78.9 |
| 1/2 cup | 4 | 8 | 118.3 |
| 1 cup | 8 | 16 | 236.6 |
| 1 pint | 16 | 32 | 473.2 |
| 1 quart | 32 | 64 | 946.4 |
| 1 gallon | 128 | 256 | 3,785.4 |
Frequently asked questions
How many ounces are in a cup?
8 US fluid ounces.
How many cups is 16 ounces?
2 cups, or one pint, when the ounces are fluid ounces.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
16 tablespoons. A tablespoon is 3 teaspoons.
How many cups are in a quart?
4 cups. A gallon is 4 quarts, or 16 cups.
Is a fluid ounce the same as an ounce of weight?
No. They are close for water, but dry ingredients such as flour weigh much less than their fluid-ounce volume.
Why does my nutrition label say a cup is 240 mL?
Federal labeling rules round a cup to 240 mL. The exact US cup is 236.6 mL.
How many milliliters are in a tablespoon?
About 14.8 mL; nutrition labels round it to 15 mL.
What to keep in mind
Factors follow the displayed unit definitions; measurement uncertainty and context are not added.
Results are rounded for display in US format, with money in dollars and cents; CSV exports keep full calculation precision. This is a calculation summary, not an official certificate.