Recipes in the Online Cookbook archive use a mixture of teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, ounces, pounds, and occasional metric measurements. The relationships below are useful for everyday cooking, but ingredient weight can vary greatly by density and measuring technique.
Common US volume relationships
- 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
- 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
- 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup
- 16 tablespoons = 1 cup
- 2 cups = 1 pint
- 2 pints = 1 quart
- 4 quarts = 1 gallon
Useful metric approximations
- 1 teaspoon is about 5 milliliters
- 1 tablespoon is about 15 milliliters
- 1 US cup is about 237 milliliters; many kitchen conversions round this to 240 milliliters
- 1 ounce by weight is about 28 grams
- 1 pound is about 454 grams
Do not confuse fluid ounces, which measure volume, with ounces by weight. A measuring cup marked in fluid ounces is not a scale.
Dry and liquid measuring
For liquids, use a clear liquid-measuring cup on a level surface and read at eye level. For flour and similar dry ingredients, spoon the ingredient lightly into a dry cup and level it unless the recipe specifies another method. Scooping flour directly from a container can compact it and add substantially more than intended.
Why baking benefits from a scale
Volume measurements are convenient, but weight is more repeatable. A digital kitchen scale is especially helpful for flour, sugar, butter, dough portions, and recipes that are doubled or halved. When a recipe supplies both cups and grams, use the grams.
Temperature conversions
For a rough oven conversion, subtract 32 from Fahrenheit, multiply by 5, and divide by 9 to obtain Celsius. To go the other direction, multiply Celsius by 9, divide by 5, and add 32. Oven thermostats vary, so an inexpensive oven thermometer can be useful when baking results are inconsistent.
For additional food measurement references, see the USDA measurement conversion tables.