Conversions in the Kitchen:
cups, fl. oz., tbsp, tsp, mL, L

In the US, recipes give the volume of ingredients in Imperial units--fluid ounces, cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. Other countries use the metric system, measuring ingredients in milliliters and liters. In Canada, recipes are usually given in metric units with Imperial units in parentheses.

If you are preparing a recipe from a country that uses a different measuring system from yours, you can use the calculator or table below to convert between different units.

Kitchen Conversion Calculator

Cooking Volume Conversion Table

To convert from unit A to unit B, select the starting unit from the appropriate "Unit A" row group. Go along the row until you reach the destination unit in the "Unit B" column group. Multiply the number of A units by the number in the cell to compute the equivalent number of B units. See examples below table.

		Unit B
		mL	L	c.	fl. oz.	tbsp	tsp
U n i t A	mL	1	0.001	0.004227	0.03381	0.06763	0.2029
	L	1000	1	4.227	33.81	67.63	202.88
	c.	236.59	0.2366	1	8	16	48
	fl. oz.	29.57	0.02957	0.125	1	2	6
	tbsp	14.79	0.01479	0.0625	0.5	1	3
	tsp	4.929	0.004929	0.02083	0.1667	0.3333	1

Example 1: To convert 5 tablespoons to liters, go to the row labled "tbsp." Find where the "tbsp" row intersects the "L" column and note the number in the cell. In this example, the number is 0.01479. Multiply this number by 5 tbsp to compute the equivalent number of liters, i.e., (0.01479)(5 tbsp) = 0.07395 L.

Example 2: To convert 250 milliliters to fluid ounces, go to the row labled "mL." Find where the "mL" row intersects the "fl. oz." column and note the number in the cell. In this example, the number is 0.03381. Multiply this number by 250 mL to compute the equivalent number of fluid ounces, i.e., (0.03381)(250 mL) = 8.4525 fl. oz.

Shortcut Conversions

• 1/4 tsp = 1 mL
• 1/2 tsp = 2.5 mL
• 1 tsp = 5 mL
• 1/2 tbsp = 15 mL
• 1 tbsp = 15 mL
• 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp = 59 mL
• 1/3 cup = 5 tbsp + 1 tsp = 79 mL
• 1/2 cup = 8 tbsp = 118 mL
• 2/3 cup = 10 tbsp + 2 tsp = 158 mL
• 3/4 cup = 12 tbsp = 177.5 mL
• 1 cup = 237 mL

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