Cups to ml — Cooking Converter
Convert cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, and pints to millilitres. Covers both UK and US measurements.
Cooking Volume Converter
Millilitres (ml)
236.59
Teaspoons (tsp)
47.32
Tablespoons (tbsp)
15.77
UK Fluid Ounces
8.327
US Fluid Ounces
8
UK Cups
0.833
US Cups
1
UK Pints
0.416
US Pints
0.5
Litres (L)
0.237
UK vs US Cups — Important Difference
A US cup is 236.6 ml, while a UK cup is 284.1 ml — a difference of nearly 20%. Most online recipes use US cups. If a recipe does not specify, assume US cups. UK tablespoons are also slightly larger (15 ml vs 14.8 ml US), though this difference is negligible in practice.
Common Ingredient Weights (US Cup)
Volume to weight varies by ingredient — use these for baking accuracy
| Ingredient | 1 US Cup | 1 Tablespoon |
|---|---|---|
| Flour (plain) | 125g | 8g |
| Sugar (granulated) | 200g | 12g |
| Butter | 227g | 14g |
| Honey | 340g | 21g |
| Milk | 240g | 15g |
| Cocoa powder | 85g | 5g |
Quick Reference
1 US cup = 236.6 ml
1 UK cup = 284.1 ml
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1 teaspoon = 5 ml
1 UK pint = 568 ml
1 US pint = 473 ml
1 UK fl oz = 28.4 ml
Why UK and US Cups Are Different
One of the most common sources of confusion in cooking is the difference between UK and US cup measurements. A US cup holds 236.6 ml, while a UK cup holds 284.1 ml — a difference of approximately 20%. This means that if you follow a US recipe using a UK measuring cup, you will be using significantly more of each ingredient than intended, which can noticeably affect the outcome, particularly in baking.
The safest approach when following online recipes — which are predominantly written using US measurements — is to use a set of US measuring cups or to weigh ingredients in grams. Weighing is always more accurate than volume measurement, especially for dry ingredients like flour, where the amount that fits in a cup varies depending on how tightly it is packed.
Tablespoons and teaspoons are more standardised internationally. A tablespoon is 15 ml in the UK, US, and most other countries (with the exception of Australia, where a tablespoon is 20 ml). A teaspoon is universally 5 ml. These measurements are small enough that the difference between UK and US versions rarely affects a recipe outcome.