Sugar Cups to Grams Converter

Five sugars, five different cup weights

A cup is a volume measure, so its weight changes with crystal size, air and moisture. Granulated sugar is the baseline at 200 g per cup. Packed brown sugar carries molasses and sits tighter in the cup, so it runs 220 g. Powdered sugar traps air between its fine particles, which is why an unsifted cup weighs only 120 g and a sifted one drops to 100 g. Raw sugar crystals are large and dense, and a cup reaches 250 g.

The table lists the per cup, per tablespoon and per teaspoon weights behind every number in the USDA FoodData Central database and standard baking references. Pick the row that matches what sits in your measuring cup.

A tablespoon holds one sixteenth of a cup and a teaspoon holds one forty eighth, so the smaller columns are the cup weight divided by 16 and by 48. Those three numbers are all the converter needs.

The conversion math, in one line

Every cups to grams question reduces to one multiplication: grams = cups x the per cup weight for that sugar. Two cups of granulated sugar is 2 x 200 = 400 g. Half a cup of packed brown sugar is 0.5 x 220 = 110 g.

Going the other way, divide. A 400 g bag of granulated sugar holds 400 / 200 = 2 cups. A 1,000 g bag of powdered sugar holds 1,000 / 120 = 8.33 cups unsifted.

Tablespoons and teaspoons follow the same pattern. A cup holds 16 tablespoons, and 16 x 12.5 = 200 g of granulated sugar. In ounces, one cup of granulated sugar is 200 / 28.35 = 7.05 oz, because one ounce equals 28.35 g.

The widget above runs these multiplications for any amount you type, including awkward fractions like 0.75 cups, and it converts grams back to cups with the same per cup weights. Nothing leaves the browser.

Granulated sugar: the baseline at 200 g

Granulated white sugar is what most recipes mean when they list a cup of sugar. The USDA listing for granulated sugar works out to 200 g per cup, and nearly every baking reference agrees. Table sugar, cane sugar and beet sugar all land on the same number because the refined crystals share the same size and density.

Common amounts fall out of the one line formula. Half a cup is 0.5 x 200 = 100 g, a quarter cup is 0.25 x 200 = 50 g, three quarters of a cup is 0.75 x 200 = 150 g, and a large 2.5 cup cake batch is 2.5 x 200 = 500 g.

Scooping style barely moves granulated sugar because the crystals cannot compress. Dipping the cup into the bag or spooning it in lands within a few grams of the same weight, which is why the 200 g figure is safe to trust without special technique.

Brown sugar: packing changes the number

Brown sugar is granulated sugar coated with molasses, and the measurement depends on how hard you press it into the cup. A firmly packed cup holds 220 g. A loosely filled one can weigh 30 to 40 percent less, which is enough to turn a chewy cookie recipe into a dry, cakey one.

Pack brown sugar with the back of a spoon until it holds the shape of the cup when turned out, which is what the 220 g standard assumes. Three quarters of a cup packed is 0.75 x 220 = 165 g, and a cup and a half is 1.5 x 220 = 330 g.

Light and dark brown sugar weigh the same; the difference is molasses content, not density. Recipes that list brown sugar by weight almost always mean packed, so 220 g per cup is the correct figure unless the recipe explicitly says lightly packed. If the sugar has hardened into a brick, re-soften it before measuring, since broken chunks leave air pockets that read light.

Powdered sugar: sift or do not sift

Powdered sugar, also called confectioners sugar, is ground so fine that air fills the gaps between particles. An unsifted cup weighs 120 g. Sifting breaks up clumps and works in more air, so a sifted cup weighs 100 g. That 20 percent swing is the largest of any sugar type, and it is why frosting goes wrong more often by volume than by weight.

Word order in the recipe tells you which number to use. If it says 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, sift first and then measure: half a cup is 0.5 x 100 = 50 g. If it says 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted, measure first and then sift, and the cup holds 120 g. A cup and a quarter unsifted, a common buttercream amount, is 1.25 x 120 = 150 g.

Store powdered sugar sealed and stir it lightly before leveling. Powdered sugar left in a humid kitchen or pressed down in the box can climb past 130 g per cup, which quietly over-sweetens glazes and fillings.

Cups to grams chart for every sugar type

The chart covers the amounts that show up most in recipes. Find the sugar type, read across to the cup amount, and take the gram figure straight to the scale.

Amounts between columns use the same multiplication. One and three quarter cups of granulated sugar is 1.75 x 200 = 350 g. Two thirds of packed brown sugar is 146.67 g while the same fraction of granulated is 133.33 g, a 13.34 g gap that matters in a stiff cookie dough.

Print the chart or screenshot it; the five per cup weights at the top of the page regenerate every other value in it.

Worked examples from real recipes

Example 1, chocolate cake: the batter calls for 2 cups of granulated sugar. That is 2 x 200 = 400 g, and if you measure by spoon instead of scale, 400 / 12.5 = 32 level tablespoons.

Example 2, cookie dough: 1.75 cups of granulated sugar comes to 1.75 x 200 = 350 g, which reads 350 / 28.35 = 12.35 oz on a scale set to ounces.

Example 3, buttercream: 3 cups of unsifted powdered sugar is 3 x 120 = 360 g. Sifted first, the same 3 cups would weigh 3 x 100 = 300 g, a 60 g difference that shows up as runny frosting.

Example 4, granola: a raw sugar batch scaled to 3 cups weighs 3 x 250 = 750 g. The same volume of granulated sugar would weigh 400 g, about 47 percent less, so swapping the type without reweighing wrecks the batch.

Each example uses only the per cup weights from the first table, which is why the converter, the chart and the prose never disagree.

Why bakers weigh sugar instead of scooping

Weight is the language of repeatable baking because it removes the scooping guess. The FDA nutrition facts label guide counts 50 g as the Daily Value for added sugars, so a single cup of granulated sugar carries four days of that guideline, and recipes built on vague cup measures drift away from the label math with every extra scoop.

Weighing also makes substitutions painless. When you replace part of the granulated sugar with brown or raw, matching grams keeps sweetness and moisture where the recipe writer put them. The King Arthur ingredient weight chart is a good second source to confirm per cup weights for sugar and every other baking ingredient.

A digital scale that reads in 1 g steps costs little and ends the whole question. Set the bowl on top, tare it, pour to the target number, and move on. Every figure on this page traces back to the five per cup weights in the first table, so the widget, the chart and the worked examples all agree with each other.