Easy Recipe Conversions

Following a recipe might seem simple until you realize that it uses different units of measurement than you are used to. It does not seem to matter what is being measured, whether it be weight or temperature, as there is no one agreed-upon unit across the entire world.

In some situations, this is not a problem as, if you have electronic kitchen scales, the odds are you can simply press a button, and it will switch from grams to ounces. Other measurements are slightly more problematic, though. There is no magic button that you can press that allows your scales to use the US’s favorite unit of measure; the cup.

While most US houses might have a full set of cup measurements on hand, this is not the case across the rest of the world. Even if you do happen to have cup measurements in your house, they are not always practical. Anyone who has ever tried to fill a cup with butter only to then have to scrape it back out will understand that cups have their place, but for some ingredients, they are just not practical, like when trying to make a recipe with all kinds of different measurements like a chocolate cake.

With all of this in mind, using online recipes from another country can sometimes feel like a struggle, forcing you to learn a whole new unit of measurement. The good news is there are a few easy short cuts and tools that you can use to make following any recipe, no matter the units of measurement, feel like a breeze.

How Many ML in a Cup?

ML to cups can be one of the most annoying conversions to deal with in the kitchen because there are no scales involved to help you out. ML is traditionally measured using either a measuring jug or measuring spoons. Cups, meanwhile, normally come in a set that covers all of the commonly used amounts such as ¼ cup and ½ cup.

One way to work around this issue without even having to convert measurements is to invest in measuring jugs that also marks the different cup measurements along the scale. With ML and cups being the two most common ways to measure out the liquid, this should ensure that measuring out liquids is never again a problem.

It can also be helpful to learn a few basic conversions, just in case you ever find yourself in a friend’s kitchen without your advanced measurement tools on hand. A key conversion to remember is that 1 cup equals 236.5 ml. From this, all you need is some basic maths to work out ¼ cup and ½.

Below are some handy measurements that you might want to learn:

1/8 cup – 30ml

1/4 cup – 59ml

1/2 cup – 118ml

1 cup – 236.5ml

Celsius to Fahrenheit

Celsius to Fahrenheit is another common kitchen conversation, with US ovens almost always using Fahrenheit, while in the UK, Celsius is the norm. Unlike measuring liquids, there is no easy purchase that you can make, which does all of the converting for you. Instead, the only way to work around recipes using a different temperature measurement is to learn some basic conversation.

Luckily the scale is much smaller when using an oven than it is for measuring out quantities, meaning that there are only a few different conversations to learn. Below are some of the key oven temperatures that are used in recipes:

82 C – 180 F

100 C – 212 F

150 C – 302 F

170 C – 338 F

180 C – 356 F

200 C – 392 F

220 C – 428 F

These conversions can look a little daunting at first as they do not convert to round numbers, but luckily the difference of a few Fahrenheit is not going to affect most dishes. In fact, every oven is slightly different, and what might cook absolutely fine at 100 Celsius in one oven may actually require 120 Celsius in another. For example, when being told to turn your oven to 150 Celsius, setting your Fahrenheit oven to 300 is not going to cause you any problems.

Grams to Cups

Grams to cups is another one of those annoying conversions, as it is not something that can be done using scales. To make matters even more confusing when converting from cups to grams, the conversion is different depending on the ingredient in question. For example, 1 cup of flour equals 128 grams, whereas 1 cup of butter equals 225 grams.

This means that you cannot simply learn one conversion and apply them to every situation. What you can instead do to make life a little easier is to learn some of the basic ingredient conversions. For everything else, it is a good idea to have our trusty friend Google on hand to help out.

Here are some of the most common conversions you will need to know when cooking:

1 cup of flour – 128 grams

1 cup of butter – 225 grams

1 cup of sugar – 200 grams

1/2 cup of salt – 150 grams

Final Thoughts

Converting measurements has become a regular part of cooking, with recipes from across the world now be available at our fingertips. While it can feel a little annoying at first, you quickly get used to doing simple conversions in your head and at least makes all of those high school math lessons feel like they had some real-world value.