How to measure flour
The way you fill the cup can change a cup of flour by a third. Spoon and level it, or better, weigh it.
Spooned and leveled, 1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 g to 125 g. 1 tablespoon: 7.8 g Packed into the cup: up to 160 g
Measure flour with a cup in three steps
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Stir the flour in its bag or canister with a spoon to loosen it.
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Spoon it into a dry measuring cup until it heaps over the top. Don't press it down or tap the cup.
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Sweep the top level with the straight back of a knife, letting the extra fall back into the bag.
Use dry measuring cups, the kind you fill to the brim. A liquid measuring jug can't be leveled, so the reading is a guess.
Or weigh it
Put the bowl on a kitchen scale, press tare (or zero), and add flour until the display shows the weight. The next ingredient can go into the same bowl after another tare. A recipe's 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour is 281 g; the all-purpose flour converter works out any other amount.
Why scooping adds flour
Dipping the cup into the bag presses flour into it. King Arthur Baking says a cup of all-purpose flour holds about 120 g spooned and leveled, but up to 160 g when the flour is compacted: a third more. Extra flour makes cakes dry and dense and keeps cookies from spreading.
Cups and spoons of each flour
Weights from USDA FoodData Central, with King Arthur Baking's spooned and leveled cup beside them where it measures the same flour.
| Flour | 1 cup | 1 tbsp | Spooned cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 125 g | 7.8 g | 120 g |
| Bread flour | 137 g | 8.6 g | 120 g |
| Whole wheat flour | 120 g | 7.5 g | 113 g |
| Cake flour | 137 g | 8.6 g | 120 g |
| Self-rising flour | 125 g | 7.8 g | 113 g |
| Oat flour | 104 g | 6.5 g | – |
| Rice flour | 158 g | 9.9 g | 142 g |
The two sources differ because they filled the cup differently: USDA's figures are a little heavier than a lightly spooned cup, and for cake flour USDA dipped the cup. Resipee uses the USDA figure throughout, so the scaler and every converter agree. If a recipe gives grams, use those.
Sifted flour
Sifting loosens flour, so a cup of sifted flour weighs less. Recipes say which comes first: “1 cup sifted flour” means sift, then spoon into the cup; “1 cup flour, sifted” means measure as usual, then sift. When a recipe doesn't ask for sifting, the spoon and level method gives the light, loose flour most recipes assume.
Questions
How many grams are in a cup of flour?
All-purpose flour: 125 g by USDA's figure, or about 120 g spooned lightly. Bread flour and cake flour are in the table above.
How many tablespoons of flour are in a cup?
16, each about 7.8 g of all-purpose flour. See cups to tablespoons.
Should I scoop or spoon flour?
Spoon it in and level it. Scooping packs the cup and can add a third more flour.
Do I need to sift flour?
Only when the recipe says so. Spooning loosens it enough for most recipes.
Changing the size of a recipe? The recipe scaler halves or doubles every amount, and the halving guide turns odd amounts into cups and spoons.
Sources
- King Arthur Baking, “How to measure flour the right way” (2023) — about 120 g per cup spooned and leveled, up to 160 g compacted
- King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart — spooned cup weights
- King Arthur Baking, “Do I really need to sift flour?” (2024)
- USDA FoodData Central, food 168894 — “Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, bleached”: 1 cup = 125 g. Each flour's page names its own USDA food.
Amounts use US cups and spoons (1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons). Checked against these sources on October 23, 2026.