Sources and method

Every ingredient weight on Resipee comes from one published source, and every cup and spoon is a US customary measure. This page explains where the numbers come from, how they are worked out and rounded, and when they were last checked.

Ingredient weights

The weights come from the US Department of Agriculture's public food database, USDA FoodData Central. We use its SR Legacy data, released in April 2018, which is in the public domain.

Each of the 46 ingredients uses one USDA entry, and we keep the portion exactly as USDA lists it. For example, USDA lists all-purpose flour as 1 cup = 125 g. Every other amount is worked out from that one figure, so the answer, the converter and the tables on a page always agree. Most ingredients are measured in cups; table salt, baking soda, baking powder and active dry yeast are measured in teaspoons, as USDA lists them.

A weight only applies to the ingredient and form it names, such as packed brown sugar or unsifted flour. How the cup is filled matters too: USDA dipped the cup into cake flour and got 137 g, while spooning it in and leveling gives about 120 g. Each ingredient page says which form its weight is for and links to its USDA entry.

Cross-check

On 16 October 2026 we also checked the USDA figures for 33 ingredients against the King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart. Where the two differ, the ingredient page mentions it as a note, but the answer is always the USDA figure. Liquids are not cross-checked, because that chart uses a flat 227 g (8 oz) for a cup of any liquid.

Cups and spoons

All cups and spoons are US customary measures, the ones American recipes and measuring sets use:

• 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons
• 1 cup = 236.5882365 ml exactly (about 236.59 ml)
• 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons, about 14.79 ml
• 1 teaspoon is about 4.93 ml

Metric cups (250 ml) and Australian tablespoons (20 ml) are larger. If a recipe was written with those, its cups and spoons hold a little more than the US measures here.

How amounts are rounded

Grams

Weights of 10 g or more are shown in whole grams, which is what kitchen scales show. Smaller weights keep one decimal, such as 4.6 g for a teaspoon of baking soda.

Grams to cups and spoons

A weight is turned into the nearest amount you can measure: to the nearest ⅛ teaspoon below a tablespoon, the nearest ½ teaspoon below ¼ cup, and whole tablespoons above that. It is then written as a familiar cup fraction, or cups plus spoons. For example, 100 g of all-purpose flour is ≈ ¾ cup + 1 tbsp. The ≈ sign marks an answer that rounding changed by more than 1%.

Scaling a recipe

The scaler keeps each ingredient in the unit the recipe uses, and always works from the amounts you pasted, so changing the size again never adds up rounding. Scaled spoon amounts are regrouped into spoons and cups you can measure: 6 teaspoons becomes 2 tbsp, and 15 teaspoons becomes ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. Cup amounts stay in cups when a measuring cup holds them, such as 1 ½ cups; otherwise they become spoons, so half of ⅓ cup is 2 tbsp + 2 tsp.

An amount between measures, from a multiplier such as 1.44, goes to the nearest one you can measure, rounded as for grams above: 1.44 × ¾ cup is ≈ 1 cup + 1 tbsp, with ≈ when rounding changed it by more than 1%. Less than ⅛ teaspoon shows as a pinch.

Counted items such as eggs keep halves, thirds and quarters. Anything in between goes to the nearest quarter and is marked ≈, so 1.4 eggs shows as ≈ 1 ½, and the name agrees with the number: ½ egg, 2 eggs. Grams and milliliters stay as numbers, to two decimal places at most.

Data version and review dates

The ingredient data is version 2026-10-17.2. The weights were reviewed on 16 October 2026, and oat flour, water and cooked white rice were added on 17 October 2026. USDA no longer updates the SR Legacy data, so a weight only changes here when we review its entry. Each ingredient page shows its data version and review date.

Every ingredient and its USDA entry

What the numbers can't do

A cup weight is an average. Brands, moisture and above all how the cup is filled change what a cup weighs, so if a recipe gives grams, weighing is more accurate than measuring. The weights are for measuring only, not for nutrition.

Spotted a problem?

If a weight looks wrong, email contact@ha-webdesign.com with the ingredient and what you expected. More about the site is on the About page.