KitchenMillilitres to cups and fluid ounces
Liquid measures look simple until a recipe from another country arrives. A "cup" is 240 ml in the United States and 250 ml in Australia, and a "pint" of milk in a British recipe is a fifth larger than an American pint. This page puts the common amounts side by side.
| Millilitres | US cups (240 ml) | Metric cups (250 ml) | US fl oz | UK fl oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 ml | 1/8 cup | 1/8 cup | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| 50 ml | 0.21 cup | 0.20 cup | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| 60 ml | 1/4 cup | 1/4 cup | 2.0 | 2.1 |
| 80 ml | 1/3 cup | 0.32 cup | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| 100 ml | 0.42 cup | 0.40 cup | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| 120 ml | 1/2 cup | 0.48 cup | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| 125 ml | 0.52 cup | 1/2 cup | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| 150 ml | 0.62 cup | 0.60 cup | 5.1 | 5.3 |
| 180 ml | 3/4 cup | 0.72 cup | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| 200 ml | 0.83 cup | 0.80 cup | 6.8 | 7.0 |
| 240 ml | 1 cup | 0.96 cup | 8.1 | 8.4 |
| 250 ml | 1.04 cups | 1 cup | 8.5 | 8.8 |
| 300 ml | 1 1/4 cups | 1.20 cups | 10.1 | 10.6 |
| 350 ml | 1.46 cups | 1.40 cups | 11.8 | 12.3 |
| 400 ml | 1.67 cups | 1.60 cups | 13.5 | 14.1 |
| 500 ml | 2.08 cups | 2 cups | 16.9 | 17.6 |
| 750 ml | 3.12 cups | 3 cups | 25.4 | 26.4 |
| 1000 ml | 4.17 cups | 4 cups | 33.8 | 35.2 |
US cup taken as 240 ml, metric cup 250 ml, US fluid ounce 29.57 ml, UK (imperial) fluid ounce 28.41 ml. Where an amount is not a neat fraction of a cup, it is shown as a decimal: 0.42 cup is a little under half a cup.
The three systems
- Metric: millilitres and litres. Used on every packet in India. A metric cup is 250 ml, a quarter of a litre.
- US: cups of 240 ml, fluid ounces of 29.57 ml, pints of 473 ml (2 cups), quarts of 946 ml (4 cups).
- UK imperial: fluid ounces of 28.41 ml and pints of 568 ml (20 fluid ounces). Modern British recipes mostly use millilitres, but "a pint of milk" and "half a pint of stock" survive.
So before converting, find out where the recipe is from. The spelling often tells you: "flavor" and "cilantro" are American, "flavour" and "coriander" are British, Indian or Australian.
Does the 10 ml difference between cups matter?
Between a 240 ml and a 250 ml cup the difference is about four percent. In dal, soup, kheer or a curry it does not matter at all. In baking it is small but real, and what matters more is to measure every ingredient of the recipe with the same cup. Trouble comes from mixing: flour in a 250 ml cup and milk in a 200 ml tea cup.
Tea cups, coffee mugs and glasses
An everyday tea cup holds 120 to 180 ml and a coffee mug 250 to 350 ml. Neither is a recipe "cup". If you have no measuring cup, a 500 ml milk pouch or a marked water bottle will tell you what your own glass holds. The method is on our page about measuring without a scale.
Measuring liquids properly
- Stand the measuring jug on a flat surface and bend down so that your eye is level with the mark. Reading from above makes you pour too little.
- For spoons of liquid, fill to the brim. The liquid should bulge slightly without spilling.
- Oil the cup or spoon before measuring honey, liquid jaggery or condensed milk, and it will pour out cleanly.
- Use a clear jug for liquids and flat-topped cups for dry ingredients. A dry cup filled to the brim with milk spills on the way to the bowl.
Liquids by weight
Some modern recipes weigh liquids in grams, because a scale is faster than a jug. For water, 1 ml weighs 1 g. Milk and curd are almost the same, about 245 g to a 240 ml cup. Oil is lighter, about 218 g to the cup, and honey is much heavier, about 340 g. The full list is on the cups to grams page.
Handy pairs to remember
- 1 teaspoon = 5 ml. 1 tablespoon = 15 ml.
- 1/4 cup = 60 ml = 4 tablespoons.
- 1 US cup = 240 ml = 8 US fluid ounces.
- 1 litre = a little more than 4 US cups, exactly 4 metric cups.
- 1 US pint = 473 ml. 1 UK pint = 568 ml.
For other amounts, the converter on the measures page works in both directions.
Questions people ask
How many ml is one cup?
240 ml for a US cup and 250 ml for a metric cup. Use the same cup for every ingredient in a recipe.
How many cups is 500 ml?
Two metric cups exactly, or a little more than two US cups.
How many ml is a fluid ounce?
29.57 ml in the United States and 28.41 ml in the United Kingdom. In the kitchen, 30 ml is close enough for both.
Is a UK pint the same as a US pint?
No. A UK pint is 568 ml and a US pint is 473 ml.
More kitchen help
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- Spice namesJeera, ajwain, kalonji: English and Hindi names with uses.
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