Dairy & Fats Conversion Chart
Convert any amount of dairy & fats to grams below, or scan the full chart. Click any ingredient for its own converter.
Dairy & Fats conversion chart
| Ingredient | 1 cup | ½ cup | ¼ cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butter | 227 g | 113.5 g | 56.8 g |
| Milk | 240 g | 120 g | 60 g |
| Heavy Cream | 232 g | 116 g | 58 g |
| Sour Cream | 230 g | 115 g | 57.5 g |
| Cream Cheese | 232 g | 116 g | 58 g |
| Yogurt | 245 g | 122.5 g | 61.3 g |
| Vegetable Oil | 218 g | 109 g | 54.5 g |
| Olive Oil | 216 g | 108 g | 54 g |
| Coconut Oil | 218 g | 109 g | 54.5 g |
| Peanut Butter | 256 g | 128 g | 64 g |
| Sweetened Condensed Milk | 306 g | 153 g | 76.5 g |
| Evaporated Milk | 226 g | 113 g | 56.5 g |
| Buttermilk | 227 g | 113.5 g | 56.8 g |
| Ricotta Cheese | 227 g | 113.5 g | 56.8 g |
| Mascarpone | 227 g | 113.5 g | 56.8 g |
| Cottage Cheese | 226 g | 113 g | 56.5 g |
| Grated Parmesan | 100 g | 50 g | 25 g |
| Shredded Cheddar | 113 g | 56.5 g | 28.3 g |
| Shredded Mozzarella | 113 g | 56.5 g | 28.3 g |
| Pumpkin Puree | 227 g | 113.5 g | 56.8 g |
| Applesauce | 255 g | 127.5 g | 63.8 g |
| Mashed Banana | 227 g | 113.5 g | 56.8 g |
| Vegetable Shortening | 184 g | 92 g | 46 g |
| Tahini | 256 g | 128 g | 64 g |
| Almond Butter | 272 g | 136 g | 68 g |
Remember: every dairy & fat has a different density, so always convert by ingredient rather than using one ratio. For other amounts, open the individual converter.
Every cup fraction: milk, cream, butter, yogurt, cheese and oil
The chart above gives the three headline amounts. This one gives every fraction a recipe actually asks for — three-quarters, two-thirds, a third, an eighth — plus a single tablespoon, for all 25 ingredients on the page. The ones people look up most: half a cup of milk is 120 g, half a cup of heavy cream 116 g, of yogurt 122.5 g, of grated parmesan 50 g, and half a cup of butter 113.5 g — one US stick. An eighth of a cup is 2 tablespoons: 27 g of olive oil, 28.4 g of butter.
| Ingredient | 1 cup | ¾ cup | ⅔ cup | ½ cup | ⅓ cup | ¼ cup | ⅛ cup | 1 tbsp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butter | 227 g | 170.3 g | 151.3 g | 113.5 g | 75.7 g | 56.8 g | 28.4 g | 14.2 g |
| Milk | 240 g | 180 g | 160 g | 120 g | 80 g | 60 g | 30 g | 15 g |
| Heavy Cream | 232 g | 174 g | 154.7 g | 116 g | 77.3 g | 58 g | 29 g | 14.5 g |
| Sour Cream | 230 g | 172.5 g | 153.3 g | 115 g | 76.7 g | 57.5 g | 28.8 g | 14.4 g |
| Cream Cheese | 232 g | 174 g | 154.7 g | 116 g | 77.3 g | 58 g | 29 g | 14.5 g |
| Yogurt | 245 g | 183.8 g | 163.3 g | 122.5 g | 81.7 g | 61.3 g | 30.6 g | 15.3 g |
| Vegetable Oil | 218 g | 163.5 g | 145.3 g | 109 g | 72.7 g | 54.5 g | 27.3 g | 13.6 g |
| Olive Oil | 216 g | 162 g | 144 g | 108 g | 72 g | 54 g | 27 g | 13.5 g |
| Coconut Oil | 218 g | 163.5 g | 145.3 g | 109 g | 72.7 g | 54.5 g | 27.3 g | 13.6 g |
| Peanut Butter | 256 g | 192 g | 170.7 g | 128 g | 85.3 g | 64 g | 32 g | 16 g |
| Sweetened Condensed Milk | 306 g | 229.5 g | 204 g | 153 g | 102 g | 76.5 g | 38.3 g | 19.1 g |
| Evaporated Milk | 226 g | 169.5 g | 150.7 g | 113 g | 75.3 g | 56.5 g | 28.3 g | 14.1 g |
| Buttermilk | 227 g | 170.3 g | 151.3 g | 113.5 g | 75.7 g | 56.8 g | 28.4 g | 14.2 g |
| Ricotta Cheese | 227 g | 170.3 g | 151.3 g | 113.5 g | 75.7 g | 56.8 g | 28.4 g | 14.2 g |
| Mascarpone | 227 g | 170.3 g | 151.3 g | 113.5 g | 75.7 g | 56.8 g | 28.4 g | 14.2 g |
| Cottage Cheese | 226 g | 169.5 g | 150.7 g | 113 g | 75.3 g | 56.5 g | 28.3 g | 14.1 g |
| Grated Parmesan | 100 g | 75 g | 66.7 g | 50 g | 33.3 g | 25 g | 12.5 g | 6.3 g |
| Shredded Cheddar | 113 g | 84.8 g | 75.3 g | 56.5 g | 37.7 g | 28.3 g | 14.1 g | 7.1 g |
| Shredded Mozzarella | 113 g | 84.8 g | 75.3 g | 56.5 g | 37.7 g | 28.3 g | 14.1 g | 7.1 g |
| Pumpkin Puree | 227 g | 170.3 g | 151.3 g | 113.5 g | 75.7 g | 56.8 g | 28.4 g | 14.2 g |
| Applesauce | 255 g | 191.3 g | 170 g | 127.5 g | 85 g | 63.8 g | 31.9 g | 15.9 g |
| Mashed Banana | 227 g | 170.3 g | 151.3 g | 113.5 g | 75.7 g | 56.8 g | 28.4 g | 14.2 g |
| Vegetable Shortening | 184 g | 138 g | 122.7 g | 92 g | 61.3 g | 46 g | 23 g | 11.5 g |
| Tahini | 256 g | 192 g | 170.7 g | 128 g | 85.3 g | 64 g | 32 g | 16 g |
| Almond Butter | 272 g | 204 g | 181.3 g | 136 g | 90.7 g | 68 g | 34 g | 17 g |
Every cell is computed from the same verified grams-per-cup weight as the chart above (¾ cup = weight × 0.75, 1 tbsp = weight ÷ 16), so the two tables can never disagree. For an amount that is not in the table, the converter at the top of the page takes any number; tablespoons to grams handles spoon amounts, and the butter converter works in sticks.
Cheese cup equivalents: blocks, shreds, grates and crumbles
The rule printed on cheese producers' own sites (Cabot spells it out) and matched by King Arthur's weight chart: a 4 oz piece of block cheese shreds into about 1 cup (113 g). So an 8 oz block makes 2 cups shredded and a 1 lb block 4 cups. USDA's measured cup weights agree for hand-shredded cheddar (113 g) and low-moisture mozzarella (112–113 g) — but the rule quietly fails as soon as the cheese isn't shredded on a box grater. Here is the whole family, as actually measured:
| Cheese, as measured | 1 cup weighs | ≈ cheese used |
|---|---|---|
| Shredded cheddar, jack, mozzarella or Swiss (box grater) | 113 g | 4 oz |
| Bagged pre-shredded mozzarella (part-skim) | 86 g | 3 oz |
| Grated parmesan (canister-style, fine) | 100 g | 3½ oz |
| Parmesan, microplane-grated (fluffy) | ≈57 g | 2 oz |
| Hard cheese, medium grate | ≈85 g | 3 oz |
| Crumbled feta | 150 g | 5⅓ oz |
| Crumbled blue cheese | 135 g | 4¾ oz |
| Diced or cubed cheddar | 132 g | 4⅔ oz |
| Cream cheese | 232 g | 8-oz brick ≈ 1 cup |
| Ricotta | 227 g | 8 oz |
| Cottage cheese | 226 g | 8 oz |
Sources: USDA FoodData Central measured cup weights (shredded cheddar 113 g, diced 132 g, crumbled feta 150 g, crumbled blue 135 g, cream cheese 232 g; the 86 g figure is USDA's separate entry for bagged pre-shredded part-skim mozzarella, which is fluffier and carries anti-caking starch); King Arthur's chart for the 113 g shredded family and 100 g grated parmesan; America's Test Kitchen for the grate-style yields — 1 oz of hard cheese makes about ½ cup rasp-grated, ⅓ cup on a medium grater, or ¼ cup coarse. Two honest disagreements: ricotta is King Arthur's 227 g here, while USDA measures 246 g; and USDA's crumbled feta (150 g) is well above what King Arthur's chart implies (≈114 g). Soft-cheese cups vary with how firmly you pack — when the recipe is fussy, weigh.
Is that dairy weight right? A ten-second sanity check
A lot of people arrive at a chart like this one not to convert a number but to check one — a figure from a recipe, a carton or a tracking app that looks too big or too small. Two steps settle almost all of them.
Step 1: check the band. Dairy and fats are not scattered at random. Everything on this chart falls into one of four groups, and simply knowing which group you are in catches an implausible number immediately.
| Group | 1 cup weighs | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Shredded and grated cheese | 100–113 g | Grated Parmesan 100 g · Shredded Cheddar 113 g · Shredded Mozzarella 113 g |
| Oils and shortening | 184–218 g | Vegetable Shortening 184 g · Olive Oil 216 g · Vegetable Oil 218 g · Coconut Oil 218 g |
| The water band: milk, cream, butter, yogurt, soft cheese | 226–245 g | Evaporated Milk 226 g · Cottage Cheese 226 g · Butter 227 g · Buttermilk 227 g · Ricotta Cheese 227 g · Mascarpone 227 g · Pumpkin Puree 227 g · Mashed Banana 227 g · Sour Cream 230 g · Heavy Cream 232 g · Cream Cheese 232 g · Milk 240 g · Yogurt 245 g |
| Heavier than water: nut butters, applesauce, condensed milk | 255–306 g | Applesauce 255 g · Peanut Butter 256 g · Tahini 256 g · Almond Butter 272 g · Sweetened Condensed Milk 306 g |
Group boundaries and every weight are read straight from the chart above — nothing here is typed by hand.
The water band is the one to remember, because nearly everything dairy lives in it. Milk, cream, buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese and ricotta are all mostly water by weight, and butter (four-fifths fat, but fat packed solid with no air in it) happens to match, so a cup of any of them lands within a few grams of a cup of water (237 g): every pourable or spoonable dairy item here sits between 226 and 245 g a cup, a spread of only 8%. So a milk-sized number for cream, or a yogurt-sized one for sour cream, is fine; a figure 20% off is not a variation, it is a different question (see step 2). Oils sit just below the band because oil is lighter than water (about 0.92 g per mL), which is why a cup of oil is 216–218 g and never 240. Shredded cheese is far lighter again — a cup is half air between the shreds. Above the band are the things that are denser than water: applesauce and the nut butters at 255–272 g, and sweetened condensed milk at 306 g, about 29% heavier than water because nearly half of it is dissolved sugar.
Step 2: check which question the number is answering. A dairy weight that fails the band test is usually not wrong, just an answer to a different question. Five possibilities, worth ruling out in this order.
Fluid ounces or ounces? The dairy mix-up above all others. A US cup is 8 fluid ounces of volume, but a cup of milk weighs 240 g, which is 8.5 oz on a scale; a cup of oil is 8 fl oz but only 7.7 oz by weight. Butter is the one ingredient where the two ounces agree — 1 cup = 227 g = 8 oz = 8 fl oz — and cream cheese comes close enough that an 8 oz brick (226.8 g) is, for every practical purpose, the 232 g measured cup. Everywhere else, "8 oz" of a liquid in a recipe means the fluid measure, a cup, and the grams follow from this chart, not from 8 × 28.3.
Liquid, whipped, frozen or powdered? The same dairy in a different state can weigh half as much per cup. USDA measures a cup of fluid heavy whipping cream at 238 g and notes that it yields 2 cups whipped, each weighing 120 g — whipping folds in air and adds no weight. Ice cream is the same trick frozen: USDA weighs vanilla ice cream at 66 g per half cup, 132 g a cup, close to the whipped cream it resembles and half the weight of the cream it started as. Dry milk or cream powder is a different product again, a fraction of the liquid's cup weight and not on this chart at all. This chart lists every cream, milk and yogurt as the liquid or spoonable form.
Sticks, bricks, tubs or blocks? Dairy is sold in packages that are almost, but not quite, cup-shaped. A US stick of butter is 113 g, exactly half a cup; a European 250 g block is 1.1 cups, not one. An 8 oz cream cheese brick is one cup; a 1 lb (454 g) tub of ricotta is 2 cups on this chart's 227 g and a little under 2 on USDA's firmer 246 g; a 4 oz block of cheese shreds to one cup, as the cheese table above lays out grate by grate. A single-serve yogurt pot is usually 5.3 oz (150 g), not a cup, and an 8 oz pot (227 g) comes up a heaped tablespoon short of the 245 g measured cup.
Which cup? A US cup is 236.6 mL; the metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada is 250 mL, 5.7% larger. Same milk, two legitimate answers: 240 g and 254 g; same heavy cream, 232 and 245 g; same coconut oil, 218 and 230 g. A "half cup of heavy cream in grams, Australia" is therefore about 123 g, not 116. This chart is US cups throughout; the cups to mL converter handles the other sizes.
Is it a cup weight at all? Nutrition labels quote grams too, and they collide with cup weights constantly. Oil is labelled per tablespoon at 14 g (USDA's measured tablespoon is 13.6 g, rounded up on the panel), and sixteen of those is 224 g against the 218 g a measured cup actually holds. Milk is labelled per 1 cup (240 mL) at USDA's 244 g, a little above this chart's 240 because that cup is a rounded 240 mL rather than 236.6. Sour cream and yogurt labels use 2 tbsp or a container, never a cup. If a number came from a label, convert it as a weight and ignore its serving unit.
Two worked examples, both taken from questions people actually arrive here with:
“Is a cup of vegetable oil 224 g? Mine says 218.” Both are right, and the gap has a precise cause. 218 g is the measured cup (USDA: 13.6 g per tablespoon, 217.6 g per 16). 224 g is the label's rounded 14 g tablespoon multiplied by 16. They differ by under 3%, which is less than the difference between filling the cup to the line and slightly over it. Either passes the band test (oils: 216–218 g); a cup of oil at 240 g or more would not, because oil cannot weigh what water does.
“Compare a quarter cup of butter, of ice cream and of heavy whipping cream.” A quarter cup of butter is 56.8 g (half a stick), a quarter cup of heavy cream 58 g (USDA's 238 g cup gives 59.5), and a quarter cup of vanilla ice cream only 33 g. Butter and cream tie, because both are essentially water and fat with no air in them; the ice cream weighs barely more than half, because it is churned cream that is roughly half air by volume, then frozen. The same quarter cup of whipped cream would be 30 g. Whenever a dairy figure comes out near half of what this chart says, look for air.
One habit removes most of this: measure anything pourable in a liquid measuring cup at eye level, level anything spoonable with the back of a knife, and when the recipe gives a weight, skip the cup entirely. Comparing two dairy items rather than checking one? The ingredient substitution chart works out how much of a replacement to measure, and the recipe weight calculator totals a whole list at once.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of milk?
One cup of milk weighs about 240 g. Most liquid dairy is close to this — buttermilk 227 g, heavy cream 232 g, sour cream 230 g and yogurt 245 g.
How many grams is 1 cup of butter?
One cup of butter weighs 227 g, which is 2 sticks. Half a cup is about 113 g — a single stick.
Is a cup of oil the same weight as a cup of butter?
No. A cup of vegetable, olive or coconut oil weighs about 216–218 g, a little less than butter's 227 g, because liquid oil is less dense than solid fat.
How many grams is 1 cup of shredded cheese?
Shredded cheddar or mozzarella is about 113 g per cup and finely grated parmesan around 100 g. Soft cheeses are much heavier — cream cheese and ricotta are roughly 227–232 g per cup.
How many cups does an 8 oz block of cheese make shredded?
About 2 cups. The producer rule of thumb — published by Cabot and matching King Arthur's chart and USDA's measured 113 g cup — is that 4 oz of block cheese shreds into 1 cup, so 8 oz gives 2 cups and a 1 lb block about 4 cups. It holds for cheddar, jack, mozzarella and Swiss shredded on a box grater; bagged pre-shredded cheese is fluffier, and USDA measures a cup of bagged part-skim mozzarella at only 86 g.
Is grated cheese the same as shredded cheese when measuring by the cup?
No — the grate size changes the cup weight dramatically. America's Test Kitchen's yields for hard cheese: 1 oz comes to about 1/2 cup rasp-grated (microplane), 1/3 cup on a medium grater, or 1/4 cup coarsely shredded. That means a cup of fluffy microplaned parmesan weighs around 57 g while canister-style fine grated parmesan is 100 g or more, and coarse shreds about 113 g. When a recipe says "grated", weight in grams is the only unambiguous measure.
How much grated parmesan does a wedge of parmesan make?
By weight nothing changes — 100 g of wedge is 100 g grated. By volume, America's Test Kitchen's rule gives about 1/2 cup per ounce microplaned or 1/3 cup per ounce on a medium grater, so a typical 4 oz wedge makes roughly 2 cups of fluffy microplaned parmesan or about 1 1/3 cups medium-grated.
How much does a cup of ricotta or cottage cheese weigh?
Ricotta is 227 g per cup on King Arthur's chart (the value this site uses), while USDA measures 246 g — an honest published range of 227–246 g depending on how firmly it's packed. Cottage cheese depends on the curd: USDA measures 210 g for large curd and 225 g for small curd, not packed. Both are wet, clumpy cheeses, so press lightly to close air gaps or simply weigh.
How many grams is half a cup of milk?
About 120 g. Half a cup of the other pourable and spoonable dairy on this chart is within a few grams of that: buttermilk 113.5 g, heavy cream 116 g, sour cream 115 g, yogurt 122.5 g, cream cheese 116 g — and half a cup of butter is 113.5 g, which is one US stick. The fraction table above has every amount from a tablespoon to a full cup for all 25 ingredients.
Is a cup of milk 8 ounces?
By volume, yes — a US cup is 8 fluid ounces. By weight it is not: a cup of milk weighs about 240 g, which is 8.5 oz on a scale (USDA's measured cup, 244 g, is 8.6 oz). The two kinds of ounce never quite coincide — even a cup of water weighs 8.4 oz — but butter comes closest, by a coincidence of density: 1 cup = 227 g = 8 oz = 8 fl oz. A cup of oil is 8 fl oz but only 7.7 oz by weight; a cup of sweetened condensed milk is 8 fl oz but 10.8 oz. If a recipe says "8 oz of milk" it almost always means the fluid measure — a cup.
How many grams is 1/8 cup of olive oil?
About 27 g — an eighth of a cup is exactly 2 tablespoons, so it is also 2 × 13.5 g. The same 2 tablespoons of vegetable or coconut oil is 27.3 g, of melted butter 28.4 g, and of milk 30 g. Oil is the one family on this chart that is lighter than water (about 0.92 g per mL), so an oil figure that comes out heavier than the same volume of milk has been mixed up with something else.
Is a cup of vegetable oil 218 g or 224 g?
Both figures are in circulation and both are honest. 218 g is the measured cup (USDA weighs a tablespoon of soybean/vegetable oil at 13.6 g, and 16 of those is 217.6 g). 224 g is label arithmetic: US Nutrition Facts panels round the tablespoon to 14 g, and 16 × 14 = 224. The gap is under 3%, smaller than the difference between filling a cup to the line and slightly over it, so either number is fine for cooking. This chart uses 218 g for vegetable and coconut oil and 216 g for olive oil.
How much does a cup of whipped cream weigh?
About 120 g — half the weight of the liquid cream it came from. USDA measures a cup of fluid heavy whipping cream at 238 g and notes that it yields 2 cups whipped, each weighing 120 g: whipping doubles the volume by folding in air and adds no weight. So if a recipe wants "1 cup heavy cream, whipped", measure 232 g of liquid cream and whip it; if it wants "1 cup of whipped cream", that is only about 120 g of liquid cream to start with, roughly half a cup.
How many sticks of butter is 1 1/2 cups?
Three sticks. A US stick of butter is 1/2 cup, 113 g (4 oz, 8 tablespoons), so 3/4 cup is 1 1/2 sticks (169.5 g), 1 cup is 2 sticks (227 g), 1 1/2 cups is 3 sticks (339 g) and 2 cups is 4 sticks, a full 1 lb box. Going the other way, 130 g of butter is 1.15 sticks — one stick plus a heaped tablespoon (17 g). Note that sticks are a US format: a European 250 g block is 1.1 cups, not one. The butter converter handles any amount in sticks, cups, tablespoons and grams.
How many cups is 454 g (1 lb) of ricotta cheese?
About 2 cups on this chart's 227 g per cup (King Arthur's figure) — a 1 lb tub is 2 cups, and the common 15 oz (425 g) tub about 1.87 cups. USDA measures ricotta more firmly packed at 246 g per cup, which would make the pound tub 1.85 cups, so the honest answer is "a little under to a little over 2 cups depending on how you fill the cup". The same 454 g is 2.01 cups of cottage cheese, 1.96 cups of cream cheese, and 4.02 cups of shredded cheddar.
How much does a metric cup of milk weigh?
About 254 g. The metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada holds 250 mL against the US cup's 236.6 mL, so every weight on this chart is about 5.7% higher in a metric cup: heavy cream 245 g, yogurt 259 g, butter 240 g, coconut oil 230 g and grated parmesan 106 g. Half a metric cup of heavy cream is therefore about 123 g rather than 116 g. This chart is US cups throughout.