Cooking Measurement Converter

Convert between teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, millilitres, fluid ounces, and more — for recipes, baking, and scaling batches.

Cooking Measurements

tsp, tbsp, cup, mL, fl oz

From

Result

0.333333

1 tsp = 0.33333333 tbsp

Popular conversions

What Is a Cooking Measurement Converter?

A cooking measurement converter translates kitchen volumes between units — teaspoons to millilitres, cups to fluid ounces, tablespoons to cups. Recipes are written in whatever system the author used, so cooking across borders means constantly converting between metric (millilitres, litres) and the US/imperial spoon-and-cup units. The teaspoon, tablespoon, and cup are the everyday building blocks.

This converter routes through the millilitre and keeps the regional differences explicit — and there are several. A US cup is 236.6 mL but a metric cup is 250 mL; a US tablespoon is 14.79 mL while an Australian one is 20 mL. The tool also handles fluid ounces and litres, so a recipe converts to the amount you actually need, not an approximation.

This is one category of the full Unit Converter — pair it with our percentage calculator or scientific calculator for related everyday maths.

How Cooking Conversion Works

Everything routes through the millilitre

Each kitchen unit has a fixed millilitre value. The converter normalises to mL, then projects to teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, and ounces.

Spoons build into cups

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon; 16 US tablespoons = 1 US cup. These fixed steps are the backbone of recipe scaling.

Cups differ by country

A US cup is 236.6 mL, a metric cup 250 mL, an imperial cup 284 mL. The same 'cup' can vary by ~20% between systems.

Volume, not weight

These are volume units. A cup of flour and a cup of water have very different weights, so weight conversions need each ingredient's density.

Core Cooking Conversion Factors

Multiply to reach millilitres; divide to come back. Mind the regional cup and spoon sizes.

Teaspoon → mL

× 4.92892

One US teaspoon is 4.93 mL (often rounded to 5 mL). Three teaspoons make a tablespoon.

US cup → mL

× 236.588

One US cup is 236.6 mL. A metric cup is 250 mL — close but not identical.

Tablespoon → tsp

× 3

One tablespoon is 3 teaspoons everywhere, a fixed and handy step.

How to Use the Cooking Converter

1
Enter the amount
Type the recipe quantity you want to convert — a spoon measure, a cup, a millilitre amount.
2
Choose the 'from' unit carefully
Pick teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, mL, or fluid ounces — and mind whether a cup is US, metric, or imperial.
3
Choose the 'to' unit
Select the target unit, or swap the two to reverse direction.
4
Read every unit at once
The all-units table shows the amount across tsp, tbsp, cups, mL, and fl oz together for easy recipe work.

Key Cooking Measurement Concepts

Teaspoon and tablespoon

The smallest standard measures: 1 tbsp = 3 tsp. A US tsp is 4.93 mL (≈5 mL); a US tbsp is 14.79 mL (≈15 mL).

The cup problem

Cups aren't universal: US 236.6 mL, metric 250 mL, imperial 284 mL. Recipes from different countries assume different cups.

Fluid ounce

A US fl oz is 29.57 mL; a UK fl oz is 28.41 mL. Used for liquid measures, and differing by system like everything else.

Volume vs weight

Cooking units measure volume. Converting a cup of an ingredient to grams needs its density — flour, sugar, and water all differ.

Real-World Cooking Conversions

🥣

US recipe abroad

A US cup (236.6 mL) isn't a metric cup (250 mL). Following a US recipe with a 250 mL cup over-measures by ~6%.

🧂

Spoon measures

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = ~15 mL. Doubling a recipe is easy once spoons and millilitres line up.

🍰

Baking precision

Baking is sensitive to ratios, so converting cups to mL (or better, grams) keeps a cake's structure right.

🌏

Australian tablespoon

An Australian tablespoon is 20 mL, not 15. A recipe from Australia means more per 'tablespoon' than elsewhere.

🥤

Liquid quantities

8 US fl oz is 236.6 mL (one US cup). Beverage and liquid measures convert between fl oz, cups, and mL.

📏

Scaling batches

Tripling a recipe: 3 cups becomes 9, or 2.13 L. Converting to millilitres makes large-batch scaling exact.

Best Practices for Cooking Conversion

✓Identify the recipe's country. A 'cup' is US (236.6 mL), metric (250 mL), or imperial (284 mL). Knowing the origin tells you which cup the recipe assumes.
✓Prefer weight for baking. Grams beat cups for flour, sugar, and butter because volume varies with packing. Where possible, convert to weight using the ingredient's density.
✓Remember 3 tsp = 1 tbsp. This fixed step is universal and the easiest way to scale small quantities up or down without a converter.
✓Mind the Australian tablespoon. It's 20 mL, not the 15 mL used elsewhere. Recipes from Australia deliver more per tablespoon.
✓Don't equate volume with weight. A cup of flour (~120 g) and a cup of water (~237 g) weigh very differently. Use density to cross from cups to grams.

Common Cooking Conversion Mistakes

Assuming all cups are equal

US (236.6 mL), metric (250 mL), and imperial (284 mL) cups differ by up to ~20%, enough to throw off a sensitive recipe.

Confusing volume and weight

A cup is volume, not weight. Converting a cup of flour to '236 g' (its volume in mL) ignores flour's lower density.

Mixing tablespoon sizes

The Australian 20 mL tablespoon differs from the 15 mL one used elsewhere. Using the wrong one mis-measures by a third.

Confusing US and UK fluid ounces

US fl oz (29.57 mL) and UK fl oz (28.41 mL) differ by ~4%, which adds up across several ingredients.

Why Cooking Conversion Matters

Recipes travel the world, but kitchen units don't agree: the same word — cup, tablespoon, fluid ounce — means different amounts in the US, UK, Australia, and metric kitchens. A converter that knows these differences keeps a translated recipe true to the original, which matters most in baking, where ratios decide whether something rises, sets, or collapses.

Beyond cross-border cooking, converting cleanly lets you scale batches up or down and shop in whatever units a product is sold in. A converter that routes through the millilitre and keeps the regional cup, spoon, and fluid-ounce sizes distinct turns an ambiguous recipe into precise, reliable quantities.

Built for home cooks, bakers, and anyone following recipes across US, metric, imperial, and Australian measurement systems.

Linear unit factors follow the BIPM SI brochure, the NIST Guide to the SI, and ISO 80000. Currency rates load live from open.er-api.com; crypto prices from CoinGecko. See our methodology and editorial policy. Educational only — not certified for regulated trading, settlement, medical, or aerospace use.

Cooking Measurement Converter FAQs

There are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon, a fixed ratio in every measurement system. In US units, a teaspoon is about 4.93 mL and a tablespoon about 14.79 mL (commonly rounded to 5 mL and 15 mL). So if a recipe needs a tablespoon and you only have a teaspoon, measure three level teaspoons.

It depends on the cup. A US cup is 236.6 mL, a metric cup is exactly 250 mL, and an imperial (UK) cup is 284 mL. These differ by up to about 20%, so a recipe's country of origin matters — following a US recipe with a metric cup over-measures every cup ingredient by roughly 6%.

No. A US cup is 236.6 mL while a metric cup is 250 mL — about 5.6% larger. For most cooking the difference is minor, but in baking, where ingredient ratios are precise, using the wrong cup can affect texture and rise. When in doubt, convert to millilitres or grams.

Because volume measures of dry ingredients vary with how they're packed — a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 150 grams depending on whether it's scooped or spooned. Weighing in grams removes that variability, giving consistent results. That's why professional and serious baking recipes specify weight.

An Australian tablespoon is 20 mL, larger than the 15 mL tablespoon used in the US, UK, and most other countries. This means an Australian recipe delivers about a third more per tablespoon, which matters for leavening agents and strong flavourings where the amount is critical.

It uses standard unit definitions (US teaspoon = 4.92892 mL, US tablespoon = 14.7868 mL, US cup = 236.588 mL, metric cup = 250 mL) and routes every conversion through the millilitre at full precision, so volume conversions are exact to your input precision. Volume-to-weight conversions depend on each ingredient's density.