UK – US Conversion

As you may have already guessed, I am based in the UK.

I have found a lot of differences between UK and US ingredients, names, and measurements which may be confusing to my US readers when I post a recipe in metric.

To set this straight, I have created a printable infographic chart/guide highlighting…

  • Liquid and volume measurements for teaspoons, tablespoons and cups to fluid millilitres (ml)
  • Oven temperature conversion from gas marks to Celsius (°C) and Fahrenheit (°F)
  • Specific ingredients from grams (g) to cups:
    • butter,
    • sugar – white granulated, caster (superfine), brown and icing (powdered/confectioners’) sugar,
    • flour – plain (all-purpose) and self-raising (self-rising),
    • raisins, sultanas and currants,
    • ground almonds,
    • syrups,
    • uncooked rice.
  • And the common UK-US name differences for ingredients and tools.

UK-US Conversion Chart Printable

UK-US cups, grams, ml, and ingredients convertion chart/guide

NOTE: If using on your own site, please give attribution.

Looking for conversion charts on the following?

  • Oven temperature guide (°C to °F and Gas Marks),
  • Cake tin batter sizes – round/square,
  • Solids, Liquids, Grams (g), and Ounces (oz) conversion,
  • Marzipan (almond paste), rolled fondant/sugar paste size rolling guide,
  • Cake baking tin size to temperature and baking time chart,
  • Upscaling and downscaling cake recipe/batter quantities.

All of the above is covered on my other recipe conversion guide.

If you cannot find what you are looking for, please do not hesitate to drop me an email.

Leave a Comment

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65 Comments on “UK – US Conversion”

  1. MISCHIEF September 12, 2012 @6:32 pm Reply

    SO GLAD FOR YOUR INGREDIENT TRANSLATIONS! i've often wondered about caster sugar in uk recipes, but now i find i was correct. Would i have to make powdered sugar any finer to match caster sugar? MISCHIEF

    1. Lisa {Sweet 2 Eat Baking} September 12, 2012 @8:39 pm Reply

      No, powdered sugar isn't caster sugar. Caster sugar is like granulated but the sugar crystals in caster sugar are finer than that of granulated. I hear it's labeled as superfine sugar in the US but isn't the same thing as powdered sugar. Hope that helps?

      1. Nadell November 18, 2019 @4:11 am Reply

        I think caster sugar here is in the sugar packets in resturant. It's not as sweet as regular sugar.

        1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking November 18, 2019 @10:34 am Reply

          I don’t think that’s caster sugar, Nadell. Caster sugar is exactly the same as granulated but slightly finer milled. The sugar crystals are smaller than granulated but not powdered. It shouldn’t be more/less sweeter weight for weight. I heard it might go by the same ‘superfine sugar’, but isn’t confectioners’/powdered sugar.

        2. Deb Dougan May 17, 2022 @9:29 am Reply

          No, caster sugar here in the states can be found in many grocery stores and is listed as “Superfine Sugar.” This is the same type of sugar that bartenders use when mixing cocktails, and it’s used because it dissolves much faster than regular granulated sugar would. Superfine sugar granules are smaller than granulated sugar but not as fine (and powdery) as confectioners’ sugar (which is called “icing sugar” in the UK).

      2. Mags June 6, 2021 @11:33 pm Reply

        I have found "baker's sugar" in the US

      3. Juliann B. November 13, 2022 @7:17 pm Reply

        Yes. Caster sugar's US equivalent is superfine sugar. I'm working as a freelance copy editor on my fourth cookbook for NYC and Boston publishers. (Been an editor for decades and have worked on many books from the UK.) I just discovered your site today, and it's very helpful. I'll be back. THANK YOU!

    2. Norma O'Malley December 23, 2017 @4:04 am Reply

      If you want "caster" sugar (superfine in the U.S.) but don't want to pay the price for "Baker's Sugar" you can put your regular sugar in a food processor and spin it until it is very fine. The Baker's Sugar is a higher quality sugar - I use it in my baking and also to make my hummingbird nectar. 1 cup to 4 cups boiling water.

    3. Jayne May 13, 2018 @12:39 pm Reply

      Hey, I’m English and I so much prefer to use cup measurements then the English method of measuring 👍🏻

    4. Mary Chaplin October 22, 2019 @6:04 pm Reply

      powdered sugar is icing sugar in UK.

    5. deanna February 9, 2020 @1:13 pm Reply

      thank you for this. just found it today and it's now hanging in my kitchen cubby. <3

  2. Julie @ Lilacs & Longhorns November 19, 2012 @3:57 am Reply

    This is awesome! I'm in the US and have some readers in the UK. I'm linking to this page from my blog!!

  3. Julie @ Lilacs & Longhorns November 19, 2012 @3:57 am Reply

    This is awesome! I'm in the US and have some readers in the UK. I'm linking to this page from my blog!!

  4. Sinea Pies May 21, 2013 @8:59 pm Reply

    This is a great help, Lisa.
    Thanks!
    SInea

  5. Joyce Schoning July 15, 2013 @11:41 am Reply

    what is 300g Rhubarb 500g Rhubarb for the U.S.A.

    1. Lisa Crunkhorn July 16, 2013 @9:42 pm Reply

      Hi Joyce,

      It's so hard to convert weight into volume. For example, converting 1 cup (volume) of granulated sugar to grams (weight) is 200g, but 1 cup of feathers would not be the same, make sense?

      It will also depend on on how you chop it too. If you chop rhubarb chopped into smaller chunks you will be able to get more into the cup than that of bigger chunks. This is the main reason why we weigh our ingredients in the UK so they're always perfectly accurate. :)

      However, I googled this for you and it states that 300g of rhubarb is 2 cups. So 500g will be approx. 3 and just slightly over 1/4 cups. Or the US ounce weights are... 300g = 10.6 oz, and 500g is 17.6 oz.

      Hope that helps? If you need any further help, don't hesitate to email me. Thanks for stopping by.

  6. KimberlyKimberly P June 21, 2015 @10:25 am Reply

    I am a new American Expat living in the UK. This is so helpful. I have favorite recipes from home that I struggle to convert. And i don't know what some ingredients are in UK recipes. I'm trying to convert to metric but it's not easy. Thanks for this!

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking June 21, 2015 @11:49 pm Reply

      I'm glad you're finding the chart helpful, Kimberly. I know it must be a struggle for you right now with the culture and ingredient differences, so if you have any questions about any ingredients or anything not listed here, feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help.

      I can work in both cups (volume) and weight. They sell the measuring cups here too should you need them. However, if I were you, and you still have recipes that work in cup measurements, I'd stick with using the cups for them. It's a big hassle to convert everything and if I didn't blog my recipes, I wouldn't bother to convert. Saying that, weight measurements are more accurate (us Brits are all for perfection, eh?) so for those I'd get a scale.

      You can enjoy the best of both worlds here. Have fun!

  7. Heather hey January 27, 2017 @1:23 am Reply

    What are raisins here in usa

  8. Patricia Lacienski May 9, 2017 @7:13 pm Reply

    I am a big fan of The Great British Baking Show shown here in the US and I ordered cookbooks by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. They, of course, have UK measurements and oven settings. After looking at several sites for conversion to US equivalents, I was more confused than ever! Then I found your site. Thank you SO MUCH for an easy to understand, PRINTABLE chart that will allow me to try my hand at some British Baking!!

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking May 9, 2017 @9:38 pm Reply

      You're very welcome, Tricia. I'm working on individual ingredient conversions (which is taking a while to complete because of the massive amount of ingredients!)

      I guess you'll be sad to hear that The Great British Bake Off is no more. The show was purchased by a different channel here in the UK, and BBC creating another. So Paul and Mary (and presenters) have parted ways sadly. Enjoy your recipe books, happy baking.

  9. Monica June 17, 2017 @10:11 pm Reply

    Hi, I just found your site. I bought a baking book by Paul Hollywood and needed the conversions. Yours was very easy to understand. So THANK YOU..so sorry to find out there will be no more , Great British Baking Show.

  10. Sara June 18, 2017 @7:47 pm Reply

    Your information is very helpful. As an American using a lot of British recipes, measurements can be be very confusing, The most important thing for Americans to understand is that we are used to measuring VOLUME and British recipes call for measuring WEIGHT. There is no formula for converting volume to weight - every ingredient must be converted individually because a cup of flour doesn't weigh the same as a cup of butter. The easiest and most accurate way to measure weight is to invest in a scale and not worry about trying to convert anything. They are readily available on Amazon and in kitchen stores and are not that expensive. The conversions for liquids and temperature use a formula, and the charts above are very helpful.

  11. Heather August 18, 2017 @5:24 am Reply

    What do they mean (I watch the British Bake Off too) when they mean "150 fan"? I understand it's a temperature, but does 'fan' refer to a setting on the oven that us Americans don't have? I've been wondering if there's a way to compensate for that setting, but if ovens are built differently here than there, than probably not.
    Thanks for doing this conversion though! very helpful :)

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking December 20, 2017 @5:11 pm Reply

      I'm sure I answered this via email, but in case anyone has the same question, I will answer below.

      In England we have gas ovens, and electric ovens. Electric ovens can have a fan at the back that is supposed to make the whole oven a consistent temperature throughout. So, no cold spots at the bottom or hot spots at the top.

      When they say 150 fan, they mean 150 degrees C (not F) on a fan oven. I hope that helps.

    2. Norma O'Malley December 23, 2017 @4:01 am Reply

      In the US the "fan" is for the convection bake setting if you have a convection oven.

  12. Rissi October 3, 2017 @9:38 pm Reply

    Thanks for sharing this! I do have a question, how would these ingredients be converted to US measurements?

    750g carrots, peeled and grated
    410g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

    150ml pot natural yogurt

    Thanks!

  13. Nikki October 4, 2017 @8:21 pm Reply

    Hi
    I have picked up an American recipe and have used ur convertion table before and found it a great help so thank you for that.
    Although this new recipe has got me a little confused as it has the letter 'T' next to a measurement of milk all the others are in cups or tsp can you help me by letting me know what measurement it stands for please x

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking October 10, 2017 @4:54 pm Reply

      Hi Nikki, Some US Recipes have a capital T for tablespoon and a lowercase t for teaspoon. I hope that helps?

  14. chiachan tsai October 12, 2017 @6:26 pm Reply

    Dear lisa,
    I am confused with the weigth of 1 tsp baking power between US and UK.
    Can you suggest me how many grams they are? That can be converted for US and UK recipes.

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking December 20, 2017 @4:56 pm Reply

      Hi. There is no difference in weight between a US teaspoon and a UK teaspoon.

      However, it is easier to just measure these using a teaspoon instead of weight as different ingredients and liquids wildly vary in weight.

      I hope that helps.

  15. Crystle October 17, 2017 @5:35 am Reply

    Can someone please tell me what is "corn flour" in a Mary Berry recipe? Thanks so much!

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking December 20, 2017 @4:53 pm Reply

      You may know it better as cornstarch, Crystle.

      I hope that helps.

  16. Paula November 12, 2017 @9:07 am Reply

    Hi Lisa,

    You have saved my life....... I was so delighted to come across your website when converting US, in to UK measurements. etc. It is so difficult to come across someone from England putting stuff on line, as its all American.

    I have now printed it all off, and have attached it to a book, for future reference.

    Like you in more ways than one, I have Psoriasis arthritis amongst other thing,s and have had to give up work. I always love baking cakes, and have done so for many years, mainly for my family. I have decided in the new year to take it up more as a hobby, and start decorating cakes for family and friends, and see where it leads in the future.

    Thank you once again.
    Paula :)

  17. Aubrey December 12, 2017 @11:15 pm Reply

    Hi there! Just wanted to check something I was guessing; is strong flour the same as US Bread Flour? Thanks!

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking December 20, 2017 @4:18 pm Reply

      Hi Aubrey. Yes, strong flour and bread flour are interchangeable.

  18. Stuart December 18, 2017 @6:08 pm Reply

    Please North America just get with the rest of the world and realise that a tablespoon of butter is way harder and less accurate to measure than 15g of butter . A cup of parsley could be anything from 10-50g depending on how it is cut and packed. Whyyyyyyyy??????? When I'm doing a recipe that requires fairly exact measurements, I stick my bowl on my electronic scales and zero after each ingredient is added. Apart from accuracy I have way less cleaning up as I'm not getting cups and tablespoons covered in oils, butter etc.
    Make your life easier and more accurate and stop using volume for dry ingredients - rant over!

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking December 20, 2017 @4:16 pm Reply

      I weigh my ingredients too, Stuart. But I guess it's each to their own and what people have been brought up to use. I'm from England and grew up weighing ingredients as it's the norm here.

      You can't get more accurate than weight. Especially for things that vary in size, like chopped ingredients. If you chop smaller, you can pack more in the cup, so it's very difficult to provide conversions based on whether people are packing more or less in a cup - when baking is an accurate science.

  19. Adelia December 20, 2017 @7:40 pm Reply

    Wonderful chart! Thank you so much!!

  20. Kim December 29, 2017 @10:38 pm Reply

    What is single milk and double milk ? My guess is heavy whipping cream not sure tho.

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking December 30, 2017 @12:03 am Reply

      Hi Kim. I'm guessing you mean single and double cream and not milk, right? We have skimmed milk (least fat content), semi-skimmed milk (around 2% fat), and whole milk (full fat).

      Regarding cream types, the US conversion of single cream is half and half, and double cream is heavy cream. We also get whipping cream here too, which has a lower fat content than double/heavy cream.

      I hope that helps? Happy baking.

  21. Wendy February 13, 2018 @7:43 pm Reply

    Hi please can you tell me what a cup of powdered milk is in grams?
    Many thanks

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking February 14, 2018 @1:00 pm Reply

      Hi Wendy, there are 115g in 1 cup of powdered milk. I hope that helps?

  22. Wendy February 14, 2018 @7:05 pm Reply

    Hi Lisa, thats great thank you very much for your help.
    Sorry for replying like this but it wouldn't let me reply back on your answer.

  23. Erin March 13, 2018 @4:42 pm Reply

    Hi! I’m trying to make a UK macron recipe but I’m completely clueless! Is there anyway you could help me with the ingredients conversion to US cups?
    205 g icing sugar (I presume this is confectioners sugar)
    190 g ground almonds (is this almond flour?)
    144 g egg whites (I’ve never measured eggs normally in the US it’s # of whole eggs)
    190 g caster sugar (I’ve never heard of this?)
    60 ml of water
    165 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes (we use farenheight?)
    Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated as I keep finding conflicting conversion amounts online. Thank you so much !

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking March 13, 2018 @4:58 pm Reply

      Hi Erin. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to figure out conversations for other people's recipes. I get so many requests so I hope you can understand.

      I will however, say that it is best to weigh out ingredients for macarons as they need very precise measurements to work out well.

      Icing sugar = powdered/confectioners' sugar,
      Ground almonds = almond flour,
      Caster sugar = superfine sugar (like granulated but finer, but not powdered),
      60ml water = ¼ cup,
      165°C = 330°F.

      Hope that helps. Happy baking. 🙂

      1. Erin March 13, 2018 @11:47 pm Reply

        Thank you so much! I I completely understand and I’m grateful for the info you provided!

      2. Annie December 6, 2020 @1:05 am Reply

        Hi Lisa
        Almond flour has the oil extracted wheras ground almonds dont...

        Also as here in UK many recipes including Mary Berry are still in both imperial and metric... would it not just be easier for those in the US to use uk imperial weights ?

        I remember very well the transition from imperial to metric being supposedly finalised in the early 70s... and whilst in terms of money it got easier... imperial is far easier to juggle with... we used to learn to cook by ratios which with imperial made scaling up or down recipes very very easy..and since the world wide web introduced global recipes and ingredients i found US recipes just as easy to "translate" based on ratios.

  24. Carla Hoag May 29, 2018 @3:18 pm Reply

    Great chart - thank you! I appreciate the gentle reply you gave to Stuart, who was criticizing America, which doesn't help international relations.

    It's been 20 years, so my memory is a little foggy, but when we were in England, I had a recipe disaster using English granulated sugar in my American Snickerdoodle cookies. The sugar was way too heavy. I'm thinking that American granulated is English caster sugar and there's not an equivalent for English granulated. Is that correct? Is E. gran. mostly used for tea and coffee?

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking May 29, 2018 @3:27 pm Reply

      Hi Carla! Granulated sugar is the same in both UK and US. I’ve baked with granulated sugar here in the UK and it has been fine, just as long as it’s creamed. I’ve baked cookies with it too.

      In fact, I prefer to bake with granulated as caster sugar is more expensive. But yes, most UK bakers will use caster sugar, and reserve granulated for tea/coffee. But there shouldn’t be an issue with UK granulated sugar.

      I hope this helps.

  25. Ismawati binti Zailani September 19, 2018 @8:57 am Reply

    Hi. how about a down scaling recipe of 8 inch square pan to 6 inch pan square pan? is the recipe should be devided to 1.75 with same temperature?

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking September 20, 2018 @11:16 pm Reply

      Hi, the information for up/downscaling cake recipes is here: https://www.sweet2eatbaking.com/conversion-guide/#upscale-downscale-multiply-cake-recipe-ingredients-chart
      And information on baking times and temperature for specific cake sizes is here: https://www.sweet2eatbaking.com/conversion-guide/#cake-baking-size-temperature-time-chart

      I hope that helps. Happy baking.

  26. caranne kankins san jose california March 7, 2019 @10:30 pm Reply

    thank you for the information,

  27. Iris Saxon March 29, 2019 @6:13 pm Reply

    Please advise the English Imperial weight of American 2 tablespoons of butter. Can't find the answer anywhere.

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking March 30, 2019 @11:30 pm Reply

      Hi Iris. There are 16 tablespoons in 1 cup. 1 cup of butter = 226g. If you divide 226x16, the answer is 14g butter per tablespoon. So, you would need 28g of butter per 2 tbsp. I hope that helps.

  28. Marian Fisher April 30, 2019 @10:24 am Reply

    thankyou so much for the chart. I see some wonderful American recipes online but it's very confusing to Europeans to work with cups and spoons and sticks! This will really help.

  29. Rushd Lady June 27, 2019 @9:26 pm Reply

    Oh, thank you, thank you for this conversion chart, the ingredients conversions and temperatures. Many Brits come to this part of the US, so abt. 65 kilometers away is a British grocery store that I've been wanting to shop. This last year, I've had to give up sugar and caffeine and become low sodium and I found some wonderful looking recipes on a British allergy website that I've been wanting to try, but didn't know how to convert. I've even asked a friend over the pond to help me and she didn't know (I found you on Pinterest, so sent her a link). Have you made any recipes using fruit or stevia to sweeten your baked goods? Dates, bananas and apples seem to be the most popular over here in the US.

  30. Jan February 24, 2020 @12:36 am Reply

    British cooks always tout scaling. But doesn't this require us knowing the weight of all the utensils, bowls and other measuring dievices that will hold whatever is being measured and keeping track of that first? Otherwise, your measurement will surely be just a guess. I am not so great at math so sitting the bowl on the scale will provide a clue but then, we need to be able to figure out what the thing we put in the bowl is supposed to be, added to the weight of the bowl. This seems hard to me.

    1. Lisa | Sweet 2 Eat Baking February 24, 2020 @12:47 am Reply

      Hi Jan. You don’t need to weigh bowls, etc. as scales have a tare function which zeros out the weight of bowls that you will be putting ingredients in.

      I hope that helps.

  31. Lisa April 16, 2020 @11:58 am Reply

    Thank you so much for creating the table conversion . Life saver !!

  32. K September 25, 2020 @10:21 pm Reply

    Hi,
    I’ve found a US recipe for vegan chocolate brownies which calls for ‘white sugar’. I’m baking the brownies in the UK and unsure whether I should use granulated or caster sugar. What do you suggest?

  33. Vinessa C January 7, 2021 @9:42 pm Reply

    Thank you so much for doing this! you have opened up way more opportunities in baking for me now. I would never be able to figure this stuff out myself without a migraine! Thanks!

  34. Janice Healy April 14, 2021 @6:33 pm Reply

    Thank you for these conversion charts. I've been watching the Great British Baking Show Masterclass episodes and writing down the recipes. These charts have made the conversion process effortless. Great idea. The only comment I have is, why use a grayed ink when these charts should be eminently readable. For those of us not in the younger generations, we need to be able to read it while baking without having to put our faces 6 inches away from the chart.

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