Cups to Grams: Sugar Conversion Chart
1 cup of granulated white sugar weighs 200 g. Packed brown sugar is heavier at about 220 g per cup, and powdered (icing) sugar is much lighter at about 120 g per cup unsifted.
Assumptions
- US cup (236.6 mL). For a 250 mL metric cup, multiply by about 1.06.
- Granulated sugars: spooned or poured in and levelled. Unlike flour, granulated sugar barely compresses, so scooping gives nearly the same result.
- Brown sugar: firmly packed so it holds the shape of the cup when tipped out, which is what nearly every North American recipe means.
- Powdered sugar: spooned and levelled, unsifted, unless marked sifted.
Granulated sugar by fraction
| Amount (US) | Granulated sugar | Packed brown sugar | Powdered sugar (unsifted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 4 g | 4.6 g | 2.5 g |
| 1 tablespoon | 12.5 g | 14 g | 7.5 g |
| ¼ cup | 50 g | 55 g | 30 g |
| ⅓ cup | 67 g | 73 g | 40 g |
| ½ cup | 100 g | 110 g | 60 g |
| ⅔ cup | 133 g | 147 g | 80 g |
| ¾ cup | 150 g | 165 g | 90 g |
| 1 cup | 200 g | 220 g | 120 g |
| 1½ cups | 300 g | 330 g | 180 g |
| 2 cups | 400 g | 440 g | 240 g |
Every common sugar per cup
| Sugar (1 US cup) | Grams | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated (white) | 200 g | The baseline |
| Caster / superfine | 200 g | Finer crystals, dissolves faster |
| Brown, packed (light or dark) | 220 g | Loosely spooned is closer to 150 g |
| Powdered / icing, unsifted | 120 g | Contains a little cornstarch |
| Powdered / icing, sifted | 100 g | Lighter because of trapped air |
| Turbinado / demerara | 180 g | Large crystals leave gaps |
| Coconut sugar | 155 g | Coarse and irregular |
| Pearl sugar | 170 g | Decorating only |
Liquid sugars
Syrups are dense, so a cup weighs far more than a cup of granulated sugar.
| Syrup (1 US cup) | Grams | 1 tablespoon |
|---|---|---|
| Honey | 340 g | 21 g |
| Maple syrup | 315 g | 20 g |
| Corn syrup (light or dark) | 325 g | 20 g |
| Golden syrup | 340 g | 21 g |
| Molasses | 340 g | 21 g |
| Agave syrup | 325 g | 20 g |
A light coat of oil on the measuring cup lets syrups slide out cleanly. Even better, set the bowl on a scale and pour.
Why weight beats volume for sugar
Granulated sugar is one of the more forgiving ingredients to measure by volume, but brown and powdered sugar are not. How firmly you pack brown sugar can change a cup by 40 g or more, and powdered sugar shifts by about 20% depending on whether it was sifted.
Sugar does a lot more than sweeten. It holds onto water (it's hygroscopic), keeps cakes moist, tenderizes by interfering with gluten and egg proteins, helps cookies spread, and browns through caramelization. Too much or too little changes texture, not just taste. Weighing removes that guesswork.
Converting a metric-cup recipe
In a 250 mL metric cup (older Canadian recipes, Australia, New Zealand), granulated sugar weighs about 211 g, packed brown sugar about 232 g and unsifted icing sugar about 127 g.
Quick reverse conversions
| Grams of granulated sugar | US cups |
|---|---|
| 50 g | ¼ cup |
| 100 g | ½ cup |
| 150 g | ¾ cup |
| 250 g | 1¼ cups |
| 500 g | 2½ cups |
| 1 kg | 5 cups |
For flour, butter and other ingredients on the same basis, see cups to grams.
Questions
How many grams is 1 cup of brown sugar?
One US cup of firmly packed brown sugar weighs about 220 g. Light and dark brown sugar weigh about the same; only the molasses content differs.
How many grams are in a tablespoon of sugar?
A level tablespoon of granulated sugar weighs about 12.5 g, and a level teaspoon about 4 g.
Is caster sugar the same weight per cup as granulated sugar?
Close enough for baking. Caster (superfine) sugar weighs about 200 g per US cup, the same as granulated, so you can swap them gram for gram.
How many cups is 1 kg of sugar?
One kilogram of granulated sugar is about 5 US cups. The same 1 kg of packed brown sugar is about 4½ cups.