WATCH: Jules Sebastian shows how to make corn ribs with an air fryer
The Difference Between An American and An Australian Cup
Not many Australians know, but one cup US in volume is equal to 0.95 cups in Australian recipes, so when you are cooking an American recipe, you need to slightly reduce the quantity you’re using.
The Standard Australian Cup
A standard cup in both Australia and New Zealand is equal to 250ml, therefore the following can be determined.
A standard cup in both Australia and New Zealand is equal to 250ml.
Getty
Metric Cups and Spoons
Cups
Grams
1 cup
250g
3/4 cup
190g
2/3 cup
170g
1/2 cup
125g
1/3 cup
80g
1/4 cup
60g
1 tablespoon
20g
1 teaspoon
5g
One dessert spoon is the equivalent of two teaspoons.
When you are cooking an American recipe, you need to slightly reduce the quantity you’re using.
Getty
Unfortunately, when converting ingredients from grams to cups it isn’t that simple. For example, one cup of butter will weigh more than one cup of quinoa flakes. The table below will help you convert a couple of the most common recipe ingredients.
Common ingredients
Cups
Weight (g)
Butter
1
250
Flour
1
125
Caster sugar
1
220
White sugar
1
220
Brown sugar
1
155
Icing sugar
1
155
Milk
1
150
Water
1
1000
Rice
1
155
Honey and golden syrup
1
350
Rolled oats
1
90
For the exact conversion for different ingredients use this calculator.
You can also use this page to convert some of your favourite ingredients from millilitres to cups.
Lottie DalzielLottie Dalziel is a 4AM riser and coffee-addict who lives and breathes the Better Homes and Gardens brand. When she isn't reading up on the latest trends in sustainability or discovering ways to upcycle almost anything, you can find her by the beach, cooking up a storm or adding to her abundant (some would say out of control) plant collection.
Making new recipes has never been easier as any and all recipes are available at our fingertips through the magic that is Google. But one thing I noticed, and that ultimately lead me to create my blog, was that as an Australian, many of the new recipes I wanted to try included ingredients and measurements that I was not familiar with.
For this reason, you will find that the recipes I publish use metric measurements and Australian language. If you are a visitor from the US, I wanted to make interpreting my recipes easier for you so I put this handy conversion guide together. It is something I wish I had when using American recipe sites as it would have saved so much time googling conversions and ingredient alternatives.
Aussie friends, bookmark this page. I guarantee it will come in handy the next time you are wanting to convert a recipe from US to AU measurements.
Use the links below to jump to the following sections:
Products/Ingredients
Cups Around The World
1 Cup Weight Conversions
Liquids
Oven Temperatures
Products/Ingredients
There are many products in Australia that are the same in the States, but happen to go buy a slightly different name. Here are a few of the key ones, especially when it comes to baking!
AustraliaUSAPlain FlourAll Purpose FlourBicarbonate of SodaBaking SodaIcing Sugar Mixture*Confectioners’ Sugar / Powdered SugarWhite SugarGranulated SugarCaster SugarSuper-fine SugarCornflourCornstarchWholemeal FlourWhole Wheat Flour* The most common form of icing sugar used in Australian baking is icing sugar mixture. Which is finely powdered sugar with a small percentage of cornflour added. You can also buy pure icing sugar here however it is prone to going rock hard in the pantry which is why the mixture is generally preferred.
Measuring Cups Around the World
Cups are a different volume around the world.
Country1 CupAustralia250mlNew Zealand250mlUS240 mlUK225mlAs you can see, the US is close enough that standard measurements between Australian and US recipes will be fine. The UK however will need to apply conversions when making recipes from either the US or Australia.
1 cup = What?
Different ingredients have different weights therefore when wanting to measure 1 cup in weight, the ingredient type needs to be considered. Here are some common ingredient weights.
Ingredient per 1 cupWeightPlain or SR Flour125gWhite or Caster Sugar220gBrown Sugar, lightly packed155gIcing Sugar155gRolled Oats90gButter or Margarine250gLiquids
Liquids are usually measured in millilitres here in Australia, and fluid ounces in the US. But what happens when you don’t have a measuring cup that has millilitres or fluid ounces? This table takes into account regular cups as well.
MetricCupImperial30ml 1 fl oz60ml¼ cup2 fl oz80ml⅓ cup2 ¾ fl oz100ml 3 ½ fl oz125ml½ cup4 fl oz150ml 5 fl oz180ml¾ cup6 fl oz200ml 7 fl oz250ml1 cup8 ¾ fl oz310ml1 ¼ cups10 ½ fl oz375ml1 ½ cups13 fl oz430ml1 ¾ cups15 fl oz475ml 16 fl oz500ml2 cups17 fl oz625ml2 ½ cups21 ½ fl oz750ml3 cups26 fl oz1L4 cups35 fl ozOven Temperatures
CelsiusFahrenheit120º250º150º300º160º325º180º350º190º375º200º400º230º450ºNote that if you are using a fan-forced oven, cooking times will be quicker so start checking your food earlier than the recipe specifies.