Cups to ML formula
1 US cup = 236.5882365 millilitres, and 1 millilitre = 0.004226752838 US cups. 8 US fl oz, about 236.6 ml (the customary cup in US recipes).
Cups to ML chart
| US cups (cup (US)) | Millilitres (ml) |
|---|---|
| 0.125 | 29.5735 |
| 0.25 | 59.1471 |
| 0.5 | 118.2941 |
| 0.75 | 177.4412 |
| 1 | 236.5882 |
| 1.25 | 295.7353 |
| 1.5 | 354.8824 |
| 1.75 | 414.0294 |
| 2 | 473.1765 |
| 2.5 | 591.4706 |
| 3 | 709.7647 |
| 4 | 946.3529 |
| 5 | 1,182.9412 |
| 6 | 1,419.5294 |
| 8 | 1,892.7059 |
Values are rounded to 4 decimal places. The converter above shows more precision.
Worked examples
Half a cup of milk in pancakes
0.5 cup (US) × 236.5882365 = 118.2941 ml
0.5 US cups = 118.2941 millilitres. About 118 ml. If your jug only marks every 25 ml, 120 ml is close enough.
Two cups of stock for a soup
2 cup (US) × 236.5882365 = 473.1765 ml
2 US cups = 473.1765 millilitres. About 473 ml, just under half a litre. Using 500 ml from a carton adds only a splash more.
Converting US cups to millilitres in real life
"Cup" is not one fixed size, which is why baking from a recipe written in another country can go wrong:
- US customary cup: 236.59 ml (8 US fl oz). Used in most American recipes and cookbooks.
- US legal cup: exactly 240 ml. Used for serving sizes on US nutrition labels.
- Metric cup: 250 ml. Used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.
For liquids like milk or stock, the 5% gap rarely matters. For flour and sugar it can, and cups are a rough way to measure dry ingredients anyway, because a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 150 g depending on how it is packed. When a recipe gives grams, weigh instead. Small amounts are easier with tbsp to ml.