How Many Milliliters in a Cup?

Answer

236.6 ml

There are 236.6 milliliters in 1 US cup.

UK: 1 metric cup (250 ml) = 250 ml

Exact: 1 cup = 236.5882365 ml

cup
ml
1 cup = 236.6 ml

Measurement system

Cups to Milliliters conversion chart

Cups to milliliters (US units)
Cups Milliliters
one eighth cup 29.57
one quarter cup 59.15
one third cup 78.86
three eighths cup 88.72
one half cup 118.3
five eighths cup 147.9
two thirds cup 157.7
three quarters cup 177.4
seven eighths cup 207
1 cup236.6
1 and one quarter cups 295.7
1 and one third cups 315.5
1 and one half cups 354.9
1 and two thirds cups 394.3
1 and three quarters cups 414
2 cups473.2
2 and one half cups 591.5
3 cups709.8
4 cups946.4
5 cups1,183
6 cups1,420
8 cups1,893
10 cups2,366
12 cups2,839
16 cups3,785
How Many Milliliters in a Cup - Cups to ml Converter
Cups to milliliters chart from 1/8 cup to 16 cups, as a card to save or print.

How to convert cups to milliliters

milliliters = cups × 236.588

Example: 2 1/2 cups × 236.588 = 591.5 ml.

Find out how many milliliters are in a cup. Convert cups to milliliters instantly, see a chart from 1/8 to 16 cups and get the exact formula.
On the scale, 1 cup lines up with 236.6 milliliters; read any other amount straight across.

Multiply the cups by 236.6 to get milliliters (millilitres). Most cooks round the factor to 237, which is close enough for any recipe written in whole milliliters.

Fractions of a cup follow the same rule:

  • 1/4 cup = 59.15 ml
  • 1/3 cup = 78.86 ml
  • 1/2 cup = 118.3 ml
  • 2/3 cup = 157.7 ml
  • 3/4 cup = 177.4 ml

Once the total passes about 1,000 ml, liters are easier to read. The cups to liters converter handles those bigger batches, and the milliliters to cups converter takes you back the other way.

US vs UK cups

Three different cups turn up in recipes and on packages. A US measuring cup holds 236.6 ml, the cup on US nutrition labels is 240 ml under FDA labeling rules, and the metric cup of the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand is 250 ml.

When a recipe prints both cups and milliliters, measure the milliliters. That number also tells you which cup the writer used. In spoons, a metric cup is 16.91 tbsp, while a US cup is 16 tbsp.

cup sizes by country
Unit Size Used in
US cup236.6 mlUS
US legal cup240 mlUS nutrition labels
metric cup250 mlUK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand

Filling a metric jug to one US cup

If your jug shows only milliliters, pour to just below the 240 ml line for one US cup. For 1/2 cup, stop a hair under 120 ml, and for 1/4 cup, a hair under 60 ml.

Read the line at eye level with the jug on the counter, since looking from above or below skews the reading.

A jug is a poor tool for flour or sugar, because the surface is hard to level and read. Weigh dry ingredients instead with the cups to grams converter.

Cups and milliliters: questions

Is 1 cup 250 ml or 240 ml?

Neither, if you mean a US measuring cup, which holds 236.6 ml. The 250 ml cup is the metric cup used outside the US, and the 240 ml cup is the rounded size on US nutrition labels. For most cooking the three are close enough to swap.

Is 200 ml a cup?

No. 200 ml fills 0.8454 cup, which lands between the 3/4 cup and 1 cup marks. In a recipe that uses metric cups, it is 0.8 cup. A 200 ml carton of juice therefore holds a little less than a cup in either system.

How many milliliters are in half a cup?

Half a US cup is 118.3 ml, and a quarter cup is 59.1 ml. On a metric jug, 120 ml and 60 ml are close enough, because each is off by less than a teaspoon.

How can I measure a cup without a measuring cup?

Use any container marked in milliliters and fill it to 237 ml. For water, a kitchen scale works too, because a US cup of water weighs about 237 grams. The scale trick does not carry over to oil, honey or flour, which weigh differently for the same volume.

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Sources: Unit definitions: NIST Handbook 44 · Last reviewed · Report an error

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