How Many Cups in a Kilogram?

Multiply the kilograms by the number of cups that one kilogram of the ingredient fills. The factor above is for water. Every other food has its own factor, set by how much a cup of it weighs.

Granulated sugar makes a tidy example: by USDA's cup weight, a kilogram fills 5 US cups. A 2 kg bag of sugar therefore holds 2 × 5 = 10 cups.

Kilograms are large next to cups, so even half a kilo turns into several cups. If you would rather work in smaller steps, convert to grams first with kilograms to grams.

In British and Australian kitchens a cup usually means the 250 ml metric cup, slightly larger than a US cup. A kilogram of water fills exactly 4 metric cups, which is an easy number to keep in mind.

Other foods shrink by the same proportion. A kilogram of all-purpose flour fills about 7.57 metric cups instead of 8 US cups, so check which set of cups sits in your drawer.

A kilogram weighs the same whatever it is made of, but the space it takes up changes a lot. A kilo of butter packs into about 4.41 cups, while a kilo of shredded cheese spreads over about 8.85 cups, twice as many.

Produce falls in between. A kilogram of diced raw potato fills about 6.67 cups and a kilogram of whole blueberries about 6.76 cups, because the pieces leave pockets of air around them.

Before a big bake, check that one bag will cover the recipe. Convert the bag's weight into cups, then compare that with the cups the recipe asks for.

A 1.5 kg bag of all-purpose flour gives about 12 US cups, and a kilogram of powdered sugar (icing sugar) about 8.33 cups. Plan on a little less, since cups packed by scooping use up flour faster.