Ounces to Cups (oz to cups)

Divide the fluid ounces by 8. On this page, "ounces" means US fluid ounces, the volume unit written as fl oz on liquid measuring cups and on US drink labels.

For 6 fl oz of cream, 6 ÷ 8 = 3/4 cup. For 20 fl oz of broth, the answer is 2 1/2 cups.

Some results land between the lines of a cup set. 5 fl oz comes to 5/8 cup, so measure 1/2 cup and add 2 tablespoons for the last ounce.

A British recipe that lists liquids in fluid ounces means imperial ones. Each is 28.41 ml, a little less than the US fluid ounce of 29.57 ml.

The gap grows with the amount. Half an imperial pint, or 10 fluid ounces, is 1.201 US cups, while 10 fl oz in US units is exactly 1 1/4 cups.

So before you divide by 8, check whether the recipe is American or British. A British recipe with cups usually means the 250 ml metric cup instead.

Only if you know the ingredient. A bag of shredded cheese or chocolate chips lists ounces of weight, marked oz without the fl, and dividing that number by 8 gives the wrong answer.

Dividing by eight would give 1 cup for any food, yet USDA figures show how far apart foods can be. 8 oz of shredded cheddar fills about 2 cups, but 8 oz of all-purpose flour fills about 1.8 cups.

For foods sold by weight, use the grams to cups converter or an ingredient page such as shredded cheese.

Drink recipes give each pour in fluid ounces. To fill a pitcher, multiply every pour by the number of glasses, then divide by 8.

Eight glasses make the math easy, because the ounces per glass become the cups in the pitcher. A drink with 2 fl oz of juice and 1/2 fl oz of syrup per glass needs 2 cups of juice and 1/2 cup of syrup for eight.

Measure the totals in a liquid measuring cup set on a flat counter, and read the line at eye level, as the NIST measuring tips advise.