Cooking & Kitchen

Weight vs Volume in Cooking

Definition

Weight measurement in cooking uses mass units (grams, ounces) rather than volume units (cups, tablespoons) to specify ingredient amounts.

Explanation

A cup of sifted flour weighs about 113 g, while an unsifted packed cup can reach 160 g—a 40% difference that collapses a cake recipe. Professional and pastry recipes almost universally specify grams for this reason. A kitchen scale also reduces the number of measuring cups to wash. The US remains unusual globally in relying on volume measures for home baking.

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RELATED TERMS

Cup (Measurement)

A cooking volume unit. The US cup equals 236.588 ml; the metric cup is 250 ml.

Tablespoon

A cooking volume unit. The US tablespoon equals approximately 14.787 ml.

Teaspoon

A cooking volume unit. The US teaspoon equals approximately 4.929 ml.

Fluid Ounce

A fluid ounce is a unit of liquid volume, with the US fluid ounce equal to 29.5735 mL and the imperial (UK) fluid ounce equal to 28.4131 mL.

Dash & Pinch

A dash is an informal culinary measure of approximately 1/8 teaspoon (0.6 mL), and a pinch is approximately 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 mL).