Milliliter to Cup
Convert milliliter (mL) to cup (cup) instantly. Switch kitchen and metric volumes easily.
Milliliter → Cup
0.004227
cup
1 mL = 0.004227 cup
Frequently asked questions
It depends which cup, and there are at least four. The US legal cup used on nutrition labels is 240 ml; the US customary cup that most American recipes mean is 236.588 ml; the metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand and much Indian and British recipe writing is 250 ml; and the Japanese cup is 200 ml. This calculator uses 240 ml.
Because cups measure volume while baking depends on mass, and the two do not track reliably for dry ingredients. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 g to 150 g depending on whether it was scooped, spooned or sifted — a variation of up to 25% in the ingredient that most determines the outcome. If a recipe offers both, use the grams.
No. A katori ranges from roughly 150 to 250 ml depending on the household and region, so nutritional information based on one katori of dal carries the same imprecision as a cup measurement. For anything where the quantity matters — nutrition tracking or a recipe you want to reproduce — weighing is the only reliable approach.
The cup is not a standard unit
Converting millilitres to cups looks simple and is genuinely unreliable, because a cup is not a standardised measure and at least four different values circulate.
- US legal cup — 240 ml. Used on US nutrition labels.
- US customary cup — 236.588 ml, defined as half a US pint. What most American recipes actually mean.
- Metric cup — 250 ml. Used in Australia, New Zealand and in much Indian and British recipe writing.
- Japanese cup — 200 ml.
The spread between 200 and 250 ml is 25%, which is more than enough to ruin a baked recipe.
This calculator uses the 240 ml legal cup, which sits close to the US customary value and is the most common convention in nutrition data.
Common values
At 240 ml per cup:
- 60 ml = 0.25 cup
- 120 ml = 0.5 cup
- 180 ml = 0.75 cup
- 240 ml = 1 cup
- 480 ml = 2 cups
- 1,000 ml = 4.17 cups
Smaller measures, which are more consistent across systems:
- 1 teaspoon = about 5 ml
- 1 tablespoon = about 15 ml (US and metric), but 20 ml in Australia
- 1 US fluid ounce = 29.574 ml
The Australian tablespoon is a genuine trap — a recipe calling for three tablespoons means 45 ml in most places and 60 ml in Australia.
Why volume is the wrong measure for dry ingredients
The deeper problem is not which cup, but that cups measure volume while baking depends on mass.
A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 g to 150 g depending on whether it was scooped, spooned or sifted, and how much it settled. That is a variation of up to 25% in the single ingredient that most determines the outcome of a baked good.
Typical weights per 240 ml cup:
- All-purpose flour (maida) — 120–125 g spooned and levelled
- Granulated sugar — 200 g
- Brown sugar, packed — 220 g
- Butter — 227 g
- Milk or water — 240 g
- Rice, uncooked — 185 g
Serious baking recipes give weights for exactly this reason. If a recipe offers both, use the grams — it removes the largest source of inconsistency, and a kitchen scale is inexpensive.
The Indian katori
Indian recipes frequently measure in katori, which is no more standardised than the cup — a katori ranges from roughly 150 to 250 ml depending on the household and the region. Nutritional information based on "one katori of dal" carries the same imprecision.
For anything where the quantity matters — nutrition tracking, or a recipe you want to reproduce — weighing is the only reliable approach.
Liquids are more forgiving
For water, milk and oil, volume measurement is fine, because liquids do not compress or settle. The cup-size ambiguity still applies, but the within-cup variation does not, so the error is bounded at the difference between conventions rather than compounding with technique.