SpicesKitchen conversions
US, UK and Australian cups, tablespoons and pints
An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml, a US one 14.8 ml and a UK one 15 ml: cups, spoons and pints change size with the country a recipe comes from. The differences are small for a cup of stock and large for a tablespoon of baking powder.
Same word, different size
- 1 US tablespoon
- 14.8 ml
- 1 Australian tablespoon
- 20 ml
- 1 US cup
- 237 ml
- 1 UK pint
- 568 ml
Kitchen measures by country
| Measure | United States | UK and metric | Australia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teaspoon | 4.9 ml | 5 ml | 5 ml |
| Tablespoon | 14.8 ml | 15 ml | 20 ml |
| Cup | 237 ml | 250 ml | 250 ml |
| Fluid ounce | 29.6 ml | 28.4 ml | – |
| Pint | 473 ml | 568 ml | 570 ml |
| Quart | 946 ml | 1.14 l | – |
| Gallon | 3.79 l | 4.55 l | – |
“Metric” covers recipes from Canada, New Zealand and most modern UK cookbooks that use cups. Australia uses the metric cup and teaspoon but a 20 ml tablespoon.
US cups to millilitres
| US measure | Millilitres |
|---|---|
| 1 cup | 237 ml |
| ¾ cup | 177 ml |
| ⅔ cup | 158 ml |
| ½ cup | 118 ml |
| ⅓ cup | 79 ml |
| ¼ cup | 59 ml |
| 1 tablespoon | 14.8 ml |
| 1 teaspoon | 4.9 ml |
When the difference matters
- Australian tablespoons hold a third more than US or UK ones. Two tablespoons of baking powder in an Australian recipe is 8 teaspoons, not 6.
- Pints differ by 20%. A British recipe that asks for a pint of milk means 568 ml.
- Cups differ by about 6%. That rarely matters for soup, but it can for a cake. For flour and sugar, weigh instead: see cups to grams.
- Japanese rice cups are 180 ml, the size of the cup that comes with a rice cooker.
In Spices, each recipe keeps its own measures
Spices works out where each recipe’s cups and spoons come from before converting them to the measures you use, so a tablespoon from an Australian site counts as 20 ml and a cup from an American one as 237 ml.
More kitchen conversions
- Cups to gramsFlour, sugar, butter, oats, nuts and 29 more, from a whole cup down to a teaspoon.
- Butter: sticks, cups and tablespoons to grams1 stick is 113 g. Every common butter amount, both ways.
- Oven temperatures: °F, °C, fan and gas mark350 °F is 175 °C, or 155 °C in a fan oven, with gas marks too.
- US and UK ingredient namesHeavy cream is double cream and cilantro is coriander. 34 names, with Dutch too.
Questions
Is an Australian tablespoon different?
Yes. An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml, or 4 teaspoons. A US tablespoon is 14.8 ml and a UK one is 15 ml, both 3 teaspoons. For baking powder, salt or gelatine in an Australian recipe, use 4 teaspoons per tablespoon.
How many ml is a US cup?
A US cup is 236.6 ml, usually rounded to 237 or 240 ml. The metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many UK recipes is 250 ml.
Is a UK pint bigger than a US pint?
Yes. A UK (imperial) pint is 568 ml and a US pint is 473 ml, so a UK pint is about 20% larger. UK fluid ounces are slightly smaller than US ones, and there are 20 to a UK pint against 16 to a US pint.
How do I tell if a recipe uses US or metric cups?
Look at where it was published and its other clues: °F temperatures, sticks of butter and words like ‘all-purpose flour’ point to the US. ‘Plain flour’, ‘caster sugar’ and gas marks point to the UK; ‘fan-forced’ points to Australia.
Let your recipes convert themselves
Spices shows every saved recipe in the units, oven setting and ingredient names you use, and you can switch back to the original at any time. In testing for iPhone and iPad.