1 Cup All-Purpose Flour in Grams
1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 g (spooned and levelled, King Arthur Baking). The standard white wheat flour for most baking, milled from a blend of hard and soft wheat. All the figures on this page are approximate conversions based on the King Arthur Baking value, so when a recipe really matters, verify with a kitchen scale.
Why weighing all-purpose flour beats measuring it in cups
Bakers talk about flour in grams for a good reason: flour is compressible, and cups measure volume, not mass. Every time you push a measuring cup into a bag of flour you compact it, and the amount that ends up in the cup depends on how hard you pushed, how settled the bag was, and how humid the day is. Professional recipes are written in grams precisely so that the result is the same in every kitchen. Converting cups to grams removes that variability, so a recipe that worked for the author works for you too.
The standard white wheat flour for most baking, milled from a blend of hard and soft wheat. It is used for cakes, cookies, breads, pastry and sauces. That range of uses is part of why the conversion comes up so often: the same ingredient appears in everyday cooking and in precise baking, and the two situations demand different levels of accuracy.
All-Purpose Flour cups to grams conversion table
| Cups | Grams | Tablespoons (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 30 g | 1.9 g |
| 1/3 cup | 40 g | 2.5 g |
| 1/2 cup | 60 g | 3.8 g |
| 2/3 cup | 80 g | 5 g |
| 3/4 cup | 90 g | 5.6 g |
| 1 cup | 120 g | 7.5 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 180 g | 11.2 g |
| 2 cups | 240 g | 15 g |
| 3 cups | 360 g | 22.5 g |
| 4 cups | 480 g | 30 g |
The tablespoon column is a bonus for recipes that call for a spoonful or two: one tablespoon of all-purpose flour weighs about 7.5 g. Remember that a cup is 16 tablespoons, so the numbers in the table are just the cup weight divided by 16, rounded to one decimal place. For small amounts a scale that reads to the gram is far more reliable than a spoon, because a heaped tablespoon can weigh half as much again as a level one.
How the weight was measured
Spooned and levelled means spooning the ingredient into the measuring cup until it is heaped, then sweeping a straight knife across the top to level it off. Never scoop the cup through the bag or jar, and never tap the cup down, because both pack the ingredient and add weight.
The source for the 120 g figure is King Arthur Baking, and the confidence in the value is high. King Arthur Baking publishes a standard ingredient weight chart that recipe developers use as a reference, and this page follows it exactly rather than averaging across sources, because an average of two different measuring methods is a number that matches nobody's cup. There is a dispute worth knowing about. Flour weight is the most disputed conversion in baking: King Arthur lists 120 g per cup spooned and levelled, while other sources quote 125 g, 130 g and up to 142 g for a scooped cup. We use the King Arthur spooned-and-levelled value as primary. The practical advice is simple: use the value in the table above, measure the way the table describes, and your results will match the recipes this site is built around. If a recipe you are following was written with a different value, follow that recipe's value instead of ours, because consistency within one recipe matters more than which authoritative number you pick.
Worked examples
Halving a cookie recipe
Halving a cookie recipe that uses 1 cup of all-purpose flour means 1/2 cup, which is 60 g. Half-cup measures are notoriously inaccurate with flour because the small cup packs differently, so weighing 60 g is the reliable way to halve a recipe without the cookies turning out cakey or flat.
Doubling a bread dough
Doubling a bread recipe that uses 3 cups of all-purpose flour means 3 cups, or 360 g. Bread dough is forgiving and can be adjusted by feel, but starting from 360 g means the hydration is right from the first mix, and you are not adding flour by the handful to fix a sticky dough.
A pancake batter on a busy morning
A pancake recipe asking for 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour needs 180 g. Pancakes are quick, and weighing the flour straight into the bowl on the scale is actually faster than spooning and levelling three half-cups, and the batter is lump-free because you have not compressed the flour.
When this conversion matters most
This conversion matters most in baking, where flour is the structure of the recipe. In a yeast bread the effect of an extra 20 g is small, because the dough can be adjusted, but in a cake, a sponge or a batch of macarons the same error can be the difference between success and failure. It also matters when you are following a recipe from another country: most of the world bakes in grams, and a cup measure is an American habit. Converting to grams lets you use any recipe, from any source, with the same confidence.
Common mistakes with all-purpose flour
- Scooping straight from the bag. Pushing the cup into the bag compresses the flour and can add 20 g or more per cup. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it off with a knife instead.
- Skipping the scale for cakes. Cakes and delicate batters have no room for a 20 g error. If you own a scale, weigh the flour even when the recipe gives cups.
- Measuring sifted flour the same as unsifted. Sifting adds air and lightens flour, so a cup of sifted flour weighs less than a cup of unsifted flour. Measure before sifting unless the recipe says otherwise.
- Using a liquid measuring jug for flour. Jugs are for pouring, and you cannot level flour in one. Use a dry measuring cup or, better, a scale.
Storage and handling
Airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 year. Keeping all-purpose flour stored properly also keeps its weight per cup stable: an ingredient that has absorbed moisture from the air weighs more per cup than a dry one, so a sealed container is not just about freshness, it is about measurement accuracy too. If a bag has been open for months in a humid kitchen, the first thing to do before a precise bake is to weigh the ingredient rather than trusting the cup.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of all-purpose flour?
1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 g, measured spooned and levelled according to King Arthur Baking. That is the figure to use when converting a recipe from cups to grams, and it is the value the conversion table on this page is built on.
How do I measure all-purpose flour without a scale?
Spooned and levelled means spooning the ingredient into the measuring cup until it is heaped, then sweeping a straight knife across the top to level it off. Never scoop the cup through the bag or jar, and never tap the cup down, because both pack the ingredient and add weight. That gives the closest result to 120 g per cup, but it is still an estimate: the honest answer is that a scale is the only way to know the exact weight, and a basic digital kitchen scale costs less than a bag of good flour.
Does all-purpose flour always weigh the same per cup?
No. Brand, grind, moisture and how settled the container is all shift the weight by a few grams, and for flour the swing can be 20 g or more. The 120 g figure is the standard King Arthur Baking value for all-purpose flour measured spooned and levelled, and it is the right default, but when a recipe is precise, weigh the ingredient and trust the scale over the cup.
Why do different websites give different weights for all-purpose flour?
Because they are measuring different things. Flour weight is the most disputed conversion in baking: King Arthur lists 120 g per cup spooned and levelled, while other sources quote 125 g, 130 g and up to 142 g for a scooped cup. We use the King Arthur spooned-and-levelled value as primary. A source that scoops will always report a heavier cup than a source that spoons and levels, and both can be correct about their own method. The fix is to pick one source and one method and stick with it for the whole recipe.
How should I store all-purpose flour?
Airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 year. Good storage keeps the ingredient fresh and keeps its weight per cup consistent, because moisture absorbed from the air adds grams that the recipe did not ask for.
What is all-purpose flour used for?
Cakes, cookies, breads, pastry and sauces. The standard white wheat flour for most baking, milled from a blend of hard and soft wheat.
Related conversions
Use the cups to grams converter or the grams to cups converter for instant answers, or browse the cups to grams hub for the full ingredient list. Related pages: Cake Flour in cups to grams, Bread Flour in cups to grams, Whole Wheat Flour in cups to grams, 120 g of all-purpose flour in cups. More tools: cups to grams converter, grams to cups converter, flour substitute converter, recipe scaler. See also our disclaimer about approximate conversions.