1 Cup Olive Oil in Grams
1 cup of olive oil weighs 216 g (poured, USDA). Oil pressed from olives; extra virgin is best uncooked, refined suits frying. All the figures on this page are approximate conversions based on the USDA value, so when a recipe really matters, verify with a kitchen scale.
Why weighing olive oil beats measuring it in cups
A cup of fat is one of the least reliable cup measures in the kitchen. Solid fats trap air when scooped, liquid fats cling to the sides of the cup, and both behave differently at different temperatures. Butter straight from the fridge packs differently from butter that has softened on the counter. Grams cut through all of that: 227 g of butter is 227 g of butter whatever the temperature, and the recipe works the same way every time.
Oil pressed from olives; extra virgin is best uncooked, refined suits frying. It is used for dressings, roasting, frying and bread dipping. 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.
Olive Oil cups to grams conversion table
| Cups | Grams | Tablespoons (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 54 g | 3.4 g |
| 1/3 cup | 72 g | 4.5 g |
| 1/2 cup | 108 g | 6.8 g |
| 2/3 cup | 144 g | 9 g |
| 3/4 cup | 162 g | 10.1 g |
| 1 cup | 216 g | 13.5 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 324 g | 20.2 g |
| 2 cups | 432 g | 27 g |
| 3 cups | 648 g | 40.5 g |
| 4 cups | 864 g | 54 g |
The tablespoon column is a bonus for recipes that call for a spoonful or two: one tablespoon of olive oil weighs about 13.5 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
Poured means the ingredient is a liquid or a free-flowing syrup, so it is measured in a liquid measuring jug with a spout, read at eye level. Liquids settle flat, so there is no packing or levelling to worry about, but a sticky liquid will cling to the jug, which is one more reason to weigh it instead.
The source for the 216 g figure is USDA, and the confidence in the value is high. USDA 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. USDA gives 216 g per cup (0.91 g/ml); the King Arthur chart lists 200 g. We use the USDA density value. 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
A cake that needs half a cup
A cake recipe asking for 1/2 cup of olive oil needs 108 g. Half a cup of a solid fat is hard to measure accurately in a cup, because it never fills the corners evenly. Weighing 108 g straight into the bowl is faster and more accurate.
Frying for a family dinner
A frying recipe that calls for 2 cups of olive oil needs 432 g. When oil is weighed rather than poured from a jug, you know exactly how much is in the pan, which matters for shallow frying where the depth of oil controls how evenly food cooks.
A double batch of brownies
Doubling brownies that use 1 cup of olive oil means 2 cups, or 432 g. Brownies are rich and the fat ratio decides whether they are fudgy or cakey, so weighing 432 g keeps the doubled batch identical to the original.
When this conversion matters most
This conversion matters most in pastry and cakes, where fat is doing structural work. Shortcrust pastry, puff pastry and laminated doughs all depend on a precise ratio of fat to flour, and a cup of fat measured badly will throw that ratio off. It also matters when you are substituting one fat for another: butter, oil and shortening do not weigh the same per cup, so swapping them by volume is a mistake. Convert by weight, and the substitution behaves as expected.
Common mistakes with olive oil
- Measuring melted fat in a dry cup. Melted fat should be measured in a liquid jug or weighed, not scooped into a dry cup, because it clings and pours unevenly.
- Guessing a tablespoon of butter. Butter packaging is marked in tablespoons for a reason. One stick is 113 g, which is half a cup, and cutting by the marks is more accurate than eyeballing.
- Using cold butter volume for a recipe that needs softened. Cold butter packs more densely than softened butter. Weigh it instead of relying on the cup, and the temperature stops mattering.
- Leaving fat in the measuring cup. Oil and melted butter cling to the cup, so what you measured is not what reached the bowl. Weighing in the mixing bowl avoids the loss entirely.
Storage and handling
Cool, dark place away from the stove; use within 6 months of opening. Keeping olive oil 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 olive oil?
1 cup of olive oil weighs 216 g, measured poured according to USDA. 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 olive oil without a scale?
Poured means the ingredient is a liquid or a free-flowing syrup, so it is measured in a liquid measuring jug with a spout, read at eye level. Liquids settle flat, so there is no packing or levelling to worry about, but a sticky liquid will cling to the jug, which is one more reason to weigh it instead. That gives the closest result to 216 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 olive oil 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 216 g figure is the standard USDA value for olive oil measured poured, 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 olive oil?
Because they are measuring different things. USDA gives 216 g per cup (0.91 g/ml); the King Arthur chart lists 200 g. We use the USDA density value. 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 olive oil?
Cool, dark place away from the stove; use within 6 months of opening. 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 olive oil used for?
Dressings, roasting, frying and bread dipping. Oil pressed from olives; extra virgin is best uncooked, refined suits frying.
Related conversions
Use the cups to grams converter or the butter stick converter for instant answers, or browse the cups to grams hub for the full ingredient list. Related pages: Butter in cups to grams, Vegetable Oil in cups to grams, Coconut Oil in cups to grams. More tools: cups to grams converter, butter stick converter, butter to oil converter, weight converter. See also our disclaimer about approximate conversions.