1/2 Cup Water in Grams
1/2 cup of water weighs 118.5 g (poured, USDA). The reference liquid for all volume-to-weight conversion. 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.
The reference liquid for all volume-to-weight conversion. It is used for every kind of cooking, baking and drinks. 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. Knowing the weight of half a cup, rather than guessing from a measuring cup, keeps the result consistent no matter which recipe you are following.
Why weighing half a cup of water beats measuring it in cups
Half a cup is the amount most recipes call for when a liquid is a main ingredient rather than a splash: a soup, a sauce, a cake batter or a marinade. water is mostly water by weight, so 118.5 g for 1/2 cup is close to the weight of water, but the small difference matters in baking, where liquid decides hydration and therefore texture. The 118.5 g figure on this page is the standard for water measured poured from USDA, so it gives you a fixed number to work from whether you are cooking a weekday dinner or a celebration cake. Once you know the weight, scaling a recipe up or down becomes simple arithmetic instead of a gamble.
Water cups to grams conversion table
| Cups | Grams (approx.) |
|---|---|
| 1/4 cup | 59.5 g |
| 1/3 cup | 79 g |
| 1/2 cup | 118.5 g |
| 2/3 cup | 158 g |
| 3/4 cup | 178 g |
| 1 cup | 237 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 355.5 g |
| 2 cups | 474 g |
| 3 cups | 711 g |
One tablespoon of water weighs about 15 g, and one teaspoon about 5 g. 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. The table is rounded to the nearest half gram, so the numbers are approximate by design; the half-cup figure of 118.5 g is the one to use when a recipe calls for half a cup.
How the weight was measured
Poured means pouring the ingredient into a liquid measuring jug on a flat surface and reading the level at eye level. Liquids level themselves, so there is no spooning or levelling involved, and the weight follows directly from the volume and the density.
The source for the 237 g per cup 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. One US cup is 236.6 ml, so water weighs 237 g. King Arthur rounds water to 227 g; we use the exact 237 g. 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.
All the figures on this page are approximate conversions. When a recipe really matters, verify with a kitchen scale: weigh the ingredient directly into the bowl on a tared scale and trust that number over any cup.
Worked examples
A bread dough
A bread recipe using 1/2 cup of water needs 118.5 g, and the liquid must be weighed precisely because hydration decides whether the dough is workable or sticky. Too much and the loaf spreads; too little and it turns dense. Weigh it and the dough will feel right from the first mix.
Scaling up a batch of sauce
A sauce that starts with 2 cups of water needs 474 g. At that scale a jug error compounds badly, and a thin sauce is hard to rescue, so weighing the full amount on a scale is the only sensible approach.
A dressing for a salad
A dressing calling for 1/3 cup of water needs about 79 g. The liquid balances oil and acid in the dressing, and weighing it keeps the balance right even when you scale the recipe for a crowd.
When this conversion matters most
The weight matters whenever water is doing structural work rather than just adding moisture. In a bread dough the liquid decides hydration; in a custard it decides whether the set is silky or rubbery; in a sauce it decides thickness. In a glass to drink, by contrast, a gram or two either way is invisible, so save the scale for the recipes where it counts and pour freely where it does not.
Common mistakes with water
- Pouring over the mixing bowl. Spilling a little extra into the bowl is easy and invisible. Pour over the sink, or weigh directly into the bowl on a tared scale.
- Rounding down to save time. Rounding 118.5 g to a neat number feels tidy but is a real error in a small bake. Keep the real figure; the scale does the work for you.
- Using a cold liquid when the recipe wants warm. Temperature changes how a liquid behaves in a dough, even though the weight barely changes. Warm it first if the recipe says so, then weigh 118.5 g.
- Measuring sticky liquids in a jug. Thick liquids cling to the jug and a spoonful stays behind. Weigh them instead, pouring straight into the bowl on a tared scale.
Storage and handling
No special storage needed. Keeping water 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 good storage is not just about freshness, it is about measurement accuracy too. If a container 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 1/2 cup of water?
1/2 cup of water weighs 118.5 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 water without a scale?
Poured means pouring the ingredient into a liquid measuring jug on a flat surface and reading the level at eye level. Liquids level themselves, so there is no spooning or levelling involved, and the weight follows directly from the volume and the density. That gives the closest result to 118.5 g per half-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.
How do I measure water without a scale?
Pour it into a liquid measuring jug on a flat surface and read the meniscus at eye level at the 1/2-cup line. That is the correct method for liquids, and it is reasonably accurate, but a scale reading 118.5 g is more reliable, especially for small amounts.
What is water used for?
Every kind of cooking, baking and drinks. The reference liquid for all volume-to-weight conversion.
Does 1/2 cup of water always weigh 118.5 g?
Almost. Liquids are far more consistent than dry ingredients: brand and temperature shift the weight by only a gram or two. The 118.5 g figure is the standard USDA value for water measured poured, and it is a reliable default.
How should I store water?
No special storage needed. 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.
Related conversions
Use the liquid volume converter or the cups to grams converter for instant answers, or browse the cups to grams hub for the full ingredient list. Related pages: Water in cups to grams, 1/2 cup vanilla extract in grams, 1/2 cup lemon juice in grams, 1/2 cup orange juice in grams. More tools: cups to grams converter, grams to cups converter, recipe scaler. See also our disclaimer about approximate conversions.