A kilogram of cream of tartar holds about 6.9 cups. That is the short answer: one cup weighs about 144 g spooned and levelled, and 1,000 divided by 144 is 6.9. The rest of this page is about using that number properly — when it is reliable, when it drifts, and how a kilogram of cream of tartar actually behaves in real recipes. Leavening is the one place where a cup error is not a matter of taste but of chemistry. A kilogram of cream of tartar is a bulk-buy quantity — a home baker may take a year to use it — and the cup count matters when a recipe written in cups meets a bag labelled in kilograms, or when you are scaling a bakery batch. Small errors here change rise, crumb and flavour, so the weighing advice on this page is not optional garnish.

That 6.9-cup figure is the one to remember, and it is worth knowing what sits behind it. Cream of Tartar is used for stabilising egg whites, activating baking soda and making baking powder, and in all of those jobs the recipe usually talks in cups while the shop sells by the kilogram. Acidic white powder left over from winemaking. The source for the cup weight is USDA, with medium confidence in the figure, and the method is spooned and levelled — spoon the ingredient into the cup and level it off, rather than scooping from the bag, which packs it down and adds weight. If you scoop, the same cup can hold noticeably more, and your 6.9-cup kilogram quietly becomes fewer cups than you counted on.

The conversion table

All figures below are computed from the same cup weight — one cup of cream of tartar is 144 g spooned and levelled — so the table is internally consistent. Grams are rounded to the nearest gram and cups to one decimal place; both are approximate.

Amount Cups Grams
100 g 0.7 cups 100 g
250 g (quarter kilogram) 1.7 cups 250 g
500 g (half kilogram) 3.5 cups 500 g
750 g 5.2 cups 750 g
1 kg 6.9 cups 1000 g
1.5 kg 10.4 cups 1500 g
2 kg 13.9 cups 2000 g
5 kg 34.7 cups 5000 g
Cups Grams
1/4 cups 36 g
1/2 cups 72 g
3/4 cups 108 g
1 cup 144 g
1.5 cups 216 g
2 cups 288 g
3 cups 432 g
4 cups 576 g
5 cups 720 g
8 cups 1152 g
10 cups 1440 g

A kilogram is also 2.20462 pounds, and a pound of cream of tartar is about 3.1 cups (454 g divided by 144 g per cup), so the kilogram figure of 6.9 cups is a little more than twice the pound figure. A tablespoon of cream of tartar weighs about 9.0 g and a teaspoon about 3.0 g, which is useful when a recipe calls for a spoonful rather than a cupful — though for spoon measures the scale is still the safer tool when the amount is small and the recipe is sensitive.

Worked example 1: buying a kilogram bag

Suppose you buy a 1 kg bag of cream of tartar for a bakery batch of sponge cakes. The bag holds about 6.9 cups, and if each batch needs 0.25 cups — 36 g — the bag covers about 27.8 batches. In practice you will lose a little to spillage and to the last spoonfuls that cling to the bag, so plan on 28 full batches and treat the remainder as a bonus. This is the calculation that tells you whether the bulk bag is actually a bargain: divide the price of the bag by 27.8 and you have the cost per batch, which you can compare honestly with the smaller bag on the shelf.

Worked example 2: a recipe written in cups

Now take the recipe the other way round. You are making a double batch of soda bread and the recipe calls for 0.125 cups of cream of tartar. That is 18 g, so if your scale reads in grams you can weigh it directly and skip the cup entirely. If you are doubling the recipe, you need 0.25 cups, which is 36 g; tripled, it is 0.375 cups or 54 g. And if you only have the kilogram bag and no smaller measure, remember that 0.125 cups is about 1.8 percent of the bag — a useful sense-check when you are pouring from a large bag into a bowl and wondering whether you have taken too much.

Worked example 3: using up a half kilogram

A half kilogram — 500 g — of cream of tartar is about 3.5 cups. If you are a week's worth of pancake batter for a cafe, and each serving or batch takes 0.5 cups (72 g), a half-kilogram pack gives you about 6.9 of them. A quarter kilogram, 250 g, is about 1.7 cups, and 100 g — the smallest pack size you will commonly see — is about 0.7 cups. Working from the bag downwards like this stops the most common bulk-buy mistake: opening a kilogram bag for a recipe that needs a quarter of it, and then storing the rest badly because there was no plan for it.

Method and source

The cup weight used on this page is 144 g per cup, measured spooned and levelled, from USDA. Confidence is rated medium: the figure comes from USDA data for this ingredient and is a sound average, but individual brands and grinds vary a little. The method matters as much as the number. Spooning and levelling means spooning the ingredient into the measuring cup until it is heaped, then sweeping a knife across the top; scooping the cup through the bag compresses the ingredient and can add 10 to 20 percent to the weight. For a poured ingredient the figure is for the ingredient poured into the cup without packing. Every cup result on this page is therefore labelled approximate, and the honest advice is to verify with a kitchen scale whenever the recipe matters — a scale that reads grams costs little and removes the whole problem.

Practical guidance

Keep cream of tartar away from moisture and strong smells, and keep it sealed: it absorbs odours and damp, and damp leavening loses its lift. Check the date on the bag, and if you are unsure whether an opened bag is still active, test a pinch in warm water with a little vinegar (for baking soda) or in hot water (for baking powder) and watch for fizz. Never guess a leavening quantity from a cup that was scooped from the bag — spoon and level it, or better, weigh it.

Storage for a kilogram of cream of tartar deserves a sentence of its own: Airtight jar, cool and dry, up to 3 years. A kilogram is a lot to store badly, so decant it into a sealed container as soon as the bag is opened, label it with the date, and keep the container where you will actually see it — ingredients hidden at the back of a cupboard are the ones that go stale unnoticed. If you buy in bulk to save money, the saving only survives if the second half of the bag is as fresh as the first when you reach it.

The most common mistake with kilogram-to-cup conversions is treating the cup as if it were a weight. It is not: a cup of water weighs 237 g, a cup of flour weighs 120 g, and a cup of shredded coconut weighs 85 g, all in the same cup. The cup measures volume, the kilogram measures weight, and the ingredient's density is the only bridge between them. That is why this site gives a different cup figure for every ingredient, and why a conversion you memorised for one ingredient will be wrong for the next. Keep the scale on the bench, use the cup figures as a planning tool, and weigh the ingredient when the recipe's success depends on the amount.

Frequently asked questions

How many cups are in 1 kg of cream of tartar?

There are about 6.9 cups in a kilogram of cream of tartar. One cup weighs about 144 g spooned and levelled, so 1,000 g divided by 144 g gives 6.9 cups. The figure is approximate: how you fill the cup changes the weight, so verify with a kitchen scale when it matters.

How many grams is 1 cup of cream of tartar?

One cup of cream of tartar weighs about 144 g, measured spooned and levelled, according to USDA (medium confidence). A tablespoon is about 9.0 g and a teaspoon about 3.0 g.

How many cups are in 500 g of cream of tartar?

There are about 3.5 cups in 500 g of cream of tartar — half the kilogram figure, since 500 g is half a kilogram. A quarter kilogram (250 g) is about 1.7 cups, and 100 g is about 0.7 cups.

Can I measure cream of tartar by cups instead of weighing it?

You can, and this page gives you the cup figures, but for leavening the scale is genuinely worth it. A cup of cream of tartar spooned and levelled weighs about 144 g, yet a scooped cup can weigh far more, and too much leavening leaves a soapy or metallic taste and can make a cake collapse. If you do use cups, spoon the powder in and level it, and never pack it down.

How should I store a kilogram of cream of tartar?

Airtight jar, cool and dry, up to 3 years. Keep the bulk of the bag sealed and decant a working amount into a smaller jar, so the main supply is opened as rarely as possible.

Is the cup figure exact, or should I weigh it?

It is approximate. The cup weight of 144 g is a published average for cream of tartar spooned and levelled, and real cups vary with brand, grind, humidity and how you fill the cup. For everyday cooking the cup figure is fine; for baking, for costing a recipe, or for any recipe where the amount is critical, weigh the ingredient on a kitchen scale and use the cup figure only to plan.

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