A 12 oz bag of raisins holds about 2.3 cups. Raisins weigh about 149 g per cup, so 340 g divides to 2.3 cups — enough for a batch of oatmeal cookies, a fruit cake and a rice pilaf. The 12 oz bag is the standard supermarket size, and two cups plus a little is the figure most recipes assume when they say 'a bag of raisins' without giving a weight.
How many cups in a 12 oz bag?
A 12 oz bag of raisins holds about 2.3 cups (340 g ÷ 149 g per cup).
| Amount | Cups | Grams | Tablespoons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full 12 oz bag | 2.3 | 340 | 37 |
| Half 12 oz bag | 1.15 | 170 | 18 |
| Quarter 12 oz bag | 0.57 | 85 | 9 |
| 1 tablespoon | 0.06 | 9.31 | 1 |
The table gives the full package, half a package and a quarter of a package, plus a single tablespoon, so you can scale the answer to whatever your recipe asks for. If your packet is a different size from the one on this page, the same per-cup figure still applies — divide your packet's weight by the grams per cup, or its volume by 236.6 ml per cup, and you have your answer.
Worked examples
Oatmeal cookies that need a cup
A batch of oatmeal raisin cookies takes about 1 cup of raisins — 149 g — folded into a dough with 1 and a half cups of oats, 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of butter. One cup is just under half the bag, so a single bag makes about two and a half batches of cookies. Soak the raisins in warm water for ten minutes first if they feel hard: plumped raisins stay moist in the cookie, while dry ones turn leathery in the oven. Drain them well before folding them in.
Fruit cake that needs a cup and a half
A fruit cake takes about 1 and a half cups of raisins — 224 g — along with 1 cup of currants, 1/2 cup of mixed peel and 2 cups of flour. A cup and a half is nearly two-thirds of the bag, leaving about three-quarters of a cup for cookies. Toss the raisins in a spoonful of the recipe's flour before adding them: the coating stops them sinking to the bottom of the cake. Soak the fruit overnight in tea or rum for a richer cake.
Rice pilaf that needs half a cup
A pot of rice pilaf for six takes about 1/2 cup of raisins — 75 g — stirred into 2 cups of rice with a cinnamon stick and a handful of almonds. Half a cup is about a fifth of the bag, so one bag covers about five pots of pilaf. Add the raisins halfway through cooking: added at the start they go mushy, added at the end they stay hard. The steam plumps them just enough, and they sweeten the rice without making it taste like dessert.
How the figure was measured
The weight figure on this page comes from King Arthur Baking: raisins weighs 149 g per cup, measured spooned and levelled, and that figure carries high confidence in CookScale's 120-ingredient table. Every cup-based result on this page is approximate, because a cup measures volume and the weight depends on how the ingredient settles, how it was measured, and how fresh it is. When the amount matters — a cake, a cheesecake, a sauce that must set — weigh the ingredient on a kitchen scale instead of trusting the cup. Package sizes vary by brand and region, so check the weight printed on your own packet before planning a recipe around this page.
How to measure it
Dried fruit is spooned into a dry cup measure and levelled, but it is one of the trickiest ingredients to measure by volume because the pieces cling, compress and vary in size. A cup of large dates weighs differently from a cup of finely chopped dates, and raisins settle more densely than cranberries. Never pack dried fruit down — the weight figures on this page assume a loose spooned cup. If the fruit is sticky, dust the measuring cup lightly with a little of the recipe's flour first; the pieces slide out cleanly instead of gluing themselves to the sides. For fruit cakes and breads, weighing is worth the thirty seconds: a heavy hand with the fruit is the difference between a moist loaf and one that sinks in the middle.
Practical guidance
Dried fruit dries out further once a bag is opened, and hard raisins make hard cookies. Seal the bag tightly, or move the fruit to a jar with a lid, and keep it in a cool cupboard away from the stove. If your fruit has gone leathery, soak it in warm water — or warm tea, rum or orange juice — for twenty minutes before baking; it plumps back up and adds moisture to the crumb instead of stealing it. Sugar crystals on the surface are not mould, just sugar migrating out as the fruit dries; a rinse or a soak removes them. Check an old bag for a stale, musty smell before using it in a fruit cake that will be eaten for weeks.
Two cups plus a little is the working figure, and the moisture of the raisins is the variable: a bag of plump, fresh raisins weighs more per cup than a bag of dry, hard ones, because the dry ones have lost water. Weigh when the recipe matters — 149 g is a cup — and use the cup for scattering and topping. The bag size is the other variable: 8 oz bags hold about 1.5 cups and 16 oz bags about 3 cups, and the same 149 g per cup applies throughout. And soak before you bake: a raisin that goes into the oven dry comes out leathery, while a raisin soaked for ten minutes comes out plump.
Frequently asked questions
How many tablespoons are in a 12 oz bag of raisins?
There are about 37 tablespoons in a 12 oz bag of raisins, because the bag holds about 2.3 cups and there are 16 tablespoons in a cup. A tablespoon of raisins weighs about 9.3 g. For a salad or a pilaf, 2 tablespoons per serving is the usual amount, so a bag covers roughly eighteen servings.
Should I soak raisins before baking with them?
Yes, if they feel hard or dry. Soak them in warm water, tea or rum for ten to twenty minutes, then drain well. Soaked raisins stay plump and moist in a cookie or a cake, while dry raisins absorb moisture from the batter and turn leathery. Do not soak them for hours: they go mushy and fall apart in the dough.
Can I substitute currants for raisins cup-for-cup?
Roughly, but not exactly. Currants are smaller and denser than raisins, so a cup of currants weighs more than a cup of raisins — about 160 g against 149 g. In a fruit cake the difference is small, but in a recipe that depends on the fruit for sweetness and moisture, weigh the substitute rather than measuring by the cup. Sultanas, at about 145 g per cup, are the closest swap.
How long does an opened bag of raisins last?
An opened bag of raisins lasts about six months in a cool cupboard and a year in the fridge. Seal the bag tightly or move the raisins to a jar: once they dry out, they go hard and leathery. If your raisins have hardened, soak them in warm water for twenty minutes and they plump back up. Sugar crystals on the surface are harmless — a rinse removes them.
Why do raisins sink to the bottom of a cake?
Raisins sink when the batter is too thin to hold them, or when they are added without a flour coating. Toss them in a spoonful of the recipe's flour before folding them in: the coating gives them grip and keeps them suspended. A thicker batter also helps, as does adding the fruit at the very end with minimal stirring. Soaked raisins sink more readily than dry ones, so drain them well.