How many mL in a cup?
1 cup = 236.6 mL
US customary cup · nutrition label 240 mL · metric cup 250 mL
Converter
Other cup standards
US cups: 1 · nutrition-label cups (240 mL): 0.986 · metric cups (250 mL): 0.946 · UK fluid ounces: 8.33
Three different cups show up when you convert to milliliters, and the source of the recipe tells you which one applies. A recipe written in the US uses the customary cup of 236.6 mL. A US nutrition label uses 240 mL for serving sizes. A recipe from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the UK uses the 250 mL metric cup.
For a cup or two of stock, the difference is lost in the pot. It grows with volume, though: 4 metric cups are 1,000 mL, while 4 US cups are 946 mL, almost 1/4 cup less. When you turn a US recipe into mL, use 236.6 mL per cup and round only at the end.
| Cups | US cup (236.6 mL) | Nutrition label (240 mL) | Metric cup (250 mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 30 mL | 30 mL | 31 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 59 mL | 60 mL | 63 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 79 mL | 80 mL | 83 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 118 mL | 120 mL | 125 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 158 mL | 160 mL | 167 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 177 mL | 180 mL | 188 mL |
| 1 cup | 237 mL | 240 mL | 250 mL |
| 1 1/2 cups | 355 mL | 360 mL | 375 mL |
| 2 cups | 473 mL | 480 mL | 500 mL |
| 3 cups | 710 mL | 720 mL | 750 mL |
| 4 cups | 946 mL | 960 mL | 1,000 mL |
| 8 cups | 1,893 mL | 1,920 mL | 2,000 mL |
How to tell which cup a recipe uses
- US cup (236.6 mL): American cookbooks and blogs, especially ones that also use sticks of butter, ounces and Fahrenheit.
- Metric cup (250 mL): recipes from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the UK, often with grams alongside and spellings like "flavour".
- Label cup (240 mL): the "1 cup (240 mL)" serving size printed on US packages, which describes a portion and is not meant as a recipe measure.
Measuring metric cups with US tools
Many US liquid measuring cups print a mL scale on one side, so you can pour to 250 mL directly. With a nested dry set, 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp lands within a teaspoon of a 250 mL metric cup.
Questions
Is 1 cup 250 mL?
Only in metric-cup recipes. A US cup is 236.6 mL; 250 mL is about 1 US cup plus 1 Tbsp.
How many mL in 1/2 cup?
About 118 mL in a US half cup, or 125 mL in a metric-cup recipe.
Why does my label say 1 cup (240 mL)?
US nutrition labels use a rounded 240 mL cup set by FDA rules. It is less than a teaspoon larger than a measuring cup, so it makes no practical difference.
Sources: US customary units: NIST Handbook 44 · nutrition-label cup: FDA 21 CFR 101.9. How we calculate.