Recipe Scaling, Baker's Math & Kitchen Converter
Scale any recipe up or down to the number of servings you need, keeping every ingredient in proportion. See each amount as a friendly fraction, its weight in grams, baker's percentages and the total batch weight, and convert cooking units between cups, spoons, grams and ounces.
Written by Suhaib Hassan. Figures are estimates you can edit. Our methodology.
It multiplies every ingredient by the same ratio, rounds to kitchen measures, and converts volume to weight using typical densities.
Halving or tripling a recipe by hand is where mistakes creep in. This scales everything at once and shows weights for accuracy.
Grams per cup of common ingredients
Typical weights of one US cup. Real weight depends on how you scoop, the brand and humidity, so treat these as averages.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup | Ounces per cup | Grams per tablespoon |
|---|
Kitchen measurement conversions
Exact relationships between US customary cooking measures.
| Measure | Teaspoons | Tablespoons | Fluid ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 14.79 |
| ¼ cup | 12 | 4 | 2 | 59.15 |
| ½ cup (1 stick butter) | 24 | 8 | 4 | 118.29 |
| 1 cup | 48 | 16 | 8 | 236.59 |
| 1 pint | 96 | 32 | 16 | 473.18 |
Formulas
How the numbers are worked out.
Scaling
Multiply each quantity by the ratio of the servings you want to the original servings.
new amount = old amount × (target servings ÷ original servings)Volume to weight
Convert to cups, then multiply by grams per cup for that ingredient.
grams = cups × grams per cupBaker's percentage
Each ingredient weight divided by total flour weight.
percent = ingredient g ÷ flour g × 100Worked examples
Illustrative figures, each checked by hand. The first is the default setup.
Cookie dough for 10
A recipe for 4 scaled to 10 servings, so 2.5×.
6.25 × 120 g = 750 g
1.5 sticks butter × 2.5 = 3 ¾ sticks = 426 g
Baker's percentage
750 g flour, 500 g sugar, 426 g butter.
butter = 426 ÷ 750 = 56.8%
flour is always 100%
Cups to grams
2 cups of granulated sugar.
= 14.1 oz
(1 cup of AP flour is only about 120 g)
How to scale a recipe
- Enter the servings the recipe makes and the servings you want.
- List each ingredient with its quantity and unit, and choose the ingredient type so weights are right.
- Read the scaled amounts, grams and total batch weight.
- Adjust pan size, baking time and seasoning, since these do not scale in a straight line.
Scaling ingredients is simple, but cooking is not always linear. Very large batches, leaveners, spices and baking times may need adjusting, so taste and test as you go.
By Suhaib Hassan · Reviewed 29 September 2026 · How CalculatePilot verifies formulas →
Sources
- King Arthur Baking, Ingredient Weight Chart.
- USDA FoodData Central, for ingredient densities and portion weights.
- NIST Special Publication 811, for teaspoon, tablespoon, cup and millilitre conversions.
Frequently asked questions
How do I scale a recipe?
Divide the servings you want by the servings in the original recipe to get a multiplier, then multiply every ingredient by it. To go from 4 to 10 servings, multiply by 2.5.
Why is weight better than cups for baking?
A cup of flour can weigh 120 g or more than 150 g depending on how you scoop it. Weighing ingredients removes that variation, which is why bakers use grams.
What is a baker's percentage?
It expresses each ingredient as a percentage of the flour weight, which is always 100%. A dough with 700 g water to 1,000 g flour has a hydration of 70%.
How many grams are in a cup?
It depends on the ingredient: about 120 g of all-purpose flour, 200 g of granulated sugar, 227 g of butter and 237 g of water. Use the ingredient type in the tool for the right figure.
Do baking times change when I scale a recipe?
Often, yes. A larger or deeper batch takes longer, a smaller one less, and pan size changes how it browns. Use time and doneness cues rather than scaling time directly.
Related calculators
More everyday tools.