Canadian Measuring Cup & Kitchen Conversion Chart

Canadian kitchens use two systems at once. Our packaging, ovens and nutrition labels are metric, but recipes, measuring cups and family cookbooks still speak in cups, ounces and degrees Fahrenheit, and many of those recipes are American. This page puts the conversions a Canadian cook actually needs in one place, with the sources behind each number.

The Canadian cup is not the US cup

A Canadian metric cup holds 250 mL; Health Canada's nutrition labelling uses 1 cup (250 mL) as the household measure for foods such as milk, soup and cereal (Health Canada, table of reference amounts). A US customary cup is 8 US fluid ounces, about 236.6 mL, which NIST rounds to 237 mL (NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C), while US nutrition labels use 240 mL. The difference is about 5%: harmless in soup, noticeable in a cake if you measure several cups of flour.

Measure Canadian metric US customary Imperial (older UK and pre-metric recipes)
1 cup 250 mL 236.6 mL 284 mL (10 imperial fl oz)
1 tablespoon 15 mL 14.8 mL about 17.8 mL
1 teaspoon 5 mL 4.9 mL about 5.9 mL
1 fluid ounce — 29.6 mL 28.4 mL
1 quart 1 L is the usual metric stand-in 946 mL 1.137 L

Pre-metric Canadian cookbooks often used an 8-imperial-ounce cup, roughly 227 mL. If an older family recipe seems slightly off, that may be why.

Cup fractions in millilitres

Fraction Canadian metric cup (250 mL) US cup (236.6 mL)
1/4 cup 62.5 mL (printed as 60 mL) 59 mL
1/3 cup 83 mL (printed as 75 or 80 mL) 79 mL
1/2 cup 125 mL 118 mL
2/3 cup 167 mL (printed as 150 or 175 mL) 158 mL
3/4 cup 188 mL (printed as 175 or 180 mL) 177 mL
1 cup 250 mL 237 mL
4 cups 1 L 946 mL

Canadian recipes round these values in slightly different ways. Any of the printed versions works, as long as you use the same set of cups for the whole recipe.

Grams per cup: flour, sugar, butter and more

Weighing is more accurate than measuring by volume, especially for flour. The 250 mL values below come from Health Canada's Canadian Nutrient File; the US-cup column is the same density scaled to 236.6 mL.

Ingredient 250 mL (Canadian cup) US cup 1 tbsp (15 mL)
All-purpose flour 132 g 125 g 8 g
Granulated sugar 211 g 200 g 13 g
Brown sugar, packed 233 g 220 g 14 g
Icing sugar, unsifted 127 g 120 g 8 g
Icing sugar, sifted 106 g 100 g 6 g
Butter 240 g 227 g 14 g
Maple syrup 333 g 315 g 20 g
Honey 358 g 339 g 21 g
Table salt 309 g 292 g 18 g (6 g per tsp)

A standard Canadian 454 g (1 lb) block of butter is just under two metric cups. Flour weights vary with how you fill the cup: spooned and levelled flour is lighter than flour scooped straight from the bag. A digital kitchen scale removes the guesswork.

Oven temperatures: °C and °F

To convert, °C = (°F − 32) × 5 ÷ 9. Recipes round to the nearest convenient setting, as below.

°F °C (recipe setting) Typical use
250 °F 120 °C Meringues, drying
300 °F 150 °C Slow roasting, cheesecake
325 °F 160 °C Fruitcake, slow-roast turkey
350 °F 180 °C Cakes, cookies, casseroles
375 °F 190 °C Muffins, pies
400 °F 200 °C Roast vegetables
425 °F 220 °C Pizza at home, crisping
450 °F 230 °C Bread, high-heat roasting
500 °F 260 °C Pizza steel, Dutch oven bread

Convection (fan) ovens usually need about 15 °C (25 °F) less than a recipe written for a conventional oven. Many home ovens run hot or cool; an inexpensive oven thermometer shows you by how much. For meat, cook to the internal temperatures in our meat thermometer guide.

Weight and length

  • 1 ounce (weight) = 28.35 g; 1 pound = 454 g; 1 kg = 2.2 lb
  • 1 inch = 2.54 cm; a 9 × 13 in pan is about 23 × 33 cm; an 8 in square pan is 20 cm

Shop measuring tools and scales, including metric-marked cups such as the OXO angled measuring cup.

Frequently asked questions

How many mL is a cup in Canada?

250 mL. Canadian recipes, measuring cups and nutrition labels use the 250 mL metric cup. A US cup is about 236.6 mL.

Can I use Canadian measuring cups for American recipes?

Yes, for most cooking. The 5% difference rarely matters, provided you use the same set for every ingredient. For baking where precision matters, weigh the flour and sugar using the US-cup gram values above.

How many grams are in a cup of flour?

About 132 g in a 250 mL Canadian cup and about 125 g in a US cup, according to Canadian Nutrient File densities. Scooped flour can weigh more.

Is a Canadian tablespoon the same as a US tablespoon?

Practically, yes: 15 mL versus 14.8 mL. Australian tablespoons are the exception at 20 mL.

What is 350 °F in Celsius?

176.7 °C, which Canadian recipes and ovens round to 180 °C.