How Many Grams Are in a Cup of Sugar?

One US cup of granulated sugar weighs about 200 g. The charts we read, which include King Arthur Baking, Baking Like a Chef and Pastry by Saloni, give between 198 and 214 g,^[1] so 200 g is a middle value and not an exact one. Other sugars differ:

• Granulated sugar: about 200 g per cup
• Brown sugar, firmly packed: about 216 g per cup (the charts give 190 to 220 g)
• Powdered sugar, unsifted: about 120 g per cup (the charts give 113 to 125 g)
• Honey: about 339 g per cup

To convert any amount, use the Grams to Cups converter or the Cups to Grams converter, or the Recipe Scaler for a whole recipe.

Grams per cup for each sugar and syrup

The weights follow one convention for each row: granulated sugar in a dry measuring cup filled and leveled but not packed, brown sugar firmly packed, powdered sugar unsifted and spooned in, and the syrups as liquids at room temperature.^[1] The range shows the lowest and highest figure among the charts we read, read on 8 October 2026. A tablespoon is a sixteenth of a cup and a teaspoon a forty-eighth, so those weights are the cup weight divided by 16 and by 48.

The charts disagree by more than 10 percent for brown sugar (packed) and powdered sugar. Where that happens, treat the middle value as a close guide and weigh the sugar if the recipe depends on it.

Packed or loose, sifted or not

Brown sugar is the clearest case. The USDA page that gives 220 g for a packed cup of brown sugar also gives 145 g for an unpacked cup,^[2] which is about 34 percent less. The 216 g on this page is for packed brown sugar, so a loosely filled cup would leave a recipe short on sugar.

Powdered sugar, also sold as confectioners' sugar and, in the UK and some other countries, as icing sugar, is much lighter than granulated sugar. The same kind of USDA page gives 120 g for an unsifted cup and 100 g for a sifted one, about 17 percent less.^[3] The 120 g on this page is the unsifted figure.

Sugar in grams for common cup and spoon amounts

Cup weights are rounded to the nearest gram; spoon amounts and anything under 20 g show one decimal. A tablespoon of granulated sugar is about 12.5 g and a teaspoon about 4.2 g.

Grams to cups: how much is 100 g of sugar?

The Cups column is exact for 200 g per cup. The next column rounds to the nearest tablespoon, because a cup holds 16 tablespoons. For brown sugar at 216 g per cup, 100 g is 0.46 cup, and for powdered sugar at 120 g it is 0.83 cup.

Honey and syrups

Honey, maple syrup, molasses and corn syrup are measured as liquids, and they are much heavier than water: by their middle values a cup weighs 33 to 43 percent more than a cup of water (237 g). A tablespoon of honey is about 21.2 g, against 12.5 g for a tablespoon of granulated sugar. Weigh syrups straight into the bowl if you can: set the bowl on the scale, press tare, and pour until the display shows the weight.

Why charts give different weights for sugar

Granulated sugar is the steadiest: 5 of the 6 charts give 198 to 200 g, and one gives 214 g. Brown sugar and powdered sugar are less settled, at 190 to 220 g and 113 to 125 g. What the charts do not always say is how the sugar was put in the cup, and for brown sugar how firmly it was packed.

Figures that were read but left out of the middle values, with the reason for each, are listed in the Sources section of the Ingredient Weight Chart.

How to measure sugar

• Granulated sugar: fill a dry measuring cup and level the top with a straight edge. Do not pack it.
• Brown sugar: press it firmly into the cup unless the recipe says otherwise.
• Powdered sugar: spoon it in and level it, without sifting first, unless the recipe says to sift.

Flour is covered on the flour page, butter and oil on the butter and oil page. The Grams vs Cups guide explains why cups differ between countries.