The metric/imperial cooking chart Australian kitchens actually need.
Most cooking failures are not skill failures. They are unit-conversion failures. Australian recipes write 250g of flour. American recipes write 2 cups. UK recipes hand you ounces. None of these convert cleanly because flour, sugar, oats and almond meal weigh different amounts per cup.
This page is the chart we use ourselves. Print it, save it, paste it inside a cupboard door.
Volume to volume: spoons, cups, millilitres
These never change. They are pure volume.
| Measure | Equivalent (mL) | Also equals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon (tsp) | 5 mL | , |
| 1 tablespoon (Australian) | 20 mL | 4 teaspoons |
| 1 tablespoon (US/UK) | 15 mL | 3 teaspoons |
| 1/4 cup | 60 mL | 4 tablespoons (US) |
| 1/3 cup | 80 mL | 5 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| 1/2 cup | 125 mL | 8 tablespoons (US) |
| 1 cup (Australian) | 250 mL | 8.45 fl oz |
| 1 cup (US) | 240 mL | 8 fl oz |
| 1 cup (UK/Imperial) | 284 mL | 10 fl oz |
| 1 fluid ounce | 29.5 mL | 2 tablespoons (US) |
| 1 pint (US) | 473 mL | 2 cups |
| 1 pint (UK/Imperial) | 568 mL | 20 fl oz |
The Australian tablespoon trap: our tablespoons are bigger. Australian recipes use a 20mL tablespoon. American and British recipes use 15mL. If you bake an American recipe with Australian tablespoons of baking powder, expect a volcano. Use teaspoons (5mL is universal) or weigh.
Cups to grams: the dry ingredients table
Different ingredients pack differently. A cup of flour weighs less than a cup of sugar. This is where most people lose their bearings.
| Ingredient | 1 cup (250mL AU) | 1 cup (240mL US) |
|---|---|---|
| Plain flour | 150 g | 125 g |
| Self-raising flour | 150 g | 125 g |
| Wholemeal flour | 160 g | 130 g |
| Caster sugar | 220 g | 200 g |
| Brown sugar (packed) | 220 g | 200 g |
| Icing sugar | 160 g | 125 g |
| Rolled oats | 100 g | 90 g |
| Almond meal | 110 g | 100 g |
| Cocoa powder | 100 g | 85 g |
| Rice (uncooked) | 200 g | 185 g |
| Honey or golden syrup | 350 g | 340 g |
| Butter (softened) | 230 g | 225 g |
Ounces to grams
| Ounces (oz) | Grams | Useful for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | Spirits in cocktails (1 jigger) |
| 2 oz | 57 g | Standard pour |
| 4 oz | 113 g | Quarter pound |
| 8 oz | 227 g | Half pound, US stick of butter (rounded) |
| 16 oz | 454 g | 1 pound |
| 35 oz | 1 kg | 1 kilogram |
Oven temperatures: gas, fan, conventional
| Description | Conventional °C | Fan-forced °C | Gas mark | °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very slow | 120 | 100 | 1/2 | 250 |
| Slow | 150 | 130 | 2 | 300 |
| Moderate | 180 | 160 | 4 | 350 |
| Moderately hot | 200 | 180 | 6 | 400 |
| Hot | 220 | 200 | 7 | 425 |
| Very hot | 240 | 220 | 9 | 475 |
Fan rule of thumb: a fan-forced oven runs about 20°C hotter than the dial says. If a recipe gives 180°C fan, set conventional to 200°C. If a recipe gives 180°C without specifying, and you only have fan, set the fan to 160°C.
Three things people always get wrong
Brown sugar should be packed. When we say one cup of brown sugar, we mean pressed firmly into the cup so that it holds its shape when tipped out. Loose, it weighs about 60% of the packed weight.
Sifted flour weighs less than spooned flour. If a recipe says “1 cup sifted flour”, sift first then measure. If it says “1 cup flour, sifted”, measure first then sift. The order changes the weight by 20g. We always weigh.
Australian and US tablespoons are different sizes. If you are baking an American recipe and the recipe calls for tablespoons of leavening, vanilla, or anything strong-flavoured, use US-sized measuring spoons (15mL) or convert to teaspoons.
The one tool that solves all of this
A digital kitchen scale that reads in grams. Forty dollars at any homeware store. Tare it to zero with the bowl on top, add the ingredient, read the weight. No conversions, no spillage, no second-guessing. Every serious recipe is written this way.
For a cocktail-side companion, see our simple syrup how-to which explains the 1:1 vs 2:1 ratios that matter behind the bar.