Recipe Converter
Scale every ingredient in a recipe from its original yield to the number of servings you need, keeping the original units.
Scale factor: × 1.5
Ingredients
Approximate weight of 1 US cup (236.6 mL):
Updated Formula covered by automated tests
A recipe written for four people rarely matches the number of plates you actually need. The recipe converter takes the yield the author wrote, the yield you want, and each ingredient amount, then multiplies every line by the same scale factor so the proportions that make the dish work stay intact. You can keep your original units (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, ounces or pounds) and read the new quantity straight off the row.
Home cooks use it to stretch a weeknight dinner for guests, shrink a holiday casserole for two, or turn a bakery formula into a single loaf. The reference table underneath lists approximate gram weights for one US cup of everyday baking staples, which helps when the scaled quantity lands on an awkward fraction of a cup and a kitchen scale would be more precise.
The formula
- original servings
- The yield printed on the recipe (servings, portions, cookies or loaves)
- desired servings
- The yield you want to make, counted in the same kind of unit as the original
- original amount
- The quantity of one ingredient as written, in any unit
- new amount
- The scaled quantity, in the same unit as the original amount
Scaling is a single proportion. If six servings are wanted from a recipe that makes four, every ingredient has to grow by 6 ÷ 4 = 1.5 so the ratio of flour to liquid, salt to meat, or sugar to fat is unchanged. Because the factor is applied to each line independently, the unit of each ingredient does not matter: 2 tablespoons becomes 3 tablespoons and 200 grams becomes 300 grams.
The cup weights in the table assume the US customary cup of 236.6 mL (8 US fluid ounces), filled by spooning dry ingredients in and leveling them. Nutrition labels in the United States use a rounded 240 mL cup, and Australian, Canadian and UK recipes often use a 250 mL metric cup, so a "cup" from another country can hold a few percent more than the one assumed here.
Worked example
Daniel has a pancake recipe that serves 4: 1.5 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1.25 cups of milk and 1 egg. Six people are coming to brunch.
- 1 Scale factor: 6 ÷ 4 = 1.5.
- 2 Flour: 1.5 cups × 1.5 = 2.25 cups, which is about 2.25 × 125 g = 281 g on a scale.
- 3 Sugar: 2 tbsp × 1.5 = 3 tbsp.
- 4 Milk: 1.25 cups × 1.5 = 1.875 cups. Since 0.875 cup is 14 tablespoons, measure 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons.
- 5 Egg: 1 × 1.5 = 1.5 eggs. Beat 2 eggs together and use about three quarters of the mixture, or simply use 2 and hold back a splash of milk.
Result: For six people Daniel needs 2 1/4 cups (about 281 g) of flour, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 7/8 cups of milk and one and a half eggs.
Before you rely on the result
- Gram weights per cup are typical values, not exact constants: they change with how the cup is filled, humidity, brand and grind.
- Scaling assumes the recipe behaves linearly. Very large or very small batches may need changes to cooking time, pan size, evaporation and leavening that a multiplier cannot predict.
- Whole items such as eggs come out as fractions; round sensibly and adjust the liquid to compensate.
Want something to cook with these conversions? CivRecipes, a sister site, adapts recipes from ancient civilizations for modern kitchens.
Frequently asked questions
Can I scale baking time and pan size the same way as the ingredients?
No. Time depends on how thick the batter or dough is, not on the total amount. If you double a cake but bake it in two pans of the original size, the time stays about the same. If you pour it all into one deeper pan, it needs a longer, sometimes cooler bake, so check for doneness early and often.
Should salt, yeast and spices be scaled exactly?
Scale them exactly as a starting point, then taste. Strong seasonings such as cayenne and cloves can seem more intense in a large batch, so many cooks add about three quarters of the scaled amount and adjust. Yeast and baking powder are usually safe to scale linearly for doubling or halving, but large commercial batches are reformulated by bakers rather than multiplied.
How do I turn 0.33 or 1.875 cups into something I can measure?
Split off the whole cups and convert the remainder to tablespoons: one cup is 16 tablespoons, so 0.33 cup is a little over 5 tablespoons and 0.875 cup is 14 tablespoons. One tablespoon is 3 teaspoons, which covers smaller leftovers. For flour and sugar, weighing the scaled amount in grams avoids the arithmetic entirely.
Why does my cup of flour weigh more than 125 grams?
Scooping the cup straight into the bag packs the flour and can add 20 to 30 grams. The 125 g figure assumes flour is spooned into the cup and leveled with a knife. Bread flour, whole wheat flour and sifted cake flour also differ, which is why weight is the more repeatable measure for baking.