# Cups to Pounds Calculator

Created by Carolyn Kovacs
Reviewed by Steven Wooding
Last updated: Sep 26, 2022

Our cups to pounds calculator can help you figure out your recipe! Whether you need to convert cups to pounds or convert pounds to cups, we have you covered. Is part of your recipe in liters, teaspoons, or grams? Check out the cooking measurement converter for even more weight and volume units you can switch between them. Or jump down the page to see the conversion for 1 cup to pounds of your ingredient!

## What is the difference between pounds and cups when baking?

Our cups to pounds calculator uses two imperial measurements: cups and pounds. However, these two units measure substances differently. A cup is a unit of volume - how much space does something take up. Most recipes using cups are based on the US customary cup (236.59 mL), which is what we will be using in this calculator, although there is also a metric cup (250 mL) occasionally used by countries such as the UK, AU, NZ, CA, and ZA.

Most recipes use cups when baking, but occasionally you come across ingredients in a recipe in pounds - especially when measuring out flour. A pound (lb) is a unit of mass - how much does something weigh? The abbreviation lb came from the Roman unit libra, Latin for scales or balance, and was an earlier measurement from which pounds descended. A pound is also equal to 16 ounces, or 0.45 kilograms.

If you wish to take your baking to the next level and need exact measurements, you may be better off measuring weight in grams. Because this is a cups to pounds converter, the units are set automatically to pounds and cups; however, you can change the units to several different volume and mass units.

🙋 If you cannot find the unit of mass or volume that you want to convert, you can try our weight converter or our volume conversion tool.

## How do I convert cups to pounds and pounds to cups?

If you need to convert cups to pounds, it is best to use a cups to pounds calculator like the one on the left. Because cups and pounds measure different things - volume and mass - you can’t use a standard conversion between the two. Instead, you must use the density to convert pounds to cups or convert cups to pounds.

Because the density of an object is equal to its mass divided by its volume, or in equation form: $\text{density}=\frac{\text{mass}}{\text{volume}}$, if we know the density of the substance and the desired volume OR mass (weight), we can calculate:

$\text{mass}=\text{density}\times\text{volume}\\[1.0em] \text{volume}=\frac{\text{mass}}{\text{density}}$

## What is the density of the substance I am measuring?

Within our cups to pounds calculator, we have included the densities of the most common ingredients that you would come across in a recipe requiring you to convert pounds to cups or convert cups to pounds. Keep in mind that there is variation in the density of substances dependent on specific qualities of a particular brand of a product and how tightly you pack it into a container. Therefore, even though we have done our best to research densities for you, there may be some variation between our list and the specific ingredient you are using.

If you know the density of the ingredient you are using, or you need to do a pounds to cups or cups to pounds conversion for a substance we don’t have on the list; you can manually enter the density in the advanced mode version of the calculator. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has a , with everything from chopped onions to eggplant parmesan!

## How do I convert 1 cup to a pound?

Well, as we said above, it depends on what you are converting cups to pounds for - it depends on the density of the substance. That being said, we created a handy table for you here that tells you the 1 cup to pounds and 1 pound to cups conversions of some of the most commonly measured ingredients in recipes.

Product

Density (kg/m3)

Cups in one pound (US)

Pounds in one cup

Water

1000

1.9

0.52

Flour

530

3.6

0.28

Milk

1030

1.9

0.54

Sugar

845

2.3

0.44

Salt

1217

1.6

0.63

Honey

1420

1.4

0.74

Butter

959

2.0

0.50

Oil

946

2.0

0.49

Rice (raw)

760

2.5

0.40

Oats

338

5.7

0.18

Butter] is one of the ingredients most commonly measured in pounds, partly because the cup to pound conversion is very straightforward.

• Convert cups to pounds by dividing the number of cups by two. For example:
• 1/2 cup of butter = 1/4 lb of butter (or one stick of butter)
• 1 cup of butter = 1/2 lb of butter (or two sticks of butter)
• 2 cups of butter = 1 lb of butter (or four sticks of butter - usually how you buy one package of butter at the store).

## So which should I use for baking: cups or pounds?

Because the volume of something can vary based on how tightly it is packed, weight is a more consistent measurement, especially for substances that we can compress, such as flour. Weight measurements used to be challenging to obtain, but now that digital scales are inexpensive and easily accessible, it is much easier to measure ingredients in pounds.

It depends on you and the recipe you are using. If you are learning how to make perfect pancakes or want to make some scrumptious penne pasta, you can probably stick to cups as your unit of measure. However, if you are working with a large-scale operation or want to take your baking to the next level and be more precise, you will benefit from using a weight measurement, such as pounds (or even better - grams!). Either way, keep our cups to pounds calculator handy to help you with your recipes and cooking for the future!

You might want to give the pint to pound conveter a try, as it has a conversion for many routine items.

Carolyn Kovacs
Ingredient
Select...
Volume
cups
Weight
lb
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