The Formula
mL = cups × 236.588
A US customary cup is exactly 236.5882365 mL — in practice, recipe sites round it to 240 mL, and both figures are fine for cooking. The fractions every recipe uses: ¼ cup = 59 mL, ⅓ cup = 79 mL, ½ cup = 118 mL, ¾ cup = 177 mL.
Measuring Without Cup Measures
With a measuring jug marked in mL: 1 cup ≈ 240 mL, and the tablespoon bridge helps for small amounts — 1 cup = 16 tbsp, and each tablespoon is ~15 mL. A standard drinking glass holds roughly 200–250 mL, which is why “a glass” works as an emergency cup substitute in forgiving recipes (soups, yes; macarons, no).
Watch Out: Not All Cups Are Equal
The US cup (236.6 mL, used here) is the one American recipes mean. Australia and New Zealand bake with a metric cup of exactly 250 mL — 6% more, enough to matter in precise baking. Old UK cookbooks may use the imperial cup (284 mL). And your coffee maker’s “cup” is a different creature entirely: usually 150 mL, which is how a “12-cup” carafe holds only 1.8 L. When a recipe’s origin is unknown and precision matters, weight (grams) beats volume every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many mL is 1 cup exactly?
236.5882365 mL for the US customary cup. US nutrition labels legally define the cup as exactly 240 mL, and recipe sites use 240 too — the 1.4% difference is invisible in cooking.
How many cups is 500 mL?
2.11 US cups — for cooking purposes, “2 cups plus a splash.” A US pint (2 cups) is 473 mL.
Does 1 cup of flour weigh the same as 1 cup of water?
No — cups measure volume, not weight. A cup of water is 237 g, of flour ~120–125 g, of sugar ~200 g. That’s why serious baking recipes list grams; convert the liquid measures here and weigh the dry ones.
How do I measure ⅔ cup in mL?
⅔ × 236.6 = 158 mL (round to 160). Type 0.667 in the converter above for any unusual fraction.