ML to Cups Converter

Convert milliliters to US cups instantly, with a reference table for turning metric recipes into American measures.

Milliliters

US cups

1 mL = 0.0042 cup

Multiply milliliters by 0.00422675 to get US cups.

The link carries the values you entered, so whoever opens it sees the same result. Nothing is stored on our side — the numbers travel in the link itself.

Milliliters to US cups reference table

The conversions people look up most often, rounded to 4 decimal places.

Common milliliters to US cups conversions
Milliliter (mL)	US cup (cup)
50 mL	0.2113 cup
100 mL	0.4227 cup
118 mL	0.4988 cup
150 mL	0.634 cup
200 mL	0.8454 cup
236 mL	0.9975 cup
250 mL	1.0567 cup
300 mL	1.268 cup
400 mL	1.6907 cup
500 mL	2.1134 cup
750 mL	3.1701 cup
1,000 mL	4.2268 cup

The milliliters people look up most

100 mL = 0.4227 cup: Just under a half cup, which is why metric recipes rarely translate to round cup measures.
200 mL = 0.8454 cup: Exactly one Japanese cup, the standard measure in Japanese recipes - though a rice-cooker cup is a different 180 ml.
250 mL = 1.0567 cup: A metric cup, so a British or Australian recipe calling for "1 cup" needs slightly more than an American one.
500 mL = 2.1134 cup: Two cups plus about two tablespoons - a half-litre carton does not empty into round cup measures.

How the ml to cups calculation works

A US customary cup is 236.5882365 ml, so:

US cups = milliliters ÷ 236.588

Coming from a metric recipe, the answers are rarely round, and the useful skill is knowing which nearby fraction to round to:

50 ml → 0.211 cups → call it ¼ cup (which is 59 ml, so slightly generous)
100 ml → 0.423 cups → just under ½ cup
150 ml → 0.634 cups → ⅝ cup, or ⅔ if your set has no ⅝
200 ml → 0.845 cups → just under ⅞
250 ml → 1.057 cups → 1 cup plus a splash
500 ml → 2.113 cups → 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons

A metric cup is 250 ml, which is why UK, Australian and Canadian recipes written in cups do not translate one-for-one into American cups. If the recipe is British or Australian and says "1 cup", it means 250 ml — enter 250 above and you get 1.057 US cups.

How much the rounding matters depends on the ingredient. For stock, milk or water, rounding 250 ml to one US cup loses 13 ml and changes nothing. For a leavening agent, a liqueur in a dessert, or the liquid in a bread dough, that 5.7% shortfall is enough to notice.

The practical advice: if a metric recipe is worth converting, weigh the dry ingredients in grams and convert only the liquids. Liquids are where a cup is an honest unit.

Frequently asked questions

How many cups are in a litre?

4.227 US cups, which is why a litre carton never divides tidily into an American recipe. A metric cup does divide cleanly: four 250 ml cups make exactly one litre, which is why Australian and British recipes written in cups scale far more neatly. Half a litre is 2.11 US cups, or exactly 2 metric ones.

What is 100 ml in tablespoons if I have no cup set?

Just under seven US tablespoons - 100 ml works out at 6.76 of them. Six tablespoons plus two teaspoons comes to 98.6 ml, which is as close as a standard American set will get you. If the recipe is British its tablespoons are 15 ml, and if it is Australian they are 20 ml, so the same six-and-two lands somewhere else entirely.

Can I use a coffee mug as a cup measure?

No, because a mug is not a unit. Domestic mugs hold anywhere from about 250 to 400 ml against a US cup’s 236.59 ml, so a large one can be half again what the recipe asked for. Measure your mug once into a jug and mark it if you want to keep using it, or weigh water and milk at roughly a gram per millilitre.

ML to Cups Converter