Cup Measurements

Asked by kflockhart. Answered on 23rd September 2013

Full question

So many recipes on Nigella's website are measured in 'cup' quantities. Can you please give me some idea of the volume and/or weight measurements for a 'cup' please? Many thanks in advance!

Our answer

Cup measurements are commonly used in the US and to help users of the Nigella website you can now get the ingredients lists for Nigella's own recipes in both metric and cup measurements. There is a blue tab that you can use to toggle between the two different types of measurement.

There are many Community Recipes posted on the website as well and these may be shown in metric or cup mesurements, depending on who has submitted the recipe. Unfortunately we are unable to provide conversions for these recipes, as they are not tested by the Nigella Team. However a standard US cup measure is 240ml. The weight of a cup will vary according to the ingredient being measured (as they have different densities and pack into a cup differently) so it is difficult for us to give a list of cup to weight conversions, as it would be very long.

You can buy measuring cups in many places now, and they are also usually available on-line. They come in sets of 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup. In the UK and Australia a cup is actually 250ml but for most recipes the difference is small and shouldn't adversely affect the recipe.