How to Read a Recipe from Another Country (and Get the Measurements Right)
You've found a recipe online that looks perfect. The photos are beautiful, the comments are enthusiastic, and the ingredients sound exactly right. Then you read the first line: "2 cups of flour, 1 stick of butter, 350°F." And your measuring jug only goes up to 500 ml. Your butter comes in 250g blocks. Your oven shows Celsius.
Welcome to the single most frustrating part of cooking from international recipes. The ingredients are often identical worldwide, but the units they're measured in are not. This guide explains everything you need to know to decode foreign recipe measurements and actually get the result you're after.
The cup problem
Volume measurements like "cups," "tablespoons" and "teaspoons" seem simple until you realise they're not the same everywhere. The most important distinction:
- US cup: 236.59 ml (approximately 237 ml)
- Metric cup (Australia, Canada, NZ): exactly 250 ml
- UK cup: 284 ml (based on an Imperial pint — now rarely used in recipes)
For most cooking, the difference between a US cup (237 ml) and a metric cup (250 ml) is small enough not to matter — roughly a 5% difference. For baking, though, where precision matters more, it can add up. If a cake recipe calls for 3 cups of flour and you're using a metric cup instead of a US cup, you'll end up with about 40 ml more flour than intended. That's roughly 20g of extra flour, which is enough to affect the texture.
The safest approach for baking is to weigh your ingredients in grams rather than using volume measurements at all. Most professional bakers do this regardless of which country they're in.
Temperature: Fahrenheit vs Celsius
This is where a lot of home cooks go wrong. If a recipe says "bake at 350°F" and you set your oven to 350°C, you'll incinerate your baking at nearly twice the intended temperature.
The formula to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius is: °C = (°F − 32) × 5/9. That formula is worth remembering, but in practice most people just look it up. Here are the oven temperatures that come up most often in recipes:
| Fahrenheit (°F) | Celsius (°C) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 300°F | 150°C | Low oven / slow cook |
| 325°F | 160°C | Slow roast |
| 350°F | 175°C | Moderate / most baking |
| 375°F | 190°C | Moderate-high |
| 400°F | 200°C | Hot oven |
| 425°F | 220°C | Very hot / roasting |
| 450°F | 230°C | High heat / pizza |
Fan-forced ovens (convection ovens) typically run about 20°C hotter than the temperatures listed above, so reduce the temperature accordingly if your oven has a fan setting.
Weight: ounces, grams and pounds
Most UK and Australian recipes use grams. Most US recipes use ounces and pounds. The key conversion: one ounce equals 28.35 grams. One pound equals 16 ounces, or approximately 454 grams.
Common weight conversions in recipes:
| US/Imperial | Metric (approximate) |
|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g |
| 4 oz (¼ lb) | 113 g |
| 8 oz (½ lb) | 227 g |
| 1 lb | 454 g |
| 2 lb | 907 g (≈ 1 kg) |
What about "a stick of butter"?
This is an American-specific unit that causes a lot of confusion. One stick of butter equals 113 grams (4 oz or ½ cup). US butter is sold in 4-stick packs — each stick is clearly marked on the wrapper in tablespoon increments, which is why American recipes often call for "half a stick" or "2 tablespoons of butter." If you're in a country where butter is sold in 250g blocks, half a US stick is about 113g, which you can just cut from your block.
Tablespoons and teaspoons: almost universal, with one catch
The good news: tablespoons and teaspoons are fairly consistent internationally. One tablespoon is 15 ml in the US, UK and New Zealand. One teaspoon is 5 ml virtually everywhere. The one exception is Australia, where a tablespoon is 20 ml — so if you're using Australian recipes in other countries, or vice versa, a tablespoon difference matters for things like baking powder and salt.
Need to quickly convert between cups, ml, tablespoons and more? ConvertStuffNow's free volume and cooking converter handles all the common cooking measurement conversions — type in your number and get an instant answer.
Volume: fluid ounces and millilitres
Fluid ounces (fl oz) appear in US and UK recipes, but they're not the same in both countries. A US fluid ounce is 29.57 ml; a UK fluid ounce is 28.41 ml. The difference is small, but for large quantities it adds up. When in doubt, assume US fluid ounces unless the recipe is clearly British.
Quick conversion cheat sheet for the kitchen
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1 cup (US) | 237 ml |
| ½ cup | 118 ml |
| ¼ cup | 59 ml |
| 1 tablespoon | 15 ml |
| 1 teaspoon | 5 ml |
| 1 oz (fluid) | 30 ml |
| 1 stick butter | 113 g |
| 350°F | 175°C |
| 400°F | 200°C |
The simple rule: when baking, weigh everything
Volume measurements are fine for liquids and good enough for cooking, but for baking — where the ratio of flour to liquid to fat directly affects the outcome — weight measurements are more reliable. If a recipe gives only volume measurements, look for a version with weight measurements, or use a kitchen scale and an online converter to get exact gram equivalents. The result will be more consistent and you'll spend less time worrying about whether your "cup" is the same as the recipe author's.
All conversion values are based on internationally recognised definitions. Recipe results may vary depending on ingredient density, brand and local conditions.