Dried lentils: Ounces to Cups

Convert ounces of dried lentils to cups — 0.147654 cups per ounce, with the density it comes from and a full measure table.

Volume in cups
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One ounce of dried lentils is 0.14765377 cups, so converting ounces of dried lentils to cups means multiplying by 0.14765377. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.

The density behind that figure is 0.81154 g per mL, against 1.00 for water. A cup of water weighs 236.6 g and a cup of dried lentils weighs 192 g, so this ingredient is 81.15% as heavy as the same volume of water — the single fact the whole page rests on.

A cup of dried lentils is 192 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 172.8 g and 230.4 g covers the range from lightly spooned to firmly packed. That 20% spread is larger than most of the adjustments recipes fuss over, and it disappears entirely the moment the ingredient is weighed instead.

One cup of dried lentils is 6.773 oz. US kitchen scales usually step in eighths of an ounce, which is 3.54 g — around 1.85% of a cup of this ingredient, so the scale is precise enough for a full cup and coarse for a spoonful. That is why recipes mix the two systems: ounces for the bulk, spoons for the small amounts.

What the number depends on: Brown or green, dry. Split red lentils are a little lighter per cup.

The formula

cups = ounces × 0.147653766276
ounces
The amount of dried lentils you are converting, in ounces
0.147653766276
Cups per ounce for dried lentils, from its density of 0.81154 g/mL
cups
The equivalent quantity in cups

How it works, step by step

  1. Enter the quantity in ounces.
  2. It is multiplied by 0.147653766276, the cups-per-ounce figure for dried lentils.
  3. The result appears in cups, with a second reading in tbsp beneath it.
  4. Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.

Worked examples

2 oz of dried lentils in cups

2 oz of dried lentils weighs out at 0.295308 cups. Divide 0.295308 by 0.14765377 and you get back to 2 oz, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.

4 oz of dried lentils in cups

Take 4 oz of dried lentils: 4 × 0.14765377 gives 0.590615 cups. Doubling the batch takes it to 1.18123 cups, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.

12 oz of dried lentils in cups

12 oz of dried lentils weighs out at 1.77185 cups. Divide 1.77185 by 0.14765377 and you get back to 12 oz, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.

How to read your score

0–0NothingZero is zero in either unit.
0–0.1477Under one ounceLess than a single ounce of dried lentils — the range where a measuring spoon is more accurate than a domestic scale.
0.1477–0.5906Recipe quantityBetween one and four ounces: the range almost every published recipe sits in.
0.5906–—Batch quantityMore than four ounces of dried lentils. At this size weighing is faster than measuring, and the exact figure under the gauge is the one to use.

Frequently asked questions

How many cups are in 1 oz of dried lentils?

One ounce of dried lentils is 0.14765377 cups. Half that quantity is 0.0738269 cups and double it is 0.295308 cups, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.

Why is a cup of dried lentils not 236 g like water?

Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Dried lentils has a density of 0.81154 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 192 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 44.6 g per cup, and it is the reason a single volume-to-weight factor cannot be applied to every ingredient.

Does how I measure it change the weight?

Yes, and by more than most people expect. Handling changes the weight of a cup of dried lentils by roughly 20% — about 19.2 g either side of 192 g — because brown or green, dry. Weighing removes the question entirely.

Is a fluid ounce of dried lentils the same as an ounce?

No. A fluid ounce is a volume — one eighth of a US cup, 29.57 mL — and an ounce is a weight. One fluid ounce of dried lentils weighs 0.8466 oz, so the two readings differ by 15.3%. They coincide only for something with the density of water, and then only roughly.

Is this a US cup or a metric cup?

US customary: 236.59 mL, which is the cup every US recipe means. A metric cup is 250 mL, so the same cup of dried lentils would weigh 202.88 g instead of 192 g — 10.9 g more, or 5.67%. Australian and some European recipes use the metric cup, and the difference is large enough to matter in baking.

Do I need a scale for this, or will measuring cups do?

A scale, if the result matters. Volume measuring carries a spread of about 20% for dried lentils — roughly 38.4 g on a 192 g cup — while a domestic scale is accurate to a gram or two. For anything where the ratio of ingredients drives the outcome, bread and pastry above all, weigh it.

How much does 2 cup of dried lentils weigh?

2 cup of dried lentils comes to 384 g, or 13.545 ounces. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the cups-to-ounces page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.

Dried lentils in ounces and cups

Dried lentils: ounces to cups
OuncesCupsUnrounded
1/2 oz0.0738269 cup0.07382688314
1 oz0.147654 cup0.1476537663
2 oz0.295308 cup0.2953075326
3 oz0.442961 cup0.4429612988
4 oz0.590615 cup0.5906150651
6 oz0.885923 cup0.8859225977
8 oz1.18123 cup1.18123013
12 oz1.77185 cup1.771845195
16 oz2.36246 cup2.36246026

Based on 192 g per cup of dried lentils. One ounce of dried lentils is 0.14765377 cups.

What each measure of dried lentils weighs
MeasureGramsOuncesMillilitres
1 cup192 g6.77 oz236.6 mL
3/4 cup144 g5.08 oz177.4 mL
2/3 cup128 g4.52 oz157.7 mL
1/2 cup96 g3.39 oz118.3 mL
1/3 cup64 g2.26 oz78.86 mL
1/4 cup48 g1.69 oz59.15 mL
1 tbsp12 g0.423 oz14.79 mL
1 tsp4 g0.141 oz4.929 mL

US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.

Dried lentils compared with other flours, sugars and dry goods, per cup
IngredientGrams per cupOunces per cupDensity (g/mL)
Dry couscous170 g5.997 oz0.7185
Uncooked white rice185 g6.526 oz0.7819
Uncooked brown rice190 g6.702 oz0.8031
Dried lentils (this page)192 g6.773 oz0.8115
Granulated sugar200 g7.055 oz0.8454
Arborio rice200 g7.055 oz0.8454
Dried chickpeas200 g7.055 oz0.8454

Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.

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