One gram of uncooked quinoa is 0.0058823529 cups, so converting grams of uncooked quinoa to cups means multiplying by 0.0058823529. 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 0.71855 g per mL, against 1.00 for water. A cup of water weighs 236.6 g and a cup of uncooked quinoa weighs 170 g, so this ingredient is 71.85% as heavy as the same volume of water — the single fact the whole page rests on.
A cup of uncooked quinoa is 170 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 153 g and 204 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.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.588% of a cup of uncooked quinoa, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 2.941 cups, and a 1 kg pack 5.882.
What the number depends on: Dry and rinsed. The seeds are small and round, so they pack closely.
The formula
grams- The amount of uncooked quinoa you are converting, in grams
0.00588235294118- Cups per gram for uncooked quinoa, from its density of 0.71855 g/mL
cups- The equivalent quantity in cups
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.00588235294118, the cups-per-gram figure for uncooked quinoa.
- The result appears in cups, with a second reading in tbsp beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
50 g of uncooked quinoa in cups
A recipe calling for 50 g of uncooked quinoa needs 0.294118 cups on the scale. The arithmetic is 50 × 0.0058823529 = 0.29411765, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.147059 cups.
150 g of uncooked quinoa in cups
150 g of uncooked quinoa weighs out at 0.882353 cups. Divide 0.882353 by 0.0058823529 and you get back to 150 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
500 g of uncooked quinoa in cups
500 g of uncooked quinoa weighs out at 2.94118 cups. Divide 2.94118 by 0.0058823529 and you get back to 500 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many cups are in 1 g of uncooked quinoa?
One gram of uncooked quinoa is 0.0058823529 cups. Half that quantity is 0.00294118 cups and double it is 0.0117647 cups, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of uncooked quinoa not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Uncooked quinoa has a density of 0.71855 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 170 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 66.6 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 uncooked quinoa by roughly 20% — about 17 g either side of 170 g — because dry and rinsed. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of uncooked quinoa 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 uncooked quinoa weighs 0.7496 oz, so the two readings differ by 25%. 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 uncooked quinoa would weigh 179.64 g instead of 170 g — 9.64 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 uncooked quinoa — roughly 34 g on a 170 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 uncooked quinoa weigh?
2 cup of uncooked quinoa comes to 340 g, or 340 grams. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the cups-to-grams page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Uncooked quinoa in grams and cups
| Grams | Cups | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 0.0294118 cup | 0.02941176471 |
| 10 g | 0.0588235 cup | 0.05882352941 |
| 25 g | 0.147059 cup | 0.1470588235 |
| 50 g | 0.294118 cup | 0.2941176471 |
| 100 g | 0.588235 cup | 0.5882352941 |
| 125 g | 0.735294 cup | 0.7352941176 |
| 150 g | 0.882353 cup | 0.8823529412 |
| 200 g | 1.17647 cup | 1.176470588 |
| 250 g | 1.47059 cup | 1.470588235 |
| 300 g | 1.76471 cup | 1.764705882 |
| 500 g | 2.94118 cup | 2.941176471 |
| 1000 g | 5.88235 cup | 5.882352941 |
Based on 170 g per cup of uncooked quinoa. One gram of uncooked quinoa is 0.0058823529 cups.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 170 g | 6 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 127.5 g | 4.5 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 113.3 g | 4 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 85 g | 3 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 56.67 g | 2 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 42.5 g | 1.5 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 10.62 g | 0.375 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.542 g | 0.125 oz | 4.929 mL |
US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup | Ounces per cup | Density (g/mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potato starch | 160 g | 5.644 oz | 0.6763 |
| Steel-cut oats | 160 g | 5.644 oz | 0.6763 |
| Semolina | 167 g | 5.891 oz | 0.7059 |
| Uncooked quinoa (this page) | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
| Dry couscous | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
| Uncooked white rice | 185 g | 6.526 oz | 0.7819 |
| Uncooked brown rice | 190 g | 6.702 oz | 0.8031 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.