One gram of uncooked quinoa is 0.094117647 tablespoons, so converting grams of uncooked quinoa to tablespoons means multiplying by 0.094117647. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Uncooked quinoa comes in at 0.71855 g per mL, or 71.85% of water, which is why a cup of it is 170 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A level tablespoon of uncooked quinoa is 10.62 g, which puts a teaspoon at 3.542 g and a tablespoon and a half — the quantity recipes are fondest of — at 15.94 g. Levelling twice is where the error comes from, so the scale is the faster instrument once the quantity passes a couple of spoons.
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.
How the figure is arrived at: 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
0.0941176470588- Tablespoons per gram for uncooked quinoa, from its density of 0.71855 g/mL
tablespoons- The equivalent quantity in tablespoons
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.0941176470588, the tablespoons-per-gram figure for uncooked quinoa.
- The result appears in tablespoons, with a second reading in tsp 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 tablespoons
50 g of uncooked quinoa weighs out at 4.70588 tablespoons. Divide 4.70588 by 0.094117647 and you get back to 50 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
150 g of uncooked quinoa in tablespoons
150 g of uncooked quinoa weighs out at 14.1176 tablespoons. Divide 14.1176 by 0.094117647 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 tablespoons
A recipe calling for 500 g of uncooked quinoa needs 47.0588 tablespoons on the scale. The arithmetic is 500 × 0.094117647 = 47.058824, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 23.5294 tablespoons.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many tablespoons are in 1 g of uncooked quinoa?
One gram of uncooked quinoa is 0.094117647 tablespoons. Half that quantity is 0.0470588 tablespoons and double it is 0.188235 tablespoons, 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 3 tbsp of uncooked quinoa weigh?
3 tbsp of uncooked quinoa comes to 31.875 g, or 31.875 grams. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the tablespoons-to-grams page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Uncooked quinoa in grams and tablespoons
| Grams | Tablespoons | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 0.470588 tbsp | 0.4705882353 |
| 10 g | 0.941176 tbsp | 0.9411764706 |
| 25 g | 2.35294 tbsp | 2.352941176 |
| 50 g | 4.70588 tbsp | 4.705882353 |
| 100 g | 9.41176 tbsp | 9.411764706 |
| 125 g | 11.7647 tbsp | 11.76470588 |
| 150 g | 14.1176 tbsp | 14.11764706 |
| 200 g | 18.8235 tbsp | 18.82352941 |
| 250 g | 23.5294 tbsp | 23.52941176 |
| 300 g | 28.2353 tbsp | 28.23529412 |
| 500 g | 47.0588 tbsp | 47.05882353 |
| 1000 g | 94.1176 tbsp | 94.11764706 |
Based on 170 g per cup of uncooked quinoa. One gram of uncooked quinoa is 0.094117647 tablespoons.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 170 g | 6 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 10.62 g | 0.375 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 7.083 g | 0.25 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.542 g | 0.125 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 2.656 g | 0.0937 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.771 g | 0.0625 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 0.8854 g | 0.0312 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.4427 g | 0.0156 oz | 0.6161 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.