One pound of rice flour is 2.8708378 cups, so converting pounds of rice flour to cups means multiplying by 2.8708378. 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 0.66783 g per mL, against 1.00 for water. A cup of water weighs 236.6 g and a cup of rice flour weighs 158 g, so this ingredient is 66.78% as heavy as the same volume of water — the single fact the whole page rests on.
A cup of rice flour is 158 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 142.2 g and 189.6 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.
Pounds are how rice flour is bought rather than cooked, so this is the bag-size arithmetic: one pound is 2.871 cups, a 2 lb pack is 5.742 cups and a 5 lb sack is 14.35. That last figure is the one worth knowing before a large bake — it tells you whether one bag covers the recipe.
The condition this weight assumes: Fine, dense and gluten-free. Common in gluten-free blends and in tempura and rice-noodle batters.
The formula
pounds- The amount of rice flour you are converting, in pounds
2.87083778481- Cups per pound for rice flour, from its density of 0.66783 g/mL
cups- The equivalent quantity in cups
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in pounds.
- It is multiplied by 2.87083778481, the cups-per-pound figure for rice flour.
- 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
3/4 lb of rice flour in cups
A recipe calling for 3/4 lb of rice flour needs 2.15313 cups on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.75 × 2.8708378 = 2.1531283, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 1.07656 cups.
1 1/2 lb of rice flour in cups
Take 1 1/2 lb of rice flour: 1.5 × 2.8708378 gives 4.30626 cups. Doubling the batch takes it to 8.61251 cups, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3 lb of rice flour in cups
3 lb of rice flour weighs out at 8.61251 cups. Divide 8.61251 by 2.8708378 and you get back to 3 lb, 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 lb of rice flour?
One pound of rice flour is 2.8708378 cups. Half that quantity is 1.43542 cups and double it is 5.74168 cups, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of rice flour not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Rice flour has a density of 0.66783 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 158 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 78.6 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 rice flour by roughly 20% — about 15.8 g either side of 158 g — because fine, dense and gluten-free. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of rice flour 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 rice flour weighs 0.6967 oz, so the two readings differ by 30.3%. 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 rice flour would weigh 166.96 g instead of 158 g — 8.96 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 rice flour — roughly 31.6 g on a 158 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 rice flour weigh?
2 cup of rice flour comes to 316 g, or 0.69666 pounds. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the cups-to-pounds page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Rice flour in pounds and cups
| Pounds | Cups | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 lb | 0.717709 cup | 0.7177094462 |
| 1/2 lb | 1.43542 cup | 1.435418892 |
| 3/4 lb | 2.15313 cup | 2.153128339 |
| 1 lb | 2.87084 cup | 2.870837785 |
| 1 1/2 lb | 4.30626 cup | 4.306256677 |
| 2 lb | 5.74168 cup | 5.74167557 |
| 3 lb | 8.61251 cup | 8.612513354 |
| 5 lb | 14.3542 cup | 14.35418892 |
Based on 158 g per cup of rice flour. One pound of rice flour is 2.8708378 cups.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 158 g | 5.57 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 118.5 g | 4.18 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 105.3 g | 3.72 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 79 g | 2.79 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 52.67 g | 1.86 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 39.5 g | 1.39 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 9.875 g | 0.348 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.292 g | 0.116 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cornstarch | 128 g | 4.515 oz | 0.541 |
| Cornmeal | 138 g | 4.868 oz | 0.5833 |
| Graham cracker crumbs | 142 g | 5.009 oz | 0.6002 |
| Rice flour (this page) | 158 g | 5.573 oz | 0.6678 |
| 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 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.