Cups of semolina to pounds runs on one number, 0.36817198 pounds per cup. It is a measured property of this ingredient rather than a defined conversion, which is why a generic volume-to-weight tool cannot give you it.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Semolina comes in at 0.70587 g per mL, or 70.59% of water, which is why a cup of it is 167 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of semolina is 167 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 150.3 g and 200.4 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.
Pounds are how semolina is bought rather than cooked, so this is the bag-size arithmetic: one pound is 2.716 cups, a 2 lb pack is 5.432 cups and a 5 lb sack is 13.58. That last figure is the one worth knowing before a large bake — it tells you whether one bag covers the recipe.
What the number depends on: Coarse durum wheat. The large hard particles pack densely, making it much heavier per cup than any soft flour.
The formula
cups- The amount of semolina you are converting, in cups
0.368171977849- Pounds per cup for semolina, from its density of 0.70587 g/mL
pounds- The equivalent quantity in pounds
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 0.368171977849, the pounds-per-cup figure for semolina.
- The result appears in pounds, with a second reading in g beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
1/3 cup of semolina in pounds
1/3 cup of semolina weighs out at 0.122724 pounds. Divide 0.122724 by 0.36817198 and you get back to 1/3 cup, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
3/4 cup of semolina in pounds
Take 3/4 cup of semolina: 0.75 × 0.36817198 gives 0.276129 pounds. Doubling the batch takes it to 0.552258 pounds, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3 cup of semolina in pounds
3 cup of semolina weighs out at 1.10452 pounds. Divide 1.10452 by 0.36817198 and you get back to 3 cup, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many pounds are in 1 cup of semolina?
One cup of semolina is 0.36817198 pounds. Half that quantity is 0.184086 pounds and double it is 0.736344 pounds, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of semolina not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Semolina has a density of 0.70587 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 167 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 69.6 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 semolina by roughly 20% — about 16.7 g either side of 167 g — because coarse durum wheat. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of semolina 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 semolina weighs 0.7363 oz, so the two readings differ by 26.4%. 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 semolina would weigh 176.47 g instead of 167 g — 9.47 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 semolina — roughly 33.4 g on a 167 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 many cups of semolina is 1 lb?
1 lb of semolina is 2.7161 cups — 2.71612 cups to one pound, so 1 × 2.71612 = 2.7161. Going that way is a division by 0.368172, or a multiplication by 2.71612 if you prefer.
Semolina in cups and pounds
| Cups | Pounds | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 0.0460215 lb | 0.04602149723 |
| 1/4 cup | 0.092043 lb | 0.09204299446 |
| 1/3 cup | 0.122724 lb | 0.1227239926 |
| 1/2 cup | 0.184086 lb | 0.1840859889 |
| 2/3 cup | 0.245448 lb | 0.2454479852 |
| 3/4 cup | 0.276129 lb | 0.2761289834 |
| 1 cup | 0.368172 lb | 0.3681719778 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 0.552258 lb | 0.5522579668 |
| 2 cup | 0.736344 lb | 0.7363439557 |
| 3 cup | 1.10452 lb | 1.104515934 |
| 4 cup | 1.47269 lb | 1.472687911 |
Based on 167 g per cup of semolina. One cup of semolina is 0.36817198 pounds.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 167 g | 5.89 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 125.2 g | 4.42 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 111.3 g | 3.93 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 83.5 g | 2.95 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 55.67 g | 1.96 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 41.75 g | 1.47 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 10.44 g | 0.368 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.479 g | 0.123 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice flour | 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 (this page) | 167 g | 5.891 oz | 0.7059 |
| Uncooked quinoa | 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 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.