One gram of sour cream is 0.98578432 millilitres, so converting grams of sour cream to millilitres means multiplying by 0.98578432. 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. Sour cream comes in at 1.0144 g per mL, or 101.4% of water, which is why a cup of it is 240 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
Sour cream has a density of 1.0144 g per mL, so 100 mL of it weighs 101.4 g and 250 mL weighs 253.6 g. That single figure is what every other number on this page is built from — water is 1.00 g per mL, so this ingredient is 101.4% as heavy as the same volume of water.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.417% of a cup of sour cream, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 2.083 cups, and a 1 kg pack 4.167.
How the figure is arrived at: Thick enough that it has to be spooned and levelled, which is where the measuring error creeps in.
The formula
grams- The amount of sour cream you are converting, in grams
0.98578431875- Millilitres per gram for sour cream, from its density of 1.0144 g/mL
millilitres- The equivalent quantity in millilitres
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.98578431875, the millilitres-per-gram figure for sour cream.
- The result appears in millilitres, 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 sour cream in millilitres
50 g of sour cream weighs out at 49.2892 millilitres. Divide 49.2892 by 0.98578432 and you get back to 50 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
150 g of sour cream in millilitres
150 g of sour cream weighs out at 147.868 millilitres. Divide 147.868 by 0.98578432 and you get back to 150 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
500 g of sour cream in millilitres
500 g of sour cream weighs out at 492.892 millilitres. Divide 492.892 by 0.98578432 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 millilitres are in 1 g of sour cream?
One gram of sour cream is 0.98578432 millilitres. Half that quantity is 0.492892 millilitres and double it is 1.97157 millilitres, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of sour cream not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Sour cream has a density of 1.0144 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 240 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 3.4 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?
Barely. Sour cream does not compress, so a cup of it is 240 g however it is poured — within about 1%, which is inside the accuracy of a domestic scale. This is the group where measuring by volume is defensible.
Is a fluid ounce of sour cream 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 sour cream weighs 1.058 oz, so the two readings differ by 5.82%. 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 sour cream would weigh 253.61 g instead of 240 g — 13.6 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?
At this size the spoon wins. One millilitre of sour cream is 1.014 g, and a scale reading to the nearest gram is working at 98.6% resolution on that — a measuring spoon is the more accurate instrument below about 5 g, which is why spice quantities are still written in spoons.
How much does 15 mL of sour cream weigh?
15 mL of sour cream comes to 15.216 g, or 15.216 grams. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the ml-to-grams page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Sour cream in grams and millilitres
| Grams | Millilitres | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 4.92892 mL | 4.928921594 |
| 10 g | 9.85784 mL | 9.857843187 |
| 25 g | 24.6446 mL | 24.64460797 |
| 50 g | 49.2892 mL | 49.28921594 |
| 100 g | 98.5784 mL | 98.57843187 |
| 125 g | 123.223 mL | 123.2230398 |
| 150 g | 147.868 mL | 147.8676478 |
| 200 g | 197.157 mL | 197.1568637 |
| 250 g | 246.446 mL | 246.4460797 |
| 300 g | 295.735 mL | 295.7352956 |
| 500 g | 492.892 mL | 492.8921594 |
| 1000 g | 985.784 mL | 985.7843187 |
Based on 240 g per cup of sour cream. One gram of sour cream is 0.98578432 millilitres.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 240 g | 8.47 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 180 g | 6.35 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 160 g | 5.64 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 120 g | 4.23 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 80 g | 2.82 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 60 g | 2.12 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 15 g | 0.529 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 5 g | 0.176 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 236 g | 8.325 oz | 0.9975 |
| Heavy cream | 238 g | 8.395 oz | 1.006 |
| Vinegar | 239 g | 8.43 oz | 1.01 |
| Sour cream (this page) | 240 g | 8.466 oz | 1.014 |
| Tahini | 240 g | 8.466 oz | 1.014 |
| Half-and-half | 242 g | 8.536 oz | 1.023 |
| Egg whites | 243 g | 8.572 oz | 1.027 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.