To convert ounces of sour cream into cups, multiply by 0.11812301: one ounce comes to 0.11812301 cups. Every ingredient has its own figure here, because the units are measuring different things and only the density links them.
Put next to water — 1 g per mL exactly — sour cream measures 1.0144 g per mL. That ratio, 101.4%, is what separates this page from every other ingredient in the same units, and it is measured rather than defined.
A cup of sour cream is 240 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 238.8 g and 242.4 g covers the range from lightly spooned to firmly packed. That 1% spread is larger than most of the adjustments recipes fuss over, and it disappears entirely the moment the ingredient is weighed instead.
One cup of sour cream is 8.466 oz. US kitchen scales usually step in eighths of an ounce, which is 3.54 g — around 1.48% of a cup of this ingredient, so the scale is precise enough for a full cup and coarse for a spoonful. That is why recipes mix the two systems: ounces for the bulk, spoons for the small amounts.
What the number depends on: Thick enough that it has to be spooned and levelled, which is where the measuring error creeps in.
The formula
ounces- The amount of sour cream you are converting, in ounces
0.118123013021- Cups per ounce for sour cream, from its density of 1.0144 g/mL
cups- The equivalent quantity in cups
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in ounces.
- It is multiplied by 0.118123013021, the cups-per-ounce figure for sour cream.
- 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
2 oz of sour cream in cups
Take 2 oz of sour cream: 2 × 0.11812301 gives 0.236246 cups. Doubling the batch takes it to 0.472492 cups, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
4 oz of sour cream in cups
A recipe calling for 4 oz of sour cream needs 0.472492 cups on the scale. The arithmetic is 4 × 0.11812301 = 0.47249205, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.236246 cups.
12 oz of sour cream in cups
A recipe calling for 12 oz of sour cream needs 1.41748 cups on the scale. The arithmetic is 12 × 0.11812301 = 1.4174762, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.708738 cups.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many cups are in 1 oz of sour cream?
One ounce of sour cream is 0.11812301 cups. Half that quantity is 0.0590615 cups and double it is 0.236246 cups, 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?
A scale, if the result matters. Volume measuring carries a spread of about 1% for sour cream — roughly 2.4 g on a 240 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 sour cream weigh?
2 cup of sour cream comes to 480 g, or 16.932 ounces. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the cups-to-ounces page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Sour cream in ounces and cups
| Ounces | Cups | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 oz | 0.0590615 cup | 0.05906150651 |
| 1 oz | 0.118123 cup | 0.118123013 |
| 2 oz | 0.236246 cup | 0.236246026 |
| 3 oz | 0.354369 cup | 0.3543690391 |
| 4 oz | 0.472492 cup | 0.4724920521 |
| 6 oz | 0.708738 cup | 0.7087380781 |
| 8 oz | 0.944984 cup | 0.9449841042 |
| 12 oz | 1.41748 cup | 1.417476156 |
| 16 oz | 1.88997 cup | 1.889968208 |
Based on 240 g per cup of sour cream. One ounce of sour cream is 0.11812301 cups.
| 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.