To convert cups of steel-cut oats into grams, multiply by 160: one cup comes to 160 grams. 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 — steel-cut oats measures 0.67628 g per mL. That ratio, 67.63%, is what separates this page from every other ingredient in the same units, and it is measured rather than defined.
A cup of steel-cut oats is 160 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 144 g and 192 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.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.625% of a cup of steel-cut oats, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 3.125 cups, and a 1 kg pack 6.25.
How the figure is arrived at: Cut rather than rolled, so the pieces are dense and pack far tighter than flakes of the same grain.
The formula
cups- The amount of steel-cut oats you are converting, in cups
160- Grams per cup for steel-cut oats, from its density of 0.67628 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 160, the grams-per-cup figure for steel-cut oats.
- The result appears in grams, with a second reading in oz 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 steel-cut oats in grams
A recipe calling for 1/3 cup of steel-cut oats needs 53.3333 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.333333 × 160 = 53.333333, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 26.6667 grams.
3/4 cup of steel-cut oats in grams
3/4 cup of steel-cut oats weighs out at 120 grams. Divide 120 by 160 and you get back to 3/4 cup, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
3 cup of steel-cut oats in grams
3 cup of steel-cut oats weighs out at 480 grams. Divide 480 by 160 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 grams are in 1 cup of steel-cut oats?
One cup of steel-cut oats is 160 grams. Half that quantity is 80 grams and double it is 320 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of steel-cut oats not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Steel-cut oats has a density of 0.67628 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 160 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 76.6 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 steel-cut oats by roughly 20% — about 16 g either side of 160 g — because cut rather than rolled, so the pieces are dense and pack far tighter than flakes of the same grain. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of steel-cut oats 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 steel-cut oats weighs 0.7055 oz, so the two readings differ by 29.5%. 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 steel-cut oats would weigh 169.07 g instead of 160 g — 9.07 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 steel-cut oats — roughly 32 g on a 160 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 steel-cut oats is 500 g?
500 g of steel-cut oats is 3.125 cups — 0.00625 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.00625 = 3.125. Going that way is a division by 160, or a multiplication by 0.00625 if you prefer.
Steel-cut oats in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 20 g | 20 |
| 1/4 cup | 40 g | 40 |
| 1/3 cup | 53.3333 g | 53.33333333 |
| 1/2 cup | 80 g | 80 |
| 2/3 cup | 106.667 g | 106.6666667 |
| 3/4 cup | 120 g | 120 |
| 1 cup | 160 g | 160 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 240 g | 240 |
| 2 cup | 320 g | 320 |
| 3 cup | 480 g | 480 |
| 4 cup | 640 g | 640 |
Based on 160 g per cup of steel-cut oats. One cup of steel-cut oats is 160 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 160 g | 5.64 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 120 g | 4.23 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 106.7 g | 3.76 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 80 g | 2.82 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 53.33 g | 1.88 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 40 g | 1.41 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 10 g | 0.353 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.333 g | 0.118 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graham cracker crumbs | 142 g | 5.009 oz | 0.6002 |
| Rice flour | 158 g | 5.573 oz | 0.6678 |
| Potato starch | 160 g | 5.644 oz | 0.6763 |
| Steel-cut oats (this page) | 160 g | 5.644 oz | 0.6763 |
| Semolina | 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 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.