To convert grams of steel-cut oats into cups, multiply by 0.00625: one gram comes to 0.00625 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 — 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.
The condition this weight assumes: Cut rather than rolled, so the pieces are dense and pack far tighter than flakes of the same grain.
The formula
grams- The amount of steel-cut oats you are converting, in grams
0.00625- Cups per gram for steel-cut oats, from its density of 0.67628 g/mL
cups- The equivalent quantity in cups
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in grams.
- It is multiplied by 0.00625, the cups-per-gram figure for steel-cut oats.
- 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
50 g of steel-cut oats in cups
50 g of steel-cut oats weighs out at 0.3125 cups. Divide 0.3125 by 0.00625 and you get back to 50 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
150 g of steel-cut oats in cups
A recipe calling for 150 g of steel-cut oats needs 0.9375 cups on the scale. The arithmetic is 150 × 0.00625 = 0.9375, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.46875 cups.
500 g of steel-cut oats in cups
500 g of steel-cut oats weighs out at 3.125 cups. Divide 3.125 by 0.00625 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 cups are in 1 g of steel-cut oats?
One gram of steel-cut oats is 0.00625 cups. Half that quantity is 0.003125 cups and double it is 0.0125 cups, 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 much does 2 cup of steel-cut oats weigh?
2 cup of steel-cut oats comes to 320 g, or 320 grams. This page runs that calculation in reverse — enter a weight and it returns the volume — and the cups-to-grams page does it in the direction the question is usually asked.
Steel-cut oats in grams and cups
| Grams | Cups | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 5 g | 0.03125 cup | 0.03125 |
| 10 g | 0.0625 cup | 0.0625 |
| 25 g | 0.15625 cup | 0.15625 |
| 50 g | 0.3125 cup | 0.3125 |
| 100 g | 0.625 cup | 0.625 |
| 125 g | 0.78125 cup | 0.78125 |
| 150 g | 0.9375 cup | 0.9375 |
| 200 g | 1.25 cup | 1.25 |
| 250 g | 1.5625 cup | 1.5625 |
| 300 g | 1.875 cup | 1.875 |
| 500 g | 3.125 cup | 3.125 |
| 1000 g | 6.25 cup | 6.25 |
Based on 160 g per cup of steel-cut oats. One gram of steel-cut oats is 0.00625 cups.
| 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.