One cup of tomato sauce is 245 grams, so converting cups of tomato sauce to grams means multiplying by 245. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.
The density behind that figure is 1.0356 g per mL, against 1.00 for water. A cup of water weighs 236.6 g and a cup of tomato sauce weighs 245 g, so this ingredient is 103.6% as heavy as the same volume of water — the single fact the whole page rests on.
A cup of tomato sauce is 245 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 243.8 g and 247.4 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.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.408% of a cup of tomato sauce, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 2.041 cups, and a 1 kg pack 4.082.
The condition this weight assumes: Plain passata or smooth sauce, not paste. Concentrated tomato paste is considerably heavier per cup because most of the water has been driven off, so the two are not interchangeable by volume.
The formula
cups- The amount of tomato sauce you are converting, in cups
245- Grams per cup for tomato sauce, from its density of 1.0356 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 245, the grams-per-cup figure for tomato sauce.
- 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 tomato sauce in grams
1/3 cup of tomato sauce weighs out at 81.6667 grams. Divide 81.6667 by 245 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 tomato sauce in grams
Take 3/4 cup of tomato sauce: 0.75 × 245 gives 183.75 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 367.5 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3 cup of tomato sauce in grams
Take 3 cup of tomato sauce: 3 × 245 gives 735 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 1470 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
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Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of tomato sauce?
One cup of tomato sauce is 245 grams. Half that quantity is 122.5 grams and double it is 490 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of tomato sauce not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Tomato sauce has a density of 1.0356 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 245 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 8.4 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. Tomato sauce does not compress, so a cup of it is 245 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 tomato sauce 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 tomato sauce weighs 1.08 oz, so the two readings differ by 8.03%. 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 tomato sauce would weigh 258.89 g instead of 245 g — 13.9 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 tomato sauce — roughly 2.45 g on a 245 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 tomato sauce is 500 g?
500 g of tomato sauce is 2.0408 cups — 0.00408163 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.00408163 = 2.0408. Going that way is a division by 245, or a multiplication by 0.00408163 if you prefer.
Tomato sauce in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 30.625 g | 30.625 |
| 1/4 cup | 61.25 g | 61.25 |
| 1/3 cup | 81.6667 g | 81.66666667 |
| 1/2 cup | 122.5 g | 122.5 |
| 2/3 cup | 163.333 g | 163.3333333 |
| 3/4 cup | 183.75 g | 183.75 |
| 1 cup | 245 g | 245 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 367.5 g | 367.5 |
| 2 cup | 490 g | 490 |
| 3 cup | 735 g | 735 |
| 4 cup | 980 g | 980 |
Based on 245 g per cup of tomato sauce. One cup of tomato sauce is 245 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 245 g | 8.64 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 183.8 g | 6.48 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 163.3 g | 5.76 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 122.5 g | 4.32 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 81.67 g | 2.88 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 61.25 g | 2.16 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 15.31 g | 0.54 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 5.104 g | 0.18 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skim milk | 245 g | 8.642 oz | 1.036 |
| Buttermilk | 245 g | 8.642 oz | 1.036 |
| Plain yogurt | 245 g | 8.642 oz | 1.036 |
| Tomato sauce (this page) | 245 g | 8.642 oz | 1.036 |
| Orange juice | 248 g | 8.748 oz | 1.048 |
| Evaporated milk | 252 g | 8.889 oz | 1.065 |
| Peanut butter | 258 g | 9.101 oz | 1.091 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.