One cup of ground cinnamon is 125 grams, so converting cups of ground cinnamon to grams means multiplying by 125. 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. Ground cinnamon comes in at 0.52834 g per mL, or 52.83% of water, which is why a cup of it is 125 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of ground cinnamon is 125 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 112.5 g and 150 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 0.8% of a cup of ground cinnamon, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 4 cups, and a 1 kg pack 8.
What the number depends on: Ground bark, light and fluffy. Cassia and true cinnamon weigh about the same per spoon even though they taste quite different.
The formula
cups- The amount of ground cinnamon you are converting, in cups
125- Grams per cup for ground cinnamon, from its density of 0.52834 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 125, the grams-per-cup figure for ground cinnamon.
- 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 ground cinnamon in grams
Take 1/3 cup of ground cinnamon: 0.333333 × 125 gives 41.6667 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 83.3333 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3/4 cup of ground cinnamon in grams
3/4 cup of ground cinnamon weighs out at 93.75 grams. Divide 93.75 by 125 and you get back to 3/4 cup, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.
3 cup of ground cinnamon in grams
A recipe calling for 3 cup of ground cinnamon needs 375 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 3 × 125 = 375, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 187.5 grams.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of ground cinnamon?
One cup of ground cinnamon is 125 grams. Half that quantity is 62.5 grams and double it is 250 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of ground cinnamon not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Ground cinnamon has a density of 0.52834 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 125 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 111.6 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 ground cinnamon by roughly 20% — about 12.5 g either side of 125 g — because ground bark, light and fluffy. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of ground cinnamon 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 ground cinnamon weighs 0.5512 oz, so the two readings differ by 44.9%. 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 ground cinnamon would weigh 132.09 g instead of 125 g — 7.09 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 ground cinnamon — roughly 25 g on a 125 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 ground cinnamon is 500 g?
500 g of ground cinnamon is 4 cups — 0.008 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.008 = 4. Going that way is a division by 125, or a multiplication by 0.008 if you prefer.
Ground cinnamon in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 15.625 g | 15.625 |
| 1/4 cup | 31.25 g | 31.25 |
| 1/3 cup | 41.6667 g | 41.66666667 |
| 1/2 cup | 62.5 g | 62.5 |
| 2/3 cup | 83.3333 g | 83.33333333 |
| 3/4 cup | 93.75 g | 93.75 |
| 1 cup | 125 g | 125 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 187.5 g | 187.5 |
| 2 cup | 250 g | 250 |
| 3 cup | 375 g | 375 |
| 4 cup | 500 g | 500 |
Based on 125 g per cup of ground cinnamon. One cup of ground cinnamon is 125 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 125 g | 4.41 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 7.812 g | 0.276 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 2 tsp | 5.208 g | 0.184 oz | 9.858 mL |
| 1 tsp | 2.604 g | 0.0919 oz | 4.929 mL |
| 3/4 tsp | 1.953 g | 0.0689 oz | 3.697 mL |
| 1/2 tsp | 1.302 g | 0.0459 oz | 2.464 mL |
| 1/4 tsp | 0.651 g | 0.023 oz | 1.232 mL |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.3255 g | 0.0115 oz | 0.6161 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground black pepper | 110 g | 3.88 oz | 0.4649 |
| Paprika | 110 g | 3.88 oz | 0.4649 |
| Onion powder | 115 g | 4.057 oz | 0.4861 |
| Ground cinnamon (this page) | 125 g | 4.409 oz | 0.5283 |
| Chili powder | 125 g | 4.409 oz | 0.5283 |
| Garlic powder | 134 g | 4.727 oz | 0.5664 |
| Instant yeast | 144 g | 5.079 oz | 0.6087 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.