Cups of sunflower seeds to grams runs on one number, 140 grams per cup. It is a measured property of this ingredient rather than a defined conversion, which is why a generic volume-to-weight tool cannot give you it.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Sunflower seeds comes in at 0.59175 g per mL, or 59.17% of water, which is why a cup of it is 140 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of sunflower seeds is 140 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 131.6 g and 156.8 g covers the range from lightly spooned to firmly packed. That 12% 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 0.714% of a cup of sunflower seeds, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 3.571 cups, and a 1 kg pack 7.143.
What the number depends on: Hulled kernels, not the striped whole seeds sold as bird food — the whole seed is mostly hull and weighs far less per cup, which is the difference that trips up bulk-bin shopping.
The formula
cups- The amount of sunflower seeds you are converting, in cups
140- Grams per cup for sunflower seeds, from its density of 0.59175 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 140, the grams-per-cup figure for sunflower seeds.
- 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 sunflower seeds in grams
A recipe calling for 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds needs 46.6667 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.333333 × 140 = 46.666667, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 23.3333 grams.
3/4 cup of sunflower seeds in grams
A recipe calling for 3/4 cup of sunflower seeds needs 105 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.75 × 140 = 105, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 52.5 grams.
3 cup of sunflower seeds in grams
3 cup of sunflower seeds weighs out at 420 grams. Divide 420 by 140 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 sunflower seeds?
One cup of sunflower seeds is 140 grams. Half that quantity is 70 grams and double it is 280 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of sunflower seeds not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Sunflower seeds has a density of 0.59175 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 140 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 96.6 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 sunflower seeds by roughly 12% — about 8.4 g either side of 140 g — because hulled kernels, not the striped whole seeds sold as bird food — the whole seed is mostly hull and weighs far less per cup, which is the difference that trips up bulk-bin shopping. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of sunflower seeds 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 sunflower seeds weighs 0.6173 oz, so the two readings differ by 38.3%. 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 sunflower seeds would weigh 147.94 g instead of 140 g — 7.94 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 12% for sunflower seeds — roughly 16.8 g on a 140 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 sunflower seeds is 500 g?
500 g of sunflower seeds is 3.5714 cups — 0.00714286 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.00714286 = 3.5714. Going that way is a division by 140, or a multiplication by 0.00714286 if you prefer.
Sunflower seeds in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 17.5 g | 17.5 |
| 1/4 cup | 35 g | 35 |
| 1/3 cup | 46.6667 g | 46.66666667 |
| 1/2 cup | 70 g | 70 |
| 2/3 cup | 93.3333 g | 93.33333333 |
| 3/4 cup | 105 g | 105 |
| 1 cup | 140 g | 140 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 210 g | 210 |
| 2 cup | 280 g | 280 |
| 3 cup | 420 g | 420 |
| 4 cup | 560 g | 560 |
Based on 140 g per cup of sunflower seeds. One cup of sunflower seeds is 140 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 140 g | 4.94 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 105 g | 3.7 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 93.33 g | 3.29 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 70 g | 2.47 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 46.67 g | 1.65 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 35 g | 1.23 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 8.75 g | 0.309 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 2.917 g | 0.103 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin seeds | 130 g | 4.586 oz | 0.5495 |
| Frozen peas | 135 g | 4.762 oz | 0.5706 |
| Cashews | 140 g | 4.938 oz | 0.5917 |
| Sunflower seeds (this page) | 140 g | 4.938 oz | 0.5917 |
| Whole almonds | 142 g | 5.009 oz | 0.6002 |
| Sesame seeds | 144 g | 5.079 oz | 0.6087 |
| Raisins | 145 g | 5.115 oz | 0.6129 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.