Sunflower seeds: Grams to Cups

Convert grams of sunflower seeds to cups — 0.00714286 cups per gram, with the density it comes from and a full measure table.

Volume in cups
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One gram of sunflower seeds is 0.0071428571 cups, so converting grams of sunflower seeds to cups means multiplying by 0.0071428571. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.

Put next to water — 1 g per mL exactly — sunflower seeds measures 0.59175 g per mL. That ratio, 59.17%, is what separates this page from every other ingredient in the same units, and it is measured rather than defined.

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 = grams × 0.00714285714286
grams
The amount of sunflower seeds you are converting, in grams
0.00714285714286
Cups per gram for sunflower seeds, from its density of 0.59175 g/mL
cups
The equivalent quantity in cups

How it works, step by step

  1. Enter the quantity in grams.
  2. It is multiplied by 0.00714285714286, the cups-per-gram figure for sunflower seeds.
  3. The result appears in cups, with a second reading in tbsp beneath it.
  4. Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.

Worked examples

50 g of sunflower seeds in cups

A recipe calling for 50 g of sunflower seeds needs 0.357143 cups on the scale. The arithmetic is 50 × 0.0071428571 = 0.35714286, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.178571 cups.

150 g of sunflower seeds in cups

150 g of sunflower seeds weighs out at 1.07143 cups. Divide 1.07143 by 0.0071428571 and you get back to 150 g, which is the quickest check that the factor is the right way up.

500 g of sunflower seeds in cups

500 g of sunflower seeds weighs out at 3.57143 cups. Divide 3.57143 by 0.0071428571 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

0–0NothingZero is zero in either unit.
0–0.0071Under one gramLess than a single gram of sunflower seeds — the range where a measuring spoon is more accurate than a domestic scale.
0.0071–0.0286Recipe quantityBetween one and four grams: the range almost every published recipe sits in.
0.0286–—Batch quantityMore than four grams of sunflower seeds. At this size weighing is faster than measuring, and the exact figure under the gauge is the one to use.

Frequently asked questions

How many cups are in 1 g of sunflower seeds?

One gram of sunflower seeds is 0.0071428571 cups. Half that quantity is 0.00357143 cups and double it is 0.0142857 cups, 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 much does 2 cup of sunflower seeds weigh?

2 cup of sunflower seeds comes to 280 g, or 280 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.

Sunflower seeds in grams and cups

Sunflower seeds: grams to cups
GramsCupsUnrounded
5 g0.0357143 cup0.03571428571
10 g0.0714286 cup0.07142857143
25 g0.178571 cup0.1785714286
50 g0.357143 cup0.3571428571
100 g0.714286 cup0.7142857143
125 g0.892857 cup0.8928571429
150 g1.07143 cup1.071428571
200 g1.42857 cup1.428571429
250 g1.78571 cup1.785714286
300 g2.14286 cup2.142857143
500 g3.57143 cup3.571428571
1000 g7.14286 cup7.142857143

Based on 140 g per cup of sunflower seeds. One gram of sunflower seeds is 0.0071428571 cups.

What each measure of sunflower seeds weighs
MeasureGramsOuncesMillilitres
1 cup140 g4.94 oz236.6 mL
3/4 cup105 g3.7 oz177.4 mL
2/3 cup93.33 g3.29 oz157.7 mL
1/2 cup70 g2.47 oz118.3 mL
1/3 cup46.67 g1.65 oz78.86 mL
1/4 cup35 g1.23 oz59.15 mL
1 tbsp8.75 g0.309 oz14.79 mL
1 tsp2.917 g0.103 oz4.929 mL

US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.

Sunflower seeds compared with other nuts, fruit and cheese, per cup
IngredientGrams per cupOunces per cupDensity (g/mL)
Pumpkin seeds130 g4.586 oz0.5495
Frozen peas135 g4.762 oz0.5706
Cashews140 g4.938 oz0.5917
Sunflower seeds (this page)140 g4.938 oz0.5917
Whole almonds142 g5.009 oz0.6002
Sesame seeds144 g5.079 oz0.6087
Raisins145 g5.115 oz0.6129

Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.

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