Boring Tools

Recipe Scaler & Converter

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Scale ingredient quantities and convert between common cooking units.

Two kitchen helpers in one page. Scale a recipe up or down by entering how many servings it makes and how many you want, and every ingredient quantity is recalculated. Then convert between cups, spoons, millilitres, litres and fluid ounces.

How it works

Scaling uses one ratio, Desired servings ÷ Original servings, and multiplies the leading quantity of each ingredient line by it. Quantities can be whole numbers (2), decimals (1.5), fractions (1/2) or mixed numbers (1 1/2). Results are rounded to two decimal places and written as decimals — 1/2 scaled by 1.5 becomes 0.75, not 3/4. Everything after the number, including the unit and the ingredient name, is kept as you wrote it.

Unit conversion turns your quantity into millilitres and then into the unit you chose, using US measures: 1 cup = 236.588 ml, 1 tablespoon = 14.787 ml, 1 teaspoon = 4.929 ml, 1 fluid ounce = 29.574 ml.

How to use it

  1. Under Scale a recipe, enter the Original servings the recipe makes and the Desired servings you want.
  2. Type or paste the ingredients, one per line, with the quantity at the start of each line.
  3. Read the scaled list in the panel below and click Copy to take it away.
  4. For a unit conversion, scroll to Convert cooking units, enter a Quantity, and choose the From and To units.

Options & controls

Scale a recipe

Original servings
How many servings the recipe as written makes. Must be greater than 0. Default: 4.
Desired servings
How many you want to make. Must be greater than 0. Default: 6.
Ingredients (one per line)
The list to scale. Only a number at the very start of a line is changed. Lines that do not start with a number — “Salt to taste” — are left as they are.
Scaled ingredients panel
The result, line for line. If either serving count is empty, zero or invalid, the list is shown unscaled.
Copy (scaled list)
Copies the whole scaled list.

Convert cooking units

Quantity
A number, 0 or greater. Empty, zero or invalid shows a dash. Default: 1.
From / To
Cups, Tablespoons, Teaspoons, Milliliters, Liters, Fluid ounces. Default: Cups to Milliliters.
Result panel
The converted amount, rounded to two decimal places. The unit name is not shown next to it, so note it yourself.
Copy (result)
Copies the number only.

Page controls

Reset
In the title row. Restores every field in both sections to the sample values.

Tips & guidelines

  • Write quantities as digits: 1 1/2 tsp scales correctly, but 1½ or one and a half does not.
  • Keep only ingredient lines in the box. A line such as 350°F for 20 minutes starts with a number and would be scaled too.
  • Scaling is arithmetic only. Baking is more sensitive than the maths suggests: cooking times, pan sizes, and raising agents and spices often need a judgement call when you double or halve a recipe.
  • Round awkward results to a sensible kitchen measure yourself — for example, 0.75 cup is three-quarters of a cup.
  • For questions like “how many teaspoons in a tablespoon?”, use the conversion section rather than working it out in your head.

Limits

  • Only a number at the start of a line is scaled. A quantity written later in the line, such as Flour, 2 cups, is not, and a range like 2-3 cups only has its first number scaled.
  • Unicode fraction characters (½, ¼) are not recognised.
  • Conversions are volume-only and use US measures. Converting between volume and weight (cups to grams) depends on the ingredient and is not offered.
  • Metric cups, UK/imperial pints and fluid ounces, and Australian tablespoons are different sizes from the US ones used here.

Saved in your browser

Nothing. Everything resets to the sample recipe when you refresh.

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