FreeNo signup

Food and cooking

This section covers kitchen maths: scaling a recipe to a different number of servings and converting spoons and cups into grams.

Factor-based scaling works for the main ingredients, while spices and leavening need a correction — explained on the calculator page.

What the section does

  • Rescales ingredients to the servings you need.
  • Shows the scaling factor for growing or shrinking a recipe.
  • Converts familiar measures — spoons and cups — into grams and millilitres.

Accuracy in the kitchen

Weight beats volume: a cup of flour varies by tens of grams depending on whether it was spooned or packed. Use scales for baking; spoons and cups are fine for soups and stews.

Frequently asked questions

Should spices scale proportionally?

No — when scaling up, start at about 0.7 of the calculated amount.

Does baking time change?

Barely, if the batter depth stays the same. A deeper layer needs a lower temperature and more time.

Can I scale a recipe down?

Yes, a factor below one works the same way.