How Many Ounces in a Cup
When it comes to cooking, understanding how many ounces in a cup goes a long way towards enjoying a satisfying meal vs. ordering another night of take-out in defeat. Double this for Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker conversions.
How Many Ounces in a Cup
In general, there are eight (8) fluid ounces in a cup, and we say fluid because liquid and dry measurements are different.
Quick and Easy Ways to Measure How Many Ounces in a Cup
If you are pressed for time or can't seem to find a clean liquid measuring cup, then you can use the following tricks if you have any of these items on hand:
- 15 oz butter container- If you keep a few of your old butter containers, then you'll be glad to know that you can use it as a measuring tool. 1 cup, or 8 fluid ounces is the equivalent of filling your butter dish 3/4 of the way full.
- Standard coffee mug- You can also measure 1 cup of liquid in your standard size coffee mug. Filling the mug up to the top of the handle, leaving approximately 1 1/2 inch at the top open equals 8 fluid ounces.
- Wine glass- Here's another handy tip, if you have a Chardonnay or Zinfandel wine glass on hand, you can use both to measure fluid ounces. For the Chardonnay glass, 8 fluid ounces will equate to a half-filled wine glass. For the Zinfandel, 8 fluid ounces will equate to 3/4 fluid.
We also have a quick cheat sheet if you want to learn more on basic kitchen conversion measurements.
Why Measurements Matter in an Instant Pot
Let's take our Sous Vide Chicken with Bok Choy Soup for example. This recipe calls for 6 cups of chicken broth plus other water-producing vegetables.
Should you become careless or measure out the liquid wrong, you can easily overflow your instant pot and have a huge mess on your hands.
The same goes for our Ham and Potato Soup. Here, we use 8 cups of chicken broth plus 1 cup of milk. That's 9 cups of liquid!
If you're using a 6-quart Instant Pot like the Instant Pot Duo or Instant Pot Viva then more than 1/3 of your space is already occupied- which is why understanding how many ounces in a cup- or how many cups in a quart- is extremely important.
Cups to Pint, Quart, Gallon? Learn To Convert Measurements with Blissful Clarity. Click me to read
Instant Pot Recipes You Need to Pay Attention To
If you're new to the Instant Pot community and want to avoid common Instant Pot mistakes, then we've provided the following recipes to keep a close watch on:
- Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
- Asparagus Soup
- Instant Pot Ramen
- Instant Pot Korean Spicy Noodles
- Instant Pot Peach Iced Tea
- Instant Pot Hot Chocolate
- Instant Pot Cranberry Butter
- Instant Pot Applesauce
- Instant Pot Blueberry Compote
If you'd like to learn how to convert cups in a quart for the Instant Pot, then we've written a how-to article that you can view by clicking here.
Looking For More Conversions?
- How Many Ounces in a Cup
- How Many Cups in a Quart
- How Many Quarts in a Gallon
- How Many Ounces in a Quart
