Table Salt: Cups to Grams
Salt is where volume measuring goes to die: a cup is 288 g, a teaspoon is about 6 g, and the difference between salt brands is the whole story.
Table salt conversion table
| Cups | Grams | Ounces |
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Nobody measures salt by the cup — and that's the point
The cup figure exists on this page because the chart has one (King Arthur lists table salt at 18 g per tablespoon, and 18 × 16 = 288 g per cup), but salt is really a teaspoon ingredient, and teaspoons are where volume measuring is at its worst. A level teaspoon of table salt is about 6 g (288 ÷ 48, calculated from the chart). A heaped one, a shaken one, a teaspoon from a wide-mouthed jar — each is a different seasoning level, and in a loaf of bread the gap between a light hand and a heavy one is the gap between bland and inedible. This is why serious baking recipes give salt in grams, and why the honest conversion for salt is: weigh it, even when the amount looks too small to bother. It isn't.
Table salt's fine, uniform crystals are what make its number stable: pour it, level it, and a tablespoon is 18 g today and tomorrow. That consistency is exactly what the next section's salt cannot offer.
Why there is no kosher salt number on this page
Kosher salt is sold as flaky crystals, and the flakes of the two famous brands are shaped differently — one brand's crystals are compact pyramids, the other's are flat, hollow flakes — so a tablespoon of each contains genuinely different amounts of salt, and a tablespoon of either contains far less salt than a tablespoon of fine table salt. Any single "kosher salt = X g" figure would be wrong for at least one brand, and our source chart lists table salt only. Following this site's rule — no sourced number, no number — the kosher conversion isn't published here.
The practical route when a recipe specifies kosher salt by volume and you own table salt: use the recipe author's own conversion if they give one; otherwise season by weight using table salt's figures on this page and taste as you go, remembering the recipe's author measured a lighter, flakier crystal. For bread and baking where salt is structural as well as seasoning, the recipe's specified salt, weighed, is always the safest path.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams is 1 cup of table salt?
288 grams — the King Arthur chart lists table salt at 18 g per tablespoon, and a US cup holds 16 tablespoons. The cup figure is arithmetic from the tablespoon, since salt is almost never measured by the cup.
How many grams is a teaspoon of table salt?
About 6 g, calculated from the chart (288 g per cup ÷ 48 teaspoons per cup). It assumes a level teaspoon; a heaped teaspoon of fine salt can hold much more, which is why weighing salt matters in baking.
Can I swap kosher salt for table salt 1:1 by volume?
No. Kosher salts are flaky and brands differ from each other, so a tablespoon of kosher salt contains less salt — by weight — than a tablespoon of table salt, by an amount that depends on the brand. Our source chart lists table salt only, so this site publishes no kosher figure.
Why do baking recipes give salt in grams?
Because the amounts are tiny and the volume error is huge in proportion: the difference between a level and heaped teaspoon can be several grams on a 6 g ingredient. Weight removes the guesswork, and salt affects yeast activity and gluten as well as taste.
Related pages
- Baking powder: cups to grams — the other teaspoon ingredient where levelling decides the outcome
- Bread flour: cups to grams — salt and flour are weighed together in every serious loaf
- Sugar: cups to grams — the granular ingredient at the opposite end of the cupboard
Data sources: King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart and USDA FoodData Central. Weights are per US customary cup (236.588 mL); other cup sizes are scaled by volume ratio. See the data sources & method page for how values were chosen.