Convert Liters to US Cups
Liters to US cups is the conversion that bridges a metric recipe and an American measuring cup. One liter is about 4.226753 US cups, so the number gets bigger going from liters to cups because a cup is a much smaller amount than a liter.
Liters to US Cups conversion table
| Liters (L) | US Cups (cup) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4.226753 |
| 2 | 8.453506 |
| 3 | 12.680259 |
| 5 | 21.133764 |
| 10 | 42.267528 |
| 20 | 84.535057 |
| 50 | 211.337642 |
| 100 | 422.675284 |
| 500 | 2,113.376419 |
| 1,000 | 4,226.752838 |
The formula
To convert liters to US cups, multiply the volume in liters by 4.226753:
US cups = liters × 4.226753
A worked example
Say a soup recipe makes 2 liters and you want to know how many cups that is for serving:
2 × 4.226753 = 8.45 US cups
So a 2-liter batch is about eight and a half cups.
US cup, not the metric cup
Watch out here: the US cup is about 236.6 mL, but the metric cup used in Australia and parts of Europe is a round 250 mL, and a UK recipe cup can differ again. A few cups' difference adds up in baking, where ratios matter — so match the cup to where the recipe came from.
When you'll use it
Scaling metric recipes to American measuring cups, portioning soups and batters, converting drink or batch quantities for entertaining, and following international recipes on US kitchen equipment.
Frequently asked questions
How many US cups are in a liter?
About 4.226753 US cups. A US cup is defined as exactly 0.2365882365 liters (236.5882365 mL), so a liter holds a little over four of them. This is the US legal cup, not a UK or metric cup.
Isn't a cup just 250 mL?
Not the US cup. A US customary cup is about 236.6 mL. The 250 mL cup is the metric cup used in places like Australia. If a recipe is American, use the 236.6 mL cup, or your quantities will drift.
How big is a US cup in familiar terms?
A US cup is 8 US fluid ounces — half a US pint, or one-sixteenth of a US gallon. That's the standard cup on American measuring sets.