Recipe Scaling Calculator
Scale a recipe up or down by servings and convert each adjusted amount into cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, millilitres or grams.
What you need
1.500
Multiply every ingredient by — Applies to every ingredient in the recipe, not just the one below.
- Scaled amount in cups
- 1.500 cups
- Scaled amount in tablespoons
- 24.00 tbsp
- Scaled amount in teaspoons
- 72.0 tsp
- Scaled amount in millilitres
- 355 ml
Estimates for planning. Confirm quantities with your supplier before ordering — see the assumptions below for the figures used.
Shop this project
Scaling up mostly needs a bigger bowl and a way to measure odd amounts. Quantities come straight from your calculation above — check them against your supplier's pack sizes before ordering.
Prep & extras
Mixing bowls
A scaled-up batch needs more room than the original bowl has.
Tools & equipment
Digital kitchen scale
Weighing removes the cup-packing variable entirely, which is the single biggest accuracy win in baking.
Measuring spoons
For the awkward amounts a scaled recipe lands on.
These are ordinary retailer links that currently earn us nothing. Read the full disclosure. We have not tested these specific products and no retailer endorses this site.
How to use the recipe scaling calculator
Scaling a recipe is straightforward arithmetic right up to the point where you need two thirds of three quarters of a cup. Enter what the recipe serves and what you need it to serve, then run each ingredient through to get an amount you can actually measure.
What scales and what does not
Bulk ingredients scale linearly and give no trouble: flour, sugar, liquids, fats, eggs when the multiple works out whole. Multiply and move on.
What needs judgement is anything whose effect is not proportional to its quantity. Salt and spice perception is not linear, so a straight multiple tastes over-seasoned. Chemical leaveners produce gas faster than a larger batter can hold it, so exact doubling tends to over-rise then collapse. Alcohol and acid cook off at rates set by surface area rather than volume.
Eggs, and other things you cannot buy fractions of
Scaling by 1.5 leaves you needing one and a half eggs. Beat a whole egg, weigh or measure it, and use half — a large US egg out of its shell is about 50 g, so 25 g is your half. Two tablespoons is a close enough approximation if you have no scale.
The same applies to any ingredient sold in fixed units. Round to whatever the dish tolerates, and round up rather than down for anything structural.
What this calculator assumes
Every estimate depends on figures that vary by supplier and conditions. These are the ones used here, so you can sanity-check the result against your own quote.
- Ingredients are scaled linearly. That is correct for flour, sugar, liquid, fat and most of what a recipe contains.
- Salt, spices, chilli and strongly flavoured aromatics often want less than the straight multiple when scaling up. Scale them to about three quarters of the calculated amount, taste, then adjust.
- Leavening does not scale cleanly at large multiples. Doubling baking soda or baking powder exactly can leave a metallic taste and a coarse crumb; many bakers use around 1.5 times for a doubled batch.
- Cooking and baking times do not scale with the ingredients. They depend on the depth and surface area of the food, not its total mass.
- Weight rows appear only when you enter a weight, and volume rows only when you enter a volume. Converting between the two needs the ingredient density — use the measurement converter for that.
Frequently asked questions
How do I double a recipe?
Multiply every ingredient by two, with three caveats. Cut back slightly on salt and strong spices and adjust by taste. Use roughly one and a half times the baking soda or baking powder rather than exactly double. And do not double the cooking time — check for doneness at the original time, then keep checking.
Why can I not just double the baking time?
Heat travels in from the surface, so what sets the time is how thick the food is, not how much of it there is. Two cake pans side by side bake in about the same time as one. The same batter in one deeper pan takes considerably longer and risks a burnt edge before the centre sets.
How do I measure an awkward amount like two thirds of a cup?
Convert it down to a smaller unit. Two thirds of a cup is 10 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons, which you can measure exactly. This calculator shows tablespoons and teaspoons for every volume result for that reason. Weighing the ingredient is easier still if you have a scale.
Can I scale a recipe by pan size instead of servings?
Yes, and for baking that is usually the better way. The amount of batter a pan holds is proportional to its area, so a scale factor from the pan size converter can be used directly here as the multiplier.
Related calculators
Other cooking & kitchen jobs people price at the same time.