Need to know how many cups are in a liter? Here’s everything you need to know about converting cups to liters (and other helpful measurements)!
How many cups are in a liter?
There are 4.227 cups in a liter. A cup is 8 fluid ounces and a liter is 33.8 fluid ounces.
Cups and liters both measure the volume of liquids, so whether you need to know how many cups are in a liter or water, oil or a bottle of soda, there will always be about 4.3 cups in a liter!
The liter is a metric measurement closest to the quart in imperial measurements. If you don’t need perfectly exact measurements, simply round to 4 cups and add ¼ cup to make a liter. If you need ½ a liter measure out 2 cups and 2 Tablespoons.
What Is a Cup?
The “cup” is an Imperial measurement. The standardized measure of a cup is relatively new. It was initiated by Fannie Farmer the Director of the Boston Cooking School in 1896, and first appeared in her book “The Boston Cooking School Cook Book”. Prior to this it was common for recipes to use terms like a handful of rice or a generous portion of sugar. Now I know people who can cook that way. They just pour in ingredients and their cooking always seems perfect. For the rest of us mere mortals, Fannie Farmer’s standardization was a great service.
What Is a Liter?
The “liter” is a metric measurement. The liter was introduced in France in 1795 by the Republican government after overthrowing the monarchy and all trappings associated with that government, and so began the metric system. In 1901 international agreement was reached to redefined the liter as the space occupied by 1 kg of pure water.
Quick Conversions
While the rest of the world has moved on to the metric system, we still use our pints, quarts, and gallons, so here is a quick conversion chart to assist in metric conversions.
- 1 cup = 0.236 liters
- 1 pint = 0.47 liters
- 1 quart = 1.06 liters
- 1 gallon = 3.78 liters
| Liters | Cups | Pints | Quarts | Gallons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 liter | 2.12 cups | 1.06 pints | 0.53 quarts | 0.13 gallons |
| 1 liter | 4.23 cups | 2.11 pints | 1.06 quarts | 0.26 gallons |
| 2 liters | 8.46 cups | 4.22 pints | 2.12 quarts | 0.53 gallons |
| 5 liters | 21.15 cups | 10.55 pints | 5.30 quarts | 1.32 gallons |
| 10 liters | 42.30 cups | 21.10 pints | 10.60 quarts | 2.64 gallons |
Nora says
Happy info was made available.
Am always racking my brain to figure out some great recipes!
Thanks you!
Judith Gomez says
You tell us 2 liters is 8.46 cups. Great. We understand the 8 cups part, but how do we figure out what the .46 part is??? We are not mathematicians. We don’t know what the numbers after the dots mean. No one ever explained those numbers to us.
Also, when using measuring cups, how do you know you are getting the correct measurement? I did a test… I took three of my measuring cups, all different sizes and shapes, and my water bottle, which had the ounces listed on the side of the bottle. I poured 8 ounces in each one, and then poured each on into a glass and marked on the glass where 8 ounces came to. When I was done, I had 4 different marks on my glass showing 4 different 8 ounce levels. So, when we are baking, how do we know we are getting the right amount of ingredients into our recipe?
I hope you can answer this one for me.
Thank you.
Sarah Bond says
8.46 is very close to 8 and a half (so a 8 and 1/2 cups)! It’s important to always use the right measuring tool when baking – use cups for dry measuring cups for dry things (like flour) and liquid measuring cups for liquids (like water). With that said, weighing your ingredients will be the most precise for baking!