Grams to Ounces

Food made for metric markets comes in round grams, which become awkward ounces. A 100 g chocolate bar is 3.53 oz, a 250 g block of European butter is 8.82 oz, and a 500 g bag of Italian pasta is 17.64 oz, about 10% more than the 16 oz box most US brands sell. A 1 kg bag of flour is 35.27 oz, or 2 lb 3.3 oz.

The reverse surprise happens to Europeans in the US: a stick of American butter is 4 oz, which is 113 g, so a recipe calling for 200 g of butter needs a little under two sticks, 1.76 to be exact.

Small quantities are usually more precise in grams, and ounces become long decimals. An 18 g espresso dose is 0.63 oz; a 7 g sachet of instant yeast is 0.25 oz, which is why US yeast packets are labeled as one quarter ounce. A teaspoon of salt weighs about 6 g, 0.21 oz.

International post weighs in grams. A standard letter of 20 g is 0.71 oz, and a 250 g parcel is 8.82 oz. The gram itself is a thousandth of the kilogram, which since 2019 has been defined through the Planck constant rather than a metal cylinder.

Above 16 oz, Americans switch to pounds and ounces. 750 g is 26.46 oz, which is 1 lb 10.46 oz, not 2.646 lb; divide the ounce total by 16 for pounds, and keep the remainder as ounces. Kitchen scales that show 1:10.5 mean one pound and ten and a half ounces.

If the grams are gold or silver, use troy ounces instead: 100 g of gold is 3.215 troy oz, not 3.53. For the other direction, see ounces to grams; kilograms, pounds and stone are in the unit converter.