You're standing over a bowl of flour, phone in one hand, measuring cup in the other. Your recipe calls for 4 ounces. Your scale, however, is being stubborn and only shows grams. It's frustrating. You need a quick answer, but you also need it to be right, because baking isn't just "cooking"—it's chemistry.
Basically, 4 oz to g converts to roughly 113.4 grams.
If you're just searing a steak, "roughly" is fine. If you're making macarons? That decimal point starts looking a lot more important. Most people just round down to 113g and call it a day. Honestly, that usually works. But there is a massive catch that trips up even decent home cooks: the difference between weight and volume.
🔗 Read more: Getting Creative with Elf on the Shelf Ideas 2 Elves Fans Actually Love
Why 4 oz to g isn't always 113.4 grams
Here is where things get messy. In the United States, we use "ounces" for two completely different things. We use it for weight (avoirdupois ounces) and we use it for volume (fluid ounces). If you are looking at a box of pasta, that 4 oz is weight. If you are looking at a bottle of vanilla extract, that 4 oz is volume.
They aren't the same.
A fluid ounce of water happens to weigh just about an ounce, which is why people get confused. But 4 fluid ounces of honey? That's going to weigh way more than 113 grams because honey is dense. 4 fluid ounces of olive oil? That’ll weigh less. If you're staring at a digital scale, you are measuring mass. You are looking for that $113.398$ gram mark.
Precision counts.
The actual math (If you're into that)
To be hyper-accurate, 1 ounce is defined as exactly $28.349523125$ grams. When you multiply that by four, you get $113.3980925$ grams. Nobody has a kitchen scale that goes to nine decimal places. If you do, you're probably a scientist or a drug dealer. For everyone else, 113g is the gold standard for dry ingredients.
Most professional pastry chefs—think people like Claire Saffitz or the crew at King Arthur Baking—will tell you that grams are the only way to fly. Why? Because a "cup" of flour can vary by 20% depending on how hard you pack it. A gram is always a gram.
Dry vs. Liquid: The 4-Ounce Trap
Let’s talk about your measuring cups. You probably have those nesting plastic scoops for dry stuff and a glass pitcher with a spout for liquids.
If a recipe says "4 oz of chocolate chips," use a scale. Set it to grams. Pour until it hits 113.
If it says "4 oz of milk," you might reach for that glass measuring cup. In the US, 4 fluid ounces is exactly half a cup. But if you put that liquid on a scale, the weight might vary slightly based on the temperature and density of the liquid. For water and milk, the difference is negligible. For heavy cream or molasses? You'll be off.
It's weird that we use the same word for two different measurement systems. It’s a relic of the British Imperial system that we just never shook off, even though the Brits themselves moved on.
Common 4 oz conversions in the wild
- Butter: This is the easy one. A standard stick of butter in the US is 4 ounces. That is 113 grams. Most wrappers even have the little lines on them to help you out.
- Cream Cheese: Half of a standard 8 oz block. Again, 113g.
- Meat: A standard burger patty is often 4 oz pre-cooked. This is "Quarter Pounder" territory.
- Blueberries: A small plastic clamshell is often 4 to 6 ounces. 113g of blueberries is about 3/4 of a cup, depending on how plump they are.
What happens if you get it wrong?
Cooking is forgiving. If you put 120g of chicken into a stir-fry instead of 113g, nothing happens. The world keeps spinning. You just have a slightly meatier dinner.
Baking is a different beast.
If you're making a sourdough starter or a delicate sponge cake, a 10-gram error can change the hydration level of your dough. This affects the "crumb"—the hole structure inside the bread. Too much flour (too many grams) and your bread is a brick. Too little, and it's a puddle that won't hold its shape.
I've seen people try to convert 4 oz to g by using a tablespoon. They figure "Okay, an ounce is two tablespoons, so 4 ounces is 8 tablespoons." That works for water. It does not work for flour. Flour is fluffy. 8 tablespoons of flour might only weigh 60 or 70 grams if you don't sift it. You'd be missing nearly half the required amount.
Digital Scales: Your New Best Friend
If you are still using those old-school spring scales with the vibrating needle, toss it. Seriously. They are notoriously inaccurate at low weights like 4 ounces.
A decent digital scale costs twenty bucks. It allows you to use the "Tare" function. You put your bowl on the scale, hit zero, and pour your flour until it hits 113g. Then you hit zero again and add your sugar. No dirty measuring cups. No math. No stress.
International recipes—especially those from the UK, Australia, or Europe—will almost always list 113g or 115g. They don't even mess with ounces. If you're using a vintage American cookbook from the 1950s, you'll see ounces everywhere. Converting them to grams before you start cooking is the best way to ensure the recipe actually turns out like the picture.
A note on "The Ounce" variations
Not all ounces are created equal. The international avoirdupois ounce (the one we use) is the standard. However, if you are measuring precious metals (like gold) or certain apothecary items, you might encounter the Troy Ounce.
A Troy Ounce is $31.1$ grams.
If you are trying to convert 4 ounces of gold to grams, you are looking at $124.4$ grams, not 113. Unless you are a jeweler or a prospector, you can safely ignore this. But it’s a fun fact to pull out at parties if you want to be "that person."
International Standards and Rounding
In many professional kitchens, recipes are scaled up or down using percentages. This is called "Baker's Percentage."
When converting 4 oz to g for a professional setting, some chefs round to 115g just to keep the numbers clean, especially if the rest of the recipe is in increments of five. Is that "wrong"? Technically, yes. Does it matter? In a 10-pound batch of dough, no. In a single batch of muffins, you're better off staying closer to 113g.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the agency that keeps these measurements official. They take this stuff incredibly seriously. While the average person thinks of an ounce as a casual scoop, NIST treats it as a fixed physical constant.
Real-world 4 oz Examples
Think about a standard cup of yogurt. Many of those smaller individual servings used to be 6 oz, but "shrinkflation" has pushed many down to 5.3 oz or even 4 oz. If you're using one of those cups as a measurement for a cake recipe, you're looking at exactly 113g of yogurt.
What about coffee? A "cup" of coffee is technically 6 fluid ounces in many machines, but a small espresso drink might use a 4 oz pour. That's about 113-118ml of liquid depending on the foam.
Actionable Steps for Perfect Conversions
Stop guessing. If you want your cooking to improve overnight, stop using volume for dry ingredients.
✨ Don't miss: Stencils Jack O Lantern Mistakes That Ruin Your Halloween Display
- Buy a digital scale. Look for one that measures in 0.1g increments if you can, though 1g increments are fine for most.
- Commit to 113g. For any recipe calling for 4 oz of a dry ingredient, 113g is your target.
- Check the label. If a package says 4 oz (113g), trust the gram weight listed on the back rather than trying to eye-ball half a cup.
- Watch for "fl oz." If the recipe says "4 fl oz," use a liquid measuring cup or measure out 118ml (which is the volume equivalent).
- Write it down. If you have a favorite old recipe that uses ounces, take a pen and write the gram conversions in the margin. You'll thank yourself later.
The transition from imperial to metric in your own kitchen might feel clunky for a week. You'll be looking up "4 oz to g" or "1 cup to g" every five minutes. But once you start seeing the consistency in your baking—the way the cookies don't spread too thin and the bread actually rises—you'll never go back to those plastic scoops.
Precision isn't about being a perfectionist; it's about removing the variables that cause recipes to fail. 113.4 grams might seem like a small detail, but it's the detail that separates a "good" cook from a "great" one.