100 grams of brown sugar in cups
Brown sugar hides two answers in one measure. Packed into the cup the way a recipe means, 100 grams is about 0.47 of a US cup. Spooned in loose, the same weight is 0.69, half again as much room.
Packed, loose, and the room between
Brown sugar is the one ingredient measured pressed down, because loose it traps air and cheats the recipe. King Arthur's packed cup is 213 g, so 100 g is 0.47 of a cup. The USDA measures a loose cup at 145 g, and by that a scoop of 100 g fills 0.69. Same sugar, same weight, and the reading moves by a fifth of a cup on whether you pressed it.
| How you filled the cup | In US cups |
|---|---|
| Packed, 213 g cup | 0.47 cups |
| Loose, 145 g cup | 0.69 cups |
Method beats the chart
The two US authorities argue over 7 g for a packed cup, 213 against 220. That is nothing beside the 75 g between the USDA's own packed and loose cups. So the useful question for brown sugar is not whose chart you read, it is whether you packed it. The brown sugar master page carries both states and the metric cup that splits the same way.
Other brown sugar weights in cups
Packed, for the weights a recipe tends to name:
| Brown sugar, packed | US cups |
|---|---|
| 50 g | 0.23 cups |
| 100 g | 0.47 cups |
| 150 g | 0.70 cups |
| 200 g | 0.94 cups |
| 250 g | 1.2 cups |
The same 100 grams is a denser 0.42 of a cup of water and a lighter 0.54 of rice, neither of which you pack. Double it and 200 grams of brown sugar is a spoon short of a packed cup.
Common questions about brown sugar by weight
- Is 100 grams of brown sugar half a cup?
- Packed, close: 100 g is about 0.47 of a US cup, and a packed half cup weighs about 107 g. Spooned in loose, the same 100 g spreads to 0.69.
- How many cups is 100 grams of packed brown sugar?
- About 0.47 of a US cup on King Arthur's 213 g packed cup. The USDA measures the same packed cup at 220 g, which reads a shade less per 100 g.
- Does packing brown sugar change the cup measure?
- More than the chart does. Packed is 213 g a cup, loose about 145 g, so 100 g is 0.47 of a cup packed and 0.69 loose. A recipe means packed unless it says otherwise.
Sources
King Arthur Baking for the 213 gram packed cup, and USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy for the 220 gram packed cup and the 145 gram loose cup. Full citations on the sources page.