There are 16 cups in one gallon, 8 cups in a ½ gallon and there are 0.0625 gallons in a cup (meaning one cup is 1/16 of a gallon). Both cups and gallons are units used to measure volume. This guide will give you all the details about cups, gallons, and the conversion of cups to gallons and gallons to cups (with charts).
In this article:
- What is a gallon?
- What is a cup?
- Gallon garden: Relation of cups to pints, quarts, and gallons
- How many cups are in a gallon?
- How many cups are in a half-gallon?
- Convert gallons to cups
- How many gallons are in a cup?
- Convert cups to gallons
What is a gallon?
A gallon is equal to 16 cups, and one US liquid gallon is equal to 128 fluid ounces or 3.78541 liters. The gallon is a unit of volume measurement and is part of the imperial system.
Overview of useful conversions for a gallon:
- 1 gallon = 16 cups
- 1 gallon = 8 pints
- 1 gallon = 4 quarts
What is a cup?
A cup is equal to 1/16 of a gallon and, in the US, is equivalent to 8 fluid ounces. A cup is a unit of volume measurement used commonly for both liquids and dry ingredients in cooking and baking.
The concept of using standardized measuring spoons and cups was first introduced by Fannie Farmer in her book “The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book,” published in 1896.
Overview of useful conversions for a cup:
- 1 cup = ¼ quart
- 1 cup = ½ pint
- 1 cup = 1/16 gallon
Gallon garden: Relation of cups to pints, quarts, and gallons
Cups, pints, quarts, and gallons are the common volume measurements used in the kitchen, and understanding the relationship between these units can make cooking easier.
The diagram above with the large “G” illustrates the relationships between these different units. The “G” refers to a gallon, which contains four “Qs,” meaning quarts. Each quart has two “Ps,” which stand for pints, and each pint has two “Cs,” representing cups.
Another mnemonic I use to remember them is “Garden Gallon.”
Cups are Pouring in the Quiet Garden (1, 2, 4, 16 cups in each from left to right)
Cups < pints < quarts < gallons
1 cup < 1 pint = 2 cups < 1 quart = 4 cups < 1 gallon = 16 cups
- 1 cup = ½ pint = ¼ quart = 1/16 gallon
- 1 pint = 2 cups = ½ quart = ⅛ gallon
- 1 quart = 4 cups = 2 pints = ¼ gallon
- 1 gallon = 16 cups = 4 quarts = 8 pints
How many cups are in a gallon?
There are 16 cups in a gallon. In other words, one gallon is equal to 16 cups.
For example, there are 16 cups in a gallon of water or milk.
How many cups are in a half-gallon?
There are 8 cups in a half gallon.
How many cups in a quarter gallon?
There are 4 cups in a quarter gallon.
How many cups are in a dry gallon?
Most often, when we talk about a gallon in the US, we are referring to the US liquid gallon. However, there is also a US dry gallon, and the volume of this is different from the liquid gallon. A US liquid gallon is 3.785 liters, while 1 US dry gallon is 4.4 liters. If a recipe specifically calls for US dry gallons, you’ll need a different conversion.
So, to answer the question “how many cups are in a dry gallon”, there are 18.6 cups in a dry gallon.
Convert gallons to cups
To convert gallons to cups, you’ll need to multiply the number of gallons by 16. For example, to find out the number of cups in 12 gallons, multiply by 16. This will give you 192 cups.
Gallons to cups conversion chart
Below you will find a chart with different values of gallons converted to cups, pints, and quarts.
Gallons to cups conversions:
- There are 24 cups in 1.5 gallons.
- There are 32 cups in 2 gallons.
- There are 40 cups in 2.5 gallons.
- There are 48 cups in 3 gallons.
- There are 56 cups in 3.5 gallons.
- There are 64 cups in 4 gallons.
- There are 72 cups in 4.5 gallons.
- There are 80 cups in 5 gallons.
- There are 96 cups in 6 gallons.
- There are 112 cups in 7 gallons.
- There are 128 cups in 8 gallons.
- There are 144 cups in 9 gallons.
- There are 160 cups in 10 gallons.
- There are 240 cups in 15 gallons.
- There are 320 cups in 20 gallons.
How many gallons are in a cup?
One cup is equal to 0.0625 gallons, which means there will be 1/16 of a gallon in one cup.
There are ⅛ gallon in 2 cups, 3/16 gallon in 3 cups, ¼ gallon in 4 cups, and so on.
Convert cups to gallons
There is 1/16 of a gallon in one cup. To convert any number of cups to gallons, you can divide by 16.
For example, to find out the number of gallons in 8 cups: 8/16 = 0.5 gallons.
Cups to gallons conversion chart
Below you will find the conversion chart with different numbers of cups converted to gallons, quarts, and pints.
Cups to gallons conversions:
- There are 0.0625 gallons (1/16) in 1 cup.
- There are 0.125 gallons (1/8) in 2 cups.
- There are 0.1875 gallons (3/16) in 3 cups.
- There are 0.25 gallons (1/4) in 4 cups.
- There are 0.3125 gallons (5/16) in 5 cups.
- There are 0.375 gallons (3/8) in 6 cups.
- There are 0.4375 gallons (7/16) in 7 cups.
- There are 0.5 gallons (1/2) in 8 cups.
- There are 0.5625 gallons (9/16) in 9 cups.
- There are 0.625 gallons (5/8) in 10 cups.
- There are 0.75 gallons (3/4) in 12 cups.
- There are 1 gallon (1/1) in 16 cups.
- There are 1.125 gallons (1⅛) in 18 cups.
- There are 1.25 gallons (1¼) in 20 cups.
- There are 1.5 gallons (1½) in 24 cups.
- There are 2 gallons in 32 cups.
- There are 2.25 gallons (2¼) in 36 cups.
- There are 3 gallons in 48 cups.
- There are 3.125 gallons (3⅛) in 50 cups.
British and American measurements
The relationship between pints, quarts, and gallons is consistent within either the Imperial or the US customary system
However, the actual sizes of these units differ between the two. For example, one Imperial gallon is larger than a US gallon.
So, if you’re wondering how many US cups are in an Imperial gallon, there are 19.2 US cups in one Imperial gallon.
Other conversions:
- 1 Imperial pint = 2.4 US cups
- 1 Imperial quart = 4.8 US cups
Takeaway
There are 16 cups in one gallon. There are 8 cups in a ½ gallon and there are 0.0625 gallons in a cup (meaning one cup is 1/16 of a gallon). To convert gallons to cups, we can multiply the gallons by 16 and to convert cups to gallons, we can divide the number of cups by 16.
More conversion guides: