How Many Cups in a Quart?
There are 4 cups in a quart. That is 4 US customary cups (236.6 ml each) to one US liquid quart. Need any other amount instantly? Use the converter.
Quick answer: 1 quart = 4 cups = 2 pints · 1 pint = 2 cups · 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups
The full liquid measure ladder
US liquid volume doubles and quadruples in a tidy chain. Once you know a quart is 4 cups, the rest of the kitchen falls into place: two cups make a pint, two pints make a quart, and four quarts make a gallon.
| Measure | Cups | Pints | Quarts | Gallons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 1 | 1/2 | 1/4 | 1/16 |
| 1 pint | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/8 |
| 1 quart | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1/4 |
| 1 gallon | 16 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
Cups to quarts, both directions
Going from cups up to quarts, or quarts back down to cups, is just a factor of four.
| Cups | Quarts | Quarts | Cups | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 1/4 quart | 1 quart | 4 cups | |
| 2 cups | 1/2 quart | 2 quarts | 8 cups | |
| 4 cups | 1 quart | 3 quarts | 12 cups | |
| 8 cups | 2 quarts | 4 quarts | 16 cups | |
| 16 cups | 4 quarts | 5 quarts | 20 cups |
In milliliters and liters
These US measures also convert cleanly to metric. A US cup is 236.6 ml, so a quart lands just under one liter, a handy thing to know when a recipe from Europe or Australia calls for litres.
| Measure | Milliliters | Liters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 236.6 ml | 0.237 L |
| 1 pint (2 cups) | 473.2 ml | 0.473 L |
| 1 quart (4 cups) | 946.4 ml | 0.946 L |
| 1 gallon (16 cups) | 3,785 ml | 3.785 L |
Where this comes up in the kitchen
The cups-in-a-quart question turns up most when scaling a recipe or buying by the container. Stock and broth sell by the quart, so a soup calling for 8 cups of stock needs two quart cartons. Ice cream comes by the quart or half gallon; a quart is 4 cups of scoops. Doubling a recipe that uses 3 cups of liquid pushes you past a quart and a half, which is easier to measure with a quart jug than a small cup. Knowing the ladder saves you counting scoops.
A note on UK and imperial quarts
Everything above uses US customary measures, the ones behind most American recipes. The UK imperial quart is larger: it holds 40 imperial fluid ounces, about 1.137 litres, versus the 0.946 litres of a US quart. If a British recipe lists quarts or pints, expect roughly 20 percent more volume than the US figures here.
Convert cups, pints, quarts, gallons, and liters in either direction with the free baking converter.