Recipe Scaler
Scale any recipe up or down and get the new amounts in measurements you can actually use, not awkward decimals.
Your details
Ingredients
This calculator runs entirely on your device. Nothing you enter is uploaded, stored, or sold. How this works
Scale factor
1.50×
Scaling up by 50% — from 4 to 6 servings
Includes your inputs, the full breakdown, and every row of the table.
Original servings
4
New servings
6
Ingredients scaled
5
Per serving
unchanged
Scaling changes yield, not richness
| Ingredient | Original | Use this | Exact |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | 3 cups | 3.00 cups |
| Granulated sugar | ¾ cup | 1⅛ cups | 1.13 cups |
| Butter | 8 tbsp | ¾ cup | 0.75 cup |
| Salt | 1 tsp | 1½ tsp | 1.50 tsp |
| Eggs | 2 | 3 | 3.00 |
What this means
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest practical measuring spoon or cup. The exact column is there when you are weighing instead.
- Bake time does not scale with the recipe. A batter twice as deep needs longer at a slightly lower temperature — the pan size calculator works that out.
- Whole items like eggs cannot be split neatly. Beat the egg, weigh it, and use the fraction you need — a large egg is about 50 g out of the shell.
How the recipe scaler calculation works
Scaling a recipe is simple arithmetic that becomes annoying the moment the answer stops landing on a measuring spoon. Two thirds of three quarters of a cup is a real number, but it is not a number you can measure. This calculator does the multiplication and then rounds each result to the nearest amount you can actually scoop, while still showing the exact figure for anyone working on a scale.
The rounding also changes units where that helps. An eighth of a cup is reported as two tablespoons, six teaspoons becomes two tablespoons, and 1,200 grams becomes 1.2 kilograms. These are the same quantities written the way a cook would write them.
Two things genuinely do not scale linearly, and both are worth knowing before you trust any scaled recipe. Cooking time depends on the depth and surface area of the food rather than its total mass, so doubling a cake means a deeper pan and a longer, cooler bake rather than the same bake twice over. And strongly flavoured ingredients — salt, spices, garlic, chilli, baking soda — tend to become overpowering when multiplied straight up, because perceived intensity does not track concentration in a straight line.
Frequently asked questions
How do I scale eggs?
Beat the egg thoroughly, weigh the result, and take the fraction you need. A US large egg is roughly 50 g out of the shell, about 30 g white and 20 g yolk. If you need half an egg, that is 25 g of beaten egg. Rounding to a whole egg is usually fine in a forgiving recipe like pancakes and usually not fine in a custard or a delicate cake.
Do I scale the baking time too?
No. Time depends on how thick the food is, not how much of it there is. Doubling a recipe into a pan of the same depth barely changes the time, while doubling it into the same pan doubles the depth and can add half again as long. Scale the pan, not the clock, and start checking early.
Why hold back salt and spices when scaling up?
Your perception of salt, heat, and aromatics does not rise in proportion to the amount you add, and errors compound as the multiplier grows. Tripling a recipe triples any small excess that was already there. Starting at about three quarters of the scaled amount and adjusting to taste is far easier than trying to rescue something oversalted.
Can I scale a recipe down to a single serving?
Usually, though very small quantities get difficult. Below about a quarter teaspoon, measuring by volume is unreliable, and small amounts of batter in a large pan dry out quickly. Baking recipes with chemical leavening tolerate scaling down better than yeasted doughs, which depend on a viable mass of dough holding its own warmth and moisture.
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Disclaimer. This calculator is provided for general information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal, medical, or engineering advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs you provide and the assumptions described above. Confirm any figure with a qualified professional before acting on it.