Nuts and Dried Fruit: Grams to Cups for Every Common Kind

Nuts by the cup

Nut — Grams per cup

Almonds (sliced) — 92 g

Pecans (halves) — 109 g

Walnuts (halves) — 117 g

Walnuts (chopped) — 125 g

Pumpkin seeds (pepitas) — 129 g

Pine nuts — 135 g

Cashews (whole) — 137 g

Sunflower seeds (shelled) — 140 g

Almonds (whole) — 143 g

Peanuts (roasted) — 146 g

Look at almonds: whole is 143 g per cup, sliced is 92 g. That is a 36% difference for the same nut, purely because of how it was cut. Sliced almonds are thin flat pieces that stack with a great deal of air between them.

Walnuts go the other way — chopped weighs more than halves, because the smaller pieces fill the gaps that halves leave.

The comma that changes the recipe

This is worth internalising, because it appears constantly and almost nobody notices it.

"1 cup chopped walnuts" — chop the walnuts, then measure a cup of the chopped pieces. You get 125 g.

"1 cup walnuts, chopped" — measure a cup of whole walnut halves, then chop them. You get 117 g.

An 8 g difference is small in a cake but real in a small-batch cookie recipe, and the same principle applies far more dramatically to sliced versus whole nuts.

When in doubt, weigh. The ingredient index lists both forms where the site has data for them.

Seeds and nut butters

Ingredient — Grams per cup

Sesame seeds — 144 g

Poppy seeds — 144 g

Flax seeds (whole) — 168 g

Flax seeds (ground) — 100 g

Chia seeds — 148 g

Hemp seeds — 160 g

Tahini — 256 g

Almond butter — 250 g

Peanut butter (smooth) — 258 g

Ground flax is lighter per cup than whole flax, which is the opposite of what most people expect. Grinding turns dense little seeds into a fluffy meal that holds more air.

Nut butters are dense and sticky, and both facts matter. A cup of peanut butter is 258 g — heavier than a cup of butter — and a meaningful amount of it stays in the measuring cup. Oil the cup first, or weigh it directly into the bowl.

Dried fruit

Fruit — Grams per cup

Dried cranberries — 110 g

Dried apricots (chopped) — 130 g

Dried blueberries — 140 g

Currants (dried) — 144 g

Raisins — 165 g

Dates (pitted, chopped) — 178 g

Raisins are dense and pack well. Dried cranberries are larger, flatter and leave far more space, so a cup weighs a third less.

Dates are the heaviest here because chopped dates are sticky and compress under their own weight in the cup — which also means they measure inconsistently. Weigh them.

Fresh fruit is a different measure, because whole berries and grapes leave air gaps in the cup: see strawberries grams to cups, raspberries grams to cups and grapes grams to cups. For pie fillings, pumpkin puree grams to cups gives the cup weight of canned purée, and the Thanksgiving baking conversions cover the pecans and dried fruit in holiday recipes.

Coconut

Form — Grams per cup

Desiccated coconut (unsweetened) — 80 g

Shredded coconut (sweetened) — 93 g

Sweetened shredded coconut is heavier because of the added sugar and its higher moisture content. These are not interchangeable by volume in a recipe that depends on sweetness — swapping sweetened for unsweetened removes a noticeable amount of sugar.

Toasting changes the weight

Toasting drives off moisture. Nuts typically lose a few percent of their weight in the oven, and they become slightly more brittle, which changes how they break when chopped.

For baking purposes the difference is small enough to ignore. Toast the nuts, then measure — the flavour gain is far more significant than the weight change.

Toast at 175 °C for 8–10 minutes, shaking the tray once, until they smell nutty. Watch them: nuts go from perfect to burnt in under a minute, and pine nuts are the fastest of all.

Substituting nuts

In most baking, nuts contribute fat, crunch and flavour rather than structure, so swapping is generally safe — by weight, not by cup.

Walnuts ↔ pecans: nearly identical in behaviour, very similar weight per cup

Almonds ↔ hazelnuts: both firmer and crunchier than walnuts

Cashews: softer and sweeter, less crunch

Any nut ↔ seeds: pumpkin and sunflower seeds work well for nut-free baking and are similar in weight

The one place substitution fails is where the nut is the structure — almond flour in macarons, ground hazelnuts in a dacquoise. There the specific nut's fat content and grind matter.

For amounts, the universal kitchen converter handles nuts and dried fruit by weight or volume, and the cup fractions page covers partial cups.

Frequently asked questions

How many grams is a cup of walnuts?

About 117 g for halves and 125 g for chopped walnuts. Chopping fills the gaps between the pieces, so chopped weighs more per cup.

How many grams is a cup of raisins?

About 165 g. Dried cranberries are much lighter at about 110 g per cup because the pieces are larger and hold more air.

Does 'one cup of chopped nuts' mean chopped before or after measuring?

'One cup chopped walnuts' means chop first, then measure. 'One cup walnuts, chopped' means measure whole, then chop. The comma changes the amount by roughly 7%.

How many grams is a cup of almond flour?

About 96 g. It is much lighter than wheat flour because ground almonds are coarser and hold more air.

Can I swap one nut for another by weight?

In most baking, yes — nuts contribute fat, texture and flavour rather than structure. Swap by weight rather than by cup, since cup volumes vary a great deal between nuts.