Cashews (whole)

One US cup of cashews (whole) weighs between 113 and 137 grams, depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. That range is the answer; a single number would not be. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Also called whole cashews, raw cashews, roasted cashews, cashew nuts whole, unsalted cashews.

Whole cashews publish as a range 113 to 137 grams per cup because the authoritative sources disagree by 21%, well over the 10% milled tolerance, and the disagreement reflects a genuine state difference between raw and roasted cashews rather than measurement error. King Arthur publishes 113 g/cup for unspecified 'whole' cashews. USDA publishes 137 g/cup for dry-roasted whole cashews (SR Legacy 170571) and 129 g/cup for oil-roasted whole cashews (SR Legacy 170572). The USDA raw cashews record does not publish a cup portion. Commercial retail packages of raw whole cashews typically label 1/4 cup as 30 g, which computes to 120 g/cup and sits between the KA and USDA-roasted figures, consistent with the interpretation that KA is measuring the raw or lightly-processed state.

The physics behind the raw-versus-roasted difference is worth understanding. A raw cashew is a smooth, curved kidney-shape with a slightly waxy surface. When you pour raw cashews into a cup, the curved surfaces slide past each other and settle with substantial air gaps between adjacent nuts. Roasting changes this: the nut shrinks slightly as internal moisture evaporates (raw cashews contain about 5% water, roasted about 2%), and the surface becomes rougher and slightly crackled from heat exposure. The shrinkage means more nuts fit per cup, and the rougher surface means adjacent nuts interlock rather than sliding smoothly past each other. Both effects push density upward. Dry-roasted cashews at 137 g/cup are 21% denser than raw at 113 g/cup, and oil-roasted at 129 g/cup sit between them because the oil coating restores some surface smoothness that offsets the roughening.

One unusual observation from King Arthur's chart deserves flagging: KA lists both 'Cashews (whole)' and 'Cashews (chopped)' at exactly 113 g/cup. For most nuts, chopping increases density noticeably because the smaller pieces fit into the interstitial gaps that whole nuts leave behind (walnut whole vs chopped on the site differs by roughly 10%). Cashews are the exception because their C-shape or kidney-shape already packs relatively densely as whole nuts, without the large interstitial voids that make chopped almonds or walnuts pack tighter than their whole counterparts. Chopping a cashew doesn't gain much interstitial fill because the whole cashews weren't leaving much interstitial space to fill in the first place. This is why KA rounds both states to the same figure, and why our chopped entry (also at 113 g/cup) is not a duplication error but a genuine reflection of cashew geometry.

Compared to the other whole nuts on the site, cashews at 113-137 g/cup sit in the middle of the density band. Almonds whole at 143 g/cup are denser (smaller, tighter packing), walnuts halves at 100 g/cup are lighter (larger, more air), pecans halves at 99 g/cup are lighter still, and hazelnuts whole at 135 g/cup are similar to cashews. The pattern is that smaller, rounder, denser-per-nut varieties (almonds, hazelnuts) pack densely, while larger, more irregular varieties (walnuts, pecans) pack loosely.

Category assignment is milled, matching all other whole nuts on the site. Whole nuts belong in milled because they are fatty solid pieces that pack in geometric arrangement rather than as small crystalline particulates. The sugar category is reserved for sugars, salts, chocolate chips, and small dried fruits.

Confidence is low because the two authoritative sources describe different states (raw vs roasted) and disagree by 21%. Bakers should treat the middle of the range (around 125 g/cup) as reasonable for generic whole cashews when they don't know the state, weigh 113-115 g/cup if using specifically raw whole cashews, and 129-137 g/cup if using roasted. When precision matters, weigh the specific cashews in hand rather than trusting a single generic figure.