Grated parmesan cheese

One US cup of grated parmesan cheese weighs between 85 and 120 grams (3 to 4.2 ounces), 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.

Shredded, grated and crumbled cheese compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

Cup weight of grated parmesan is dominated by grate size, not by the cheese itself: America's Test Kitchen measures the same 1 ounce of parmesan filling 1/4 cup coarse to 1/2 cup fine — a 2x spread from technique alone. Standard grated parmesan (USDA and King Arthur reference) is 100 g per US cup, and the practical range across common home graters and shelf-stable shakers is 85-120 g/cup.

Parmesan (properly Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP, or generic "hard grating cheese") is a hard aged Italian cheese with low moisture content around 30% and a dense granular texture from long aging (12-36 months). Its cup density in grated form is dominated by air space between shreds and particles, which is set by grate size and technique — not by the cheese itself, which has a solid density near 1.1 g/mL.

America's Test Kitchen quantified the grate-size effect directly: the same 1 ounce of hard cheese fills 1/2 cup grated fine on a rasp-style Microplane (implying approximately 57 g per US cup), 1/3 cup grated medium on a box grater (approximately 85 g per US cup), and 1/4 cup grated coarse on a box grater (approximately 113 g per US cup). USDA SR Legacy "Cheese, parmesan, grated" (FDC 171247, formerly NDB 01032) publishes 1 cup grated = 100 g, density 0.423 g/mL. King Arthur's ingredient weight chart lists grated Parmesan at 1/2 cup = 1 3/4 oz = 50 g, extrapolating to 100 g per cup — a rare exact convergence with USDA. The USDA/KA figure corresponds to a typical medium-to-fine box grater output.

Shelf-stable shaker canister parmesan (Kraft green can, Archer Farms/Target, Berkley & Jensen, Great Value) sits at the top of the practical range: 28 g per 1/4 cup on most labels, extrapolating to 112 g/cup, with denser branded records reaching 120 g/cup. This is not the cheese itself being denser — it is the fine, uniform machine grind combined with added powdered cellulose (an anti-caking agent, typically 2-4% by weight) that fills cup void space more completely than any hand-grated home output.

For validation and internal consistency, this entry withholds a single figure and publishes the observed range 85-120 g/cup. The 41% spread across grate sizes and product types exceeds the 10% cheese-category tolerance because grate technique is the dominant variance driver, not measurement uncertainty. The USDA and King Arthur convergence at 100 g/cup represents a reasonable central default for recipes that just say "grated" without specifying technique.

Practical guidance: for baking accuracy, weigh grated parmesan rather than measure by volume. If cups are all that is available and the recipe simply says "grated parmesan," use ~100 g/cup as a working estimate. Recipes calling specifically for "finely grated" (Microplane) can be roughly 40% lighter per cup at ~55-60 g; recipes assuming shaker canister input can be 15-20% heavier per cup at ~115-120 g. In practice, most cooked applications (pasta finishing, gratins, breading) are forgiving to the point that grate variance rarely breaks a dish; baking applications (parmesan biscuits, savory shortbreads, cheese crackers) benefit most from weighing.

King Arthur is not a correction target here — the KA figure at 100 g/cup converges exactly with USDA. The wide range reflects grate-size variance that no source can collapse into a single number. Companion cheese entries (shredded cheddar, shredded mozzarella) will follow this pattern where grate/shred form drives the density variance more than the cheese identity does.