Ground Coriander

One US cup of ground coriander weighs 95.6 grams. Going the other way, 100 grams is about 1.05 cups.

Also called coriander powder, ground coriander seed, dhania powder, Coriandrum sativum ground.

Ground coriander packs at about 96 g per US cup. USDA Branded records and Chef's Resources agree within 1 percent, and the ground figure is 20 to 45 percent denser than whole coriander seed because grinding eliminates the air pockets inside the hollow spherical seeds.

Coriander is the dried seed of Coriandrum sativum, an annual herb in the parsley family whose fresh leaves are known in North America as cilantro. The seed is technically a fruit — a schizocarp made of two hemispherical mericarps that partially separate on drying — and its interior contains a small cavity around the germ. Whole coriander seeds are noticeably light per cup (roughly 65 to 85 g per US cup across USDA and reference tables) because those hollow spherical seeds pack with substantial air between and inside them. Grinding collapses both the internal cavities and the interstitial gaps, and the powder fills the cup at 95 to 96 g.

Sources converge tightly on the ground figure. USDA FoodData Central Branded records for Morton & Bassett Ground Coriander (UPC 016291441866) and Morton & Bassett 100% Organic Ground Coriander (UPC 016291442863) both come in at exactly 101 g per metric cup (96 g per US cup, density 0.4040 g/mL). Chef's Resources publishes 3.35 oz per cup, which works out to 95 g per US cup at density 0.4015 g/mL, within 1 percent of the USDA figure. The published range across sources is 1 percent, well inside the 10 percent tolerance held for the spice category.

USDA SR Legacy has direct records for whole coriander seed (85 g per metric cup, 81 g per US cup) and for dried coriander leaf, which is cilantro powder rather than seed powder (30 g per metric cup). It does not have a separate reference record for ground coriander from seed; that data comes from the branded records. The three data points cited above are all for ground seed.

The comparison to whole coriander seed is instructive for bakers converting between the two forms. USDA SR Legacy whole coriander seed at 81 g per US cup, and Chef's Resources whole coriander at 2.29 oz per cup (65 g), are both notably lighter than ground at 95 to 96 g. The physical picture is consistent with what the numbers show: grinding reduces the average void fraction from roughly 45 percent for whole seeds (with their interior cavities and packing gaps between spherical particles) to under 20 percent for powder. The flavor also concentrates because grinding exposes far more surface area of the seed's essential-oil bearing tissue per gram, which is why ground coriander loses aroma faster in storage than whole seed does. Buying whole and grinding as needed remains the flavor-optimal approach; the density difference (roughly 20 to 40 percent) is small compared with the aroma difference between fresh-ground and long-shelved powder.

King Arthur's Ingredient Weight Chart does not list coriander in either whole or ground form. The chart is silent on the spice, so there is no correction to make here; the site simply publishes what USDA and the reference chart already agree on.

Ground coriander is used across an unusually wide range of cuisines for a single spice: Indian curries (as a base note in garam masala and many regional blends), Middle Eastern blends like baharat and ras el hanout, Latin American chorizo and mole, some Scandinavian rye breads, and Belgian witbier. Its density places it in the medium-density spice cluster alongside ground cardamom (93 g/cup) and pumpkin pie spice (90 g/cup), well below the dense-spice cluster of ground cloves and ground cinnamon at 130-plus g/cup.