Quick-cooking tapioca
One US cup of quick-cooking tapioca weighs between 152 and 168 grams (5.4 to 5.9 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. Use 160 grams (5.6 ounces) as a working figure for pie fillings, about 10 g per tablespoon. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.
Also called Minute tapioca, granulated tapioca, instant tapioca, tapioca granules, quick tapioca.
Most sites print one number for a cup of quick-cooking tapioca. This page prints 152 to 168 grams, because that is what Cook's Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen), Thickening Pies with Types of Tapioca, Let's Do Organic Granulated Tapioca (producer label) and King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart actually measured, and it names the method behind every figure rather than picking a favourite.
Two or more sources describe the same way of filling the cup and still disagree, by 10.5%. That is more than this site will average over, so all the figures stand and none is chosen. Cook's Illustrated 152 g, Let's Do Organic's label 160 g and King Arthur 168 g per cup span 10.5%, just over the 10% tolerance for milled goods, so the range is published rather than one figure. The spread is mostly whole-gram rounding on one- and two-tablespoon measures.
| Volume | Grams | Ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 152–168 g | 5.4–5.9 oz |
| 3/4 cup | 114–126 g | 4–4.4 oz |
| 2/3 cup | 101.3–112 g | 3.6–4 oz |
| 1/2 cup | 76–84 g | 2.7–3 oz |
| 1/3 cup | 50.7–56 g | 1.8–2 oz |
| 1/4 cup | 38–42 g | 1.3–1.5 oz |
| 1 tablespoon | 9.5–10.5 g | 0.34–0.37 oz |
| 1 teaspoon | 3.2–3.5 g | 0.11–0.12 oz |
| Filling the cup | 1 cup | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, granules spooned and leveled | 152 g5.4 oz | Cook's Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen), Thickening Pies with Types of Tapioca |
| Standard, granules spooned and leveled | 160 g5.6 oz | Let's Do Organic Granulated Tapioca (producer label) |
| Standard, granules spooned and leveled | 168 g5.9 oz | King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart |
Quick-cooking tapioca ounces to grams and cups
| Weight | Grams | US cups |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28.3 g | 0.17–0.19 |
| 4 oz | 113.4 g | 0.67–0.75 |
| 8 oz | 226.8 g | 1.35–1.49 |
| 16 oz (1 lb) | 453.6 g | 2.70–2.98 |
Why this page publishes a range
A cup of quick-cooking tapioca weighs 152 to 168 g (5.4 to 5.9 oz). Cook's Illustrated weighs 2 tablespoons of Minute tapioca at 19 g (152 g per cup), Let's Do Organic's label gives 10 g per tablespoon (160 g) and King Arthur 21 g per 2 tablespoons (168 g). For a pie, use about 10 g per tablespoon.
Quick-cooking tapioca, sold as Minute Tapioca by Kraft and as granulated tapioca by Let's Do Organic and others, is tapioca starch from the cassava root that has been precooked and dried into hard granules a millimetre or two across. It thickens fruit pies and puddings without the cloudiness of flour, and it goes in dry with the fruit. It is not tapioca starch (also sold as tapioca flour), a fine powder that weighs 113 g per cup on this site, and it is not pearl tapioca, whose round balls are soaked before cooking.
The three figures span 10.5%, just over the 10% this site allows for milled goods, so the entry publishes the range rather than a single figure. The spread comes mainly from rounding: 19 g, 10 g and 21 g are whole grams on one or two tablespoons, where half a gram either way moves the cup figure by 4 to 8 g. Cook's Illustrated's 19 g is stated as a weighing, the weight its testers used to match tapioca flour and ground pearl tapioca to Minute tapioca in pie tests. King Arthur's 168 g is at the top of the range and is accepted.
Kraft's own Minute Tapioca label is kept as a source without a figure. It prints a serving of 1 1/2 teaspoons (6 g), which would be 192 g per cup. The 6 g is real, 38 servings in an 8 oz box, but the teaspoon count is rounded: Cook's Illustrated's weighing of the same product gives about 4.75 g for 1 1/2 teaspoons.
The physical check: dried starch has a density of about 1.5 g/mL. Hard granules of similar size poured into a cup fill a little under half of it, so a cup should weigh about 0.65 to 0.7 g/mL, 150 to 170 g, which is the measured range. Fine tapioca starch weighs only 113 g because a fine powder holds far more air between its particles. The granules pack more like semolina, which weighs 167 g per cup on this site.
Practical guidance: use 10 g per tablespoon, 160 g per cup, as a working figure. Fruit pie recipes call for a few tablespoons, and the difference between sources is under 2 g at that scale, so a spoon is fine for pies. When a recipe gives quick-cooking tapioca in grams and you substitute tapioca starch, go by weight, as Cook's Illustrated did, not by volume: a level tablespoon of starch weighs about 7 g, a tablespoon of granules about 10 g.
Sources
Standard, granules spooned and leveled — no single figure published
Cook's Illustrated 152 g, Let's Do Organic's label 160 g and King Arthur 168 g per cup span 10.5%, just over the 10% tolerance for milled goods, so the range is published rather than one figure. The spread is mostly whole-gram rounding on one- and two-tablespoon measures.
- Cook's Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen), Thickening Pies with Types of Tapioca152 g per cup5.4 ozTesters "weighed tapioca flour and ground pearl tapioca to match the 19-gram weight of 2 tablespoons of Minute tapioca": 19 g per 2 tbsp, 152 g per cup (density 0.643 g/mL).
- Let's Do Organic Granulated Tapioca (producer label)160 g per cup5.6 ozRetail label (Whole Foods): serving size 1 tbsp (10 g), 17 servings per 6 oz box (170.1 g / 17 = 10.0 g, consistent), 160 g per cup (density 0.676 g/mL). Ingredients: organic tapioca starch, citric acid (H-E-B listing).
- King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart168 g per cup5.9 ozKA lists "Tapioca (quick cooking)" at 2 tablespoons = 3/4 oz = 21 g, 168 g per cup (density 0.710 g/mL).
- Kraft Minute Tapioca (producer label)Retail label (City Market): serving size 1 1/2 tsp (6 g), 38 servings per 8 oz box (226.8 g / 38 = 5.97 g); ingredients: precooked tapioca, soy lecithin. Taken at face value 6 g per 1 1/2 tsp would be 192 g per cup, but the 6 g is the real serving weight and the teaspoon count is rounded: Cook's Illustrated weighed the same product at 19 g per 2 tbsp, 4.75 g per 1 1/2 tsp. Kept as a source without a figure.
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