Ritz cracker crumbs

One US cup of Ritz cracker crumbs weighs between 52 and 81 grams (1.8 to 2.9 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. Use 52 grams (1.8 ounces) as USDA weighs a cup of crushed crackers. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Crumbs and cereals compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

A cup of Ritz cracker crumbs weighs between 52 and 81 g (1.8 to 2.9 oz): USDA weighs a cup of crushed snack crackers at 52 g, and Nabisco's machine-crushed Ritz crumbs weigh 81 g a cup. The page recommends 52 g for crackers crushed at home.

Ritz crackers are round, buttery, slightly sweet snack crackers made with wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Crushed, they are the classic topping for American casseroles, from green bean and chicken casserole to macaroni and cheese and scalloped potatoes, and they coat fried chicken and fish, bind meatballs and crab cakes, and make the crust for some savoury and sweet pies. Other round butter crackers crush the same way.

USDA's record for standard snack-type crackers, the round butter crackers of the Ritz type, weighs a cup of crushed crackers at 52 g. Nabisco sells Ritz ready-crushed in one-pound bags for food service, and its label gives a third of a cup as 27 g, 81 g a cup. The two are 56% apart, far past the 10% this site allows for crumbs, so the page shows the range. They are not a disagreement about the same thing: one is crackers broken by hand into coarse, flaky pieces, the other a fine, even crumb from a mill, and the page recommends USDA's figure for the home-crushed kind most recipes mean.

King Arthur Baking's chart has no Ritz or cracker crumb row.

The physical check: a Ritz cracker is thin, layered and full of air, and crushed by hand it breaks into flat flakes that stack loosely, leaving a cup mostly empty. Grinding the same crackers finely collapses the layers and lets the crumbs nest, and fine crumbs of any cracker or cookie weigh more per cup than coarse ones. That is why machine-crushed Ritz weighs half again as much, and why graham cracker crumbs, which are always ground fine, weigh about 102 g a cup on this site.

Practical guidance: use 52 g per cup of Ritz crackers crushed at home, about 3 g per tablespoon, and up to 80 g for fine store-bought crumbs or crackers ground in a food processor. When a casserole recipe calls for a cup of crushed crackers, measure loosely: pressing the crumbs into the cup adds weight and makes the topping heavy. If the recipe gives grams, weigh the crackers whole before crushing. Crush them in a sealed bag with a rolling pin for coarse crumbs, or pulse them briefly in a food processor for fine ones, and expect the fine crumbs to fill less of the cup for the same weight.