By
Linda Larsen is a journalist, quick-cooking and slow-cooking expert, and accomplished cookbook author with over 30 years of experience in testing and developing recipes.
Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process
Updated on 03/24/19
Trending Videos
Equivalents and substitutions in cooking are a way to help you streamline the preparation process when cooking and baking. Substitutions are ingredients that can be substituted for others, such as using cocoa powder for unsweetened chocolate, while equivalents are the yields of foods, such as how much cheese you need to make 2 cups grated.
Equivalents are the measuring amounts of standard ingredients. If a recipe calls for 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, do you know how many whole graham crackers you need? Or if a recipe calls for 1 large egg yolk and all you have on hand is medium eggs, how much do you need? How many ripe bananas do you need to make 1 cup of mashed banana? How much cheese do you need to buy to 2 cups grated?
Print out this chart and keep in your kitchen for instant reference. It's much easier than measuring as you go; just buy the amount you need and prepare it.
INGREDIENT | EQUIVALENT MEASUREMENT |
1 large egg yolk | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon egg yolk |
1 large egg white | 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons egg white |
1 large egg | 4 tablespoons |
1 pound cheese | 4-1/2 cups grated |
3 pounds cooked chicken | 4-1/2 cups chopped meat |
8-10 large egg whites | 1 cup |
12-14 large egg yolks | 1 cup |
3 medium bananas | 1 cup mashed banana |
1 egg | 1/4 cup egg substitute |
28 saltine crackers | 1 cup crumbs |
3 slices bread | 1 cup soft crumbs |
1 lemon | 2 to 4 tablespoons juice and 1 teaspoon grated rind |
12 ounce package chocolate chips | 2 cups |
1 pound tomatoes | 1-1/2 cups chopped |
1 pound fresh spinach | 12 cups or 1-1/2 cups cooked |
1 pound onions | 3 cups chopped |
19 chocolate wafer cookies | 1 cup crumbs |
1 pound cherries | 2-1/2 cups pitted |
1-1/2 pounds chicken breast | 3 cups cooked and chopped |
1 large onion | 3/4 cup chopped |
1 medium orange | 6 to 8 tablespoons juice and 2 to 3 tablespoons grated rind |
22 vanilla wafers | 1 cup crumbs |
14 square graham crackers | 1 cup crumbs |
7 paired graham crackers (rectangle) | 1 cup crumbs |
1 cup uncooked white rice | 3 cups cooked |
1 cup uncooked pasta | 2-2/3 cups cooked |
1 pound brown sugar | 2-1/4 cups |
1 package active dry yeast | 2-1/4 teaspoons |
1 medium apple | 1 cup apple slices |
1 stick butter | 1/2 cup, 4 ounces, 1/4 pound |
1 tablespoon fresh herbs | 1 teaspoon dried herbs |
We Care About Your Privacy
We and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.
We and our partners process data to provide:
Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content.