How Many Cups in a Quart?

The Quick Math

One US quart = 4 cups = 32 fluid ounces = 946.4 millilitres. If a recipe says "1 quart of chicken stock," reach for your 4-cup measuring jug and fill it to the top. That is your quart.

Where Quarts Show Up in Cooking

Quarts are the go-to unit for medium-volume liquids in American recipes. Stocks, broths, and soups are almost always measured in quarts. A standard batch of homemade chicken noodle soup starts with 2 quarts (8 cups) of broth. Pasta instructions on the box say "boil 4 quarts of water" for a pound of spaghetti -- that is 16 cups, or roughly one large stockpot filled halfway.

Quarts also appear in canning. Mason jars come in two common sizes: pint (2 cups) and quart (4 cups). A quart jar holds exactly one quart of tomato sauce, pickled vegetables, or jam. When a canning recipe yields "6 quarts," you know you need six of those wide-mouth jars.

The US Volume Staircase

American volume measurements follow a clean doubling pattern:

• 1 cup = 8 fl oz
• 1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fl oz
• 1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups = 32 fl oz
• 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 cups = 128 fl oz

Each step doubles the previous. Pint is two cups. Quart is two pints. Gallon is four quarts. Once you memorize that a quart is 4 cups, you can mentally navigate the entire ladder by doubling or halving.

Scaling Recipes Up and Down

Knowing the cup-to-quart ratio makes scaling straightforward. Suppose you have a chili recipe that feeds 4 people and calls for 3 cups of crushed tomatoes. You are hosting 12 people -- triple everything. Three cups times three is 9 cups, which is 2 quarts plus 1 cup. Grab two quart-size cans of tomatoes and one extra cup. Easy.

Scaling down works the same way. A recipe calling for 1 quart of cream to serve 8 becomes 2 cups to serve 4, or 1 cup to serve 2. Halving is clean because 4 divides evenly.

When Scaling Gets Tricky

Not everything scales linearly. Doubling a soup recipe? Double the broth, vegetables, and protein -- but only increase spices by about 1.5x first, then taste and adjust. Spice intensity does not scale evenly because flavor compounds interact. Similarly, if you double a baking recipe, the pan size and baking time change too. A cake that bakes in 30 minutes in one pan may need 45 minutes when doubled into a larger pan.

Quarts in Store-Bought Ingredients

At the grocery store, many liquid ingredients come in quart-size containers:

• Boxed chicken or vegetable broth: usually 32 oz (1 quart)
• Half-and-half and heavy cream: often sold in quart cartons
• Buttermilk: commonly in quart containers
• Shelf-stable almond or oat milk: 32 oz boxes

When a recipe calls for 1 quart of broth, one box is exactly right. No measuring needed -- just open and pour.

Dry Quarts vs. Liquid Quarts

A dry quart is slightly larger than a liquid quart. One dry quart = 1.101 liquid quarts, or about 1,101 mL compared to 946 mL. Dry quarts are used almost exclusively for produce -- strawberries and blueberries at farmers' markets are sold by the dry quart. In everyday cooking recipes, "quart" virtually always means the liquid quart (4 cups). If you see "1 quart of strawberries," it is referring to the dry quart basket, which holds roughly 1.5 pounds of berries.

Making Sense of Pot and Pan Sizes

Cookware is labeled in quarts. A "6-quart Dutch oven" holds 6 quarts (24 cups) to the brim. A "2-quart saucepan" holds 8 cups. Knowing this helps you pick the right pot before you start. If a recipe produces 3 quarts of soup, a 4-quart pot gives you room to stir without spilling. A 2-quart pot would overflow.

The most versatile sizes for a home kitchen: a 2-quart saucepan for grains and sauces, a 4-quart pot for soups and pasta, and a 6- or 8-quart stockpot for big batches and boiling water.