Cooking can be complicated. All the different acronyms can make you feel like it’s a different language or looking at a military brief.
Deciphering between the different cooking abbreviations and their proper unit of measurement can help make sure your dish comes out exactly as imagined. Often times, different books will use different abbreviations, which can cause confusion when putting together a dish.
| Abbreviation | Measurement |
| amt, amt. | Amount |
| approx, approx. | Approximately |
| bch, bch., bn, bn. | Bunch |
| blk, blk. | Black |
| BP, B.P | Baking powder |
| btl, btl. | Bottle |
| bu, bu., bush, bush. | Bushel |
| C, C., c, c. | Cup |
| c/l | Centiliter |
| cn, cn. | Can |
| ctn, ctn. | Carton |
| cu, cu. | Cubic |
| da/l, di/l | Deciliter |
| db, d.b | Double broiler |
| deg, deg. | Degrees |
| DF | Dairy-free |
| doz, doz. | Dozen |
| dp, dp. | Drop |
| ds, ds. | Dash |
| ea, ea. | Each |
| EF | Egg-free |
| env, env. | Envelope |
| fg, f.g | Few grains |
| fl, fl. | Fluid |
| fl oz, fl. oz. | Fluid ounce |
| gal | Gallon |
| g, g. gm, gm., gr, gr. | Gram |
| gms, gms. | Gram |
| Gal, Gal., gal, gal. | Gallon |
| Gals, Gals., gals, gals. | Gallons |
| GF | Gluten-free |
| h/l | Hectoliter |
| hr, hr. | Hour |
| k, k., kg, kg. | Kilogram |
| kgs, kgs. | Kilograms |
| k/l | Kiloliter |
| L, L., l, l. | Liter |
| lb, # | Pound |
| lbs | Pounds |
| lg, lg., lge, lge. | Large |
| liq, liq. | Liquid |
| med, med., md, md. | Medium |
| mg, mg. | Milligram |
| mL, ml, ml., m/l | Milliliter |
| min, min. | Minute |
| mod, mod. | Moderate |
| Opt, Opt., opt, opt. | Optional |
| OZ, oz, oz. | Ounce |
| ozs, ozs. | Ounces |
| pk, pk. | Peck |
| pkg, pkg. | Package |
| pkt, pkt. | Packet |
| pn, pn. | Pinch |
| pt, pt. | Pint |
| qt, qt. | Quart |
| qts, qts. | Quarts |
| sec, sec. | Second |
| sm, sm. | Small |
| SoF | Soy-free |
| spk, spk. | Speck |
| sq, sq. | Square |
| SuF | Sugar-free |
| T, T., TB, TB., Tbl, Tbl., Tblsp, Tblps., tb, tb., tbl, tbl., tbsp, tbsp., tblsp, tblsp. | Tablespoon |
| t, t., ts, ts. tsp, tsp. | Teaspoon |
| veg, veg. | Vegetable |
| VG | Vegetarian |
| VN | Vegan |
| vol, vol. | Volume |
| WF | Wheat-free |
“1 Cup Flour, Sifted” is not the same as “1 Cup Sifted Flour.” When sifting you change the volume of the ingredients. “1 Cup Flour, Sifted” means to sift the flour after measuring it. “1 Cup Sifted Flour” means to add one cup of flour that was measured from already sifted flour. The same is true of measuring chopped ingredients (1 Cup Nuts, Chopped means chop the nuts after measuring.)
When weighing water based ingredients (water based, i.e. butter, milk, yogurt etc) 1 Cup is the equivalent of 8oz. Dry ingredients weight is not consistent because of the volume of air in the ingredients.
