Abbreviations Used in Recipes

Abbreviations Used in Recipes

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.

AbbreviationMeasurement
amt, amt.Amount
approx, approx.Approximately
bch, bch., bn, bn.Bunch
blk, blk.Black
BP, B.PBaking powder
btl, btl.Bottle
bu, bu., bush, bush.Bushel
C, C., c, c.Cup
c/lCentiliter
cn, cn.Can
ctn, ctn.Carton
cu, cu.Cubic
da/l, di/lDeciliter
db, d.bDouble broiler
deg, deg.Degrees
DFDairy-free
doz, doz.Dozen
dp, dp.Drop
ds, ds.Dash
ea, ea.Each
EFEgg-free
env, env.Envelope
fg, f.gFew grains
fl, fl.Fluid
fl oz, fl. oz.Fluid ounce
galGallon
g, g. gm, gm., gr, gr.Gram
gms, gms.Gram
Gal, Gal., gal, gal.Gallon
Gals, Gals., gals, gals.Gallons
GFGluten-free
h/lHectoliter
hr, hr.Hour
k, k., kg, kg.Kilogram
kgs, kgs.Kilograms
k/lKiloliter
L, L., l, l.Liter
lb, #Pound
lbsPounds
lg, lg., lge, lge.Large
liq, liq.Liquid
med, med., md, md.Medium
mg, mg.Milligram
mL, ml, ml., m/lMilliliter
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
SoFSoy-free
spk, spk.Speck
sq, sq.Square
SuFSugar-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
VGVegetarian
VNVegan
vol, vol.Volume
WFWheat-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.

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