A US liquid quart holds 4 cups. That is also 2 pints or 32 fluid ounces, and 0.9464 liters. To convert, multiply quarts by 4: 2 quarts is 8 cups, and half a quart is 2 cups. To go from cups to quarts, divide by 4.
How many cups are in a quart?
The US liquid quart is a quarter of a US gallon and equals 32 US fluid ounces. A US cup is 8 fluid ounces, so 32 ÷ 8 = 4 cups. Checked against NIST's metric values, 946.3529 mL ÷ 236.5882 mL = 4.000. The US liquid pint sits in the middle: 2 cups per pint, 2 pints per quart.
Quarts to cups chart
| Quarts | Cups | Pints | Fluid ounces | Liters (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 quart | 1 | 1/2 | 8 | 0.237 |
| 1/2 quart | 2 | 1 | 16 | 0.473 |
| 3/4 quart | 3 | 1 1/2 | 24 | 0.710 |
| 1 quart | 4 | 2 | 32 | 0.946 |
| 1 1/2 quarts | 6 | 3 | 48 | 1.420 |
| 2 quarts | 8 | 4 | 64 | 1.893 |
| 3 quarts | 12 | 6 | 96 | 2.839 |
| 4 quarts (1 gallon) | 16 | 8 | 128 | 3.785 |
The quarts to cups and cups to quarts converters handle other amounts. For the whole ladder up to a gallon see how many ounces in a gallon.
Worked examples
Example 1: a soup recipe
A recipe makes 2.5 quarts of soup. 2.5 × 4 = 10 cups, or ten 1-cup servings.
Example 2: converting cups to quarts
A pot holds 18 cups. 18 ÷ 4 = 4.5 quarts, which is 1 gallon plus 2 cups.
Example 3: metric
A quart is 946.35 mL, while a 1 liter carton is 1,000 mL, so 1,000 ÷ 236.588 = 4.23 cups. A recipe calling for a quart needs about 54 mL less than that carton.
Does the cup in a quart change with the label cup?
US nutrition labels define a cup as 240 mL (21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii)), so four label cups equal 960 mL, which is 13.6 mL (1.4%) more than a true quart. This only matters for label math; the count stays 4 cups per quart. How many ml in a cup explains both values.
Quick ways to remember
- Quart = quarter gallon, so 4 quarts make a gallon.
- Quart → pints → cups: 1, 2, 4. Each unit doubles.
- Quart = 32 fl oz, two 16 oz pint bottles.
For metric versus imperial pairs, which can be 20% different, see metric vs imperial.