Sugar is heavy. Not just in terms of what it does to your metabolic health or your waistline, but literally. If you’ve ever lugged a ten-pound bag of Domino from the grocery store to your trunk, you know what I mean. But when you’re standing in your kitchen with a measuring cup, the math gets a little fuzzy. Most people just want to know the bottom line. Honestly, the answer to how many calories in a cup of sugar is roughly 773 calories.
That’s a lot.
Think about it this way: that’s more than a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonald's, packed into a single white powder. But here’s the kicker—that number isn't a universal constant. If you pack the sugar down, or if you’re using a different variety like brown or powdered, the numbers shift. It’s about density. It's about how much air you're accidentally measuring along with the sweet stuff.
Why the "773" number is actually a bit of a lie
Most nutritional databases, including the USDA FoodData Central, peg a cup of granulated white sugar at about 200 grams. Since pure carbohydrate has 4 calories per gram, you do the math. $200 \times 4 = 800$. Wait. Why do some sources say 770? Or 774?
It comes down to the source. The USDA’s standard reference for "Sugars, granulated" actually lists 387 calories per 100 grams. In a standard 8-ounce measuring cup, you’re usually fitting in about 200 grams of sugar if you’re level with the top. That lands you at 774 calories. If you’re a "heaping cup" kind of person, you could easily be pushing 900.
Granulated sugar is basically pure sucrose. It’s a disaccharide. That means it's one molecule of glucose hitched to one molecule of fructose. Your body is incredibly efficient at breaking that bond. The second that sugar hits your small intestine, an enzyme called sucrase snips them apart. You get a rush. Your blood sugar spikes. Your pancreas screams in insulin. It’s a whole thing.
Not all sugar is created equal (The density problem)
Brown sugar is a different beast entirely. You’ve probably noticed that most recipes tell you to "pack" brown sugar. Why? Because it’s moist. It’s coated in molasses. If you just scoop it loosely like white sugar, you’re mostly measuring air.
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A packed cup of brown sugar weighs more—about 220 grams. That brings the total to roughly 830 calories. If you don't pack it, you might only get 145 grams in there, which is only about 550 calories. That's a massive discrepancy for a single batch of cookies. This is why professional bakers like Claire Saffitz or the folks over at King Arthur Baking Company yell at everyone to use a scale. Volume is a terrible way to measure energy.
What about the fluffy stuff?
Powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar) is the outlier. It’s been pulverized. It’s also usually mixed with about 3% cornstarch to keep it from clumping. Because it’s so airy, a cup of sifted powdered sugar only weighs about 120 grams. That’s roughly 460 calories. If you don't sift it and it's settled in the box, it could be 150 grams.
Sugar is sneaky.
- Granulated White: ~774 calories
- Brown (Packed): ~830 calories
- Brown (Loose): ~550 calories
- Powdered (Sifted): ~460 calories
- Raw Sugar (Turbinado): ~810 calories (The crystals are larger, but it's dense)
The metabolic cost of that cup
Let's get real for a second. Nobody eats a cup of sugar with a spoon. At least, I hope not. But we eat things containing a cup of sugar all the time. A standard cake recipe might call for two cups. A batch of brownies? Two cups. If you eat a quarter of that pan of brownies, you’ve just downed 400 calories of sugar alone, not counting the butter, flour, or chocolate.
Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist and a well-known critic of the sugar industry, often points out that it’s the fructose specifically that causes the trouble. Since sucrose is 50% fructose, that cup of sugar contains about 100 grams of fructose. Your liver is the only organ that can process fructose. When you dump 100 grams into your system, your liver panics. It starts converting that energy into fat—specifically, VLDL (very-low-density lipoprotein) and fat that stays in the liver itself.
This is how we get non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It’s not just about the calories. It’s about the "metabolic hit."
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The "Natural" Sugar Trap
People love to talk about honey or maple syrup as if they’re health foods. They aren't. Not really.
A cup of honey is incredibly dense. It weighs about 340 grams. Because honey is roughly 80% sugar and 20% water, those calories add up fast. You’re looking at 1,030 calories in a cup of honey. Maple syrup? About 840 calories.
Yes, they have trace minerals. Yes, honey has some antimicrobial properties. But if you’re looking at how many calories in a cup of sugar vs. honey, the "natural" stuff is actually more calorie-dense. Your body still sees it as a massive influx of glucose and fructose. The "halo effect" of natural sweeteners often leads people to overconsume them, thinking they’re doing their heart a favor. They aren't.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) vs. Table Sugar
There’s a lot of debate about whether HFCS is "worse" than table sugar. In reality, they’re almost chemically identical. Table sugar (sucrose) is 50/50 glucose and fructose. The most common form of HFCS used in sodas is 55% fructose and 45% glucose.
The difference is that in sucrose, the molecules are chemically bonded. In HFCS, they’re floating around freely. This means your body doesn't even have to work to break them apart. It's instant absorption. Is that 5% extra fructose a big deal? Maybe not in a single serving, but across a lifetime of consumption, it adds up to a lot of extra stress on the liver.
Surprising places a "cup" of sugar hides
You’d be shocked how fast you can hit that 774-calorie mark without touching a bag of sugar.
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- Soda: A 2-liter bottle of cola contains roughly 216 grams of sugar. That’s more than a cup. If you drink a 2-liter over a weekend, you’ve consumed over 800 calories of pure sugar.
- Yogurt: Some "low-fat" fruit yogurts have 20+ grams of sugar per small container. Eat four of those, and you're halfway to a cup.
- BBQ Sauce: Many commercial sauces are 50% sugar. If you’re heavy-handed with the basting brush on a rack of ribs, you might be eating a quarter-cup of sugar just in the glaze.
- Specialty Coffee: A large flavored latte can easily have 50-60 grams of sugar. Three of those and you’ve hit your "cup of sugar" limit for the week—or the day.
How to actually measure it (If you must)
If you're tracking macros or managing diabetes, stop using cups. Seriously.
Buy a digital kitchen scale. They cost fifteen bucks. When you see a recipe that asks for a cup of sugar, weigh out 200 grams. If the recipe asks for powdered sugar, weigh out 120 grams. This removes the guesswork and ensures that your "774 calories" doesn't accidentally become 950 because you have a heavy hand or a weird-sized measuring cup.
Also, be wary of "volume" measurements in different countries. A US cup is 236.5 ml. An Imperial cup (UK) is 284 ml. If you're using a British recipe and a US cup, your ratios will be all wrong. Your cake will be dry, and your calorie counts will be off.
Practical Next Steps
Knowing how many calories in a cup of sugar is just the first step. If you're looking to reduce your intake without losing your mind, try these specific tactics:
- The 25% Rule: In almost any baking recipe (except maybe meringues or caramel), you can reduce the sugar by 25% without affecting the structure of the bake. The flavor is often better because you can actually taste the butter and vanilla.
- Swap for Bulk: If you're using sugar for bulk in a recipe, try swapping half for unsweetened applesauce. This works best in "moist" bakes like muffins or banana bread.
- Switch to Allulose: If you need a sugar replacement that actually behaves like sugar (it browns and carmelizes), Allulose is the current gold standard. It’s about 70% as sweet as sugar but has almost zero calories and doesn't cause the same GI distress as sugar alcohols like Erythritol.
- Read the "Added Sugars" line: The FDA now requires "Added Sugars" to be listed on nutrition labels. Ignore the "Total Sugars" for a second and look at what was actually added. If that number is high, put it back on the shelf.
Sugar isn't poison in small amounts. Our brains run on glucose. But the sheer volume we consume today is historically unprecedented. When you visualize that 774-calorie cup, it makes it a lot easier to decide if that extra scoop in your coffee is really worth it.
Actionable Insight: Go to your pantry right now and look at your favorite cereal or condiment. Check the "Added Sugars" in grams. Divide that number by 4 to see how many teaspoons of sugar are in a serving. Now, imagine doing that 48 times—that's what it takes to fill one cup. Awareness is the best tool you have for managing your metabolic health.