A Tough Nut to Crack
Kitchen Counts
Cooking with nuts can be tricky. Their odd, irregular shapes guarantee that they won’t pack neatly into measuring cups, making precise measurement nearly impossible. Our solution: Measure the nuts by weight, rather than volume. At Milk Street, we often prefer to weigh ingredients, particularly when baking, because it ensures consistency and accuracy and, more often than not, is easier. Nuts are no exception. Unfortunately, most recipes call for nuts by volume, not weight. To clear up the guesswork, we’ve compiled the weights of the most commonly used nuts (as well as seeds, including sesame and pumpkin, and peanuts, which are legumes). In our testing, we weighed 1⁄2 cup of each variety three times, then averaged those results to arrive at their final weights.
Nuts By Weight
½ Cup Of...Equals (In Grams)Almonds, sliced54Almonds, slivered73Almonds, whole83Cashews, whole75Hazelnuts, whole71Macadamia nuts72Peanuts, whole74Pecan halves61Pecans, chopped64Pine Nuts71Pistachios77Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)78Sesame seeds63Sunflower seeds74Walnut halves57Walnuts, chopped63
