---
title: "Quart: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "A US quart is 946 ml, just under a liter, and equals 4 cups or 2 pints. The old British quart is larger. Here is how to convert quarts."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/quart"
---

# Quart

A US quart is 946 ml, just under a liter, and equals 4 cups or 2 pints. The old British quart is larger. Here is how to convert quarts.

Also called Quarts, qt, Imperial quart.

A quart is a unit of volume used in American recipes. A US quart is 32 [fluid ounces](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/fluid-ounce), 4 cups or 2 [pints](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pint), and holds 946 ml, just under a liter. The imperial quart in older British recipes is 1.14 liters. The name means a quarter, because a quart is a quarter of a gallon.

## How to do it

To check the size of a pot or dish you are not sure about:

1. Fill a 1 liter jug, or a 4 cup measure, with water.
2. Pour it into the pot. Count how many times it takes to fill the pot to about 2 cm (1 inch) below the rim.
3. Each fill is about a quart.

## How to use it

| US measure | Same as                                                    | Metric      |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| 1 gallon   | 4 quarts                                                   | 3.79 liters |
| 1 quart    | 4 [cups](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cup), 2 pints | 946 ml      |
| ½ quart    | 2 cups, 1 pint                                             | 473 ml      |
| ¼ quart    | 1 cup                                                      | 237 ml      |

For most cooking, you can treat 1 quart and 1 liter as the same. A liter is only about 5 percent more. A 1 liter carton of stock can stand in for a 1 quart one without changing the recipe.

American pots and baking dishes are sold by quart size. A 2 quart [saucepan](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/saucepan) holds about 1.9 liters. A 5 to 6 quart Dutch oven holds about 5 liters. A [stockpot](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/stockpot) is often 8 to 12 quarts, about 7.5 to 11 liters. A 2 quart baking dish is usually 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches) or a bit larger.

## Common mistakes

* Using an imperial quart for an American recipe. It is about 20 percent larger.
* Using a pot that is exactly the size of the recipe's volume. Leave room. Soup that makes 3 quarts needs a pot of 4 quarts or more so it does not boil over.
* Mixing up the short forms. Qt is quart and pt is pint, which is half as much.

## In recipes

You will see "1 quart chicken stock", "2 quarts water" and "a 4 quart pot". Brining recipes often say "1 gallon water" or "4 quarts water" with a set amount of salt. A dry quart, used for berries in the US, is a little larger than a liquid quart, about 1.1 liters.

## Related terms

* [PintA US pint is 473 ml and a British pint is 568 ml, a fifth larger. Here is how to tell which one a recipe means and how to convert it.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/pint)
* [CupA US cup is about 240 ml, a metric cup is 250 ml, and a cup of flour weighs far less than a cup of sugar. Here is how to measure and convert.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/cup)
* [Fluid ounceA fluid ounce measures volume, not weight. A US fl oz is 29.6 ml and a British one is 28.4 ml. Here is how they compare to cups and pints.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/fluid-ounce)
* [MilliliterA milliliter (ml) is a thousandth of a liter, the metric unit for measuring liquids. See how ml converts to teaspoons, cups and fluid ounces.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/milliliter)
* [StockpotA stockpot is a large, tall pot with two handles for stock, soup, pasta and boiling big batches. Here is what size to get and how to use it well.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/stockpot)
* [SaucepanA saucepan is a deep, round pan with straight sides and one long handle, for sauces, grains, eggs and reheating. Here is how to pick a size.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/saucepan)

[More in measurements](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/measurements)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)