There are so many types of chocolate chips in a variety of sizes. Recipes call for cups, the bags are in oz, what do you do?
Chocolate? Yes, please! I’ve mentioned many times before that we all have a sweet tooth at my house. Therefore, we make a LOT of desserts in this house. And yes, that means we use a lot of chocolate chips. This is also why I have to be careful about how often I make them. We also like to make enough to give away to our friends, neighbors, and the boys’ teachers when we can. But, I mean, is there such a thing as too much chocolate?
When you go to the grocery stores, there are a lot of options for chocolate chips. You’ll find many different brands, different amounts of cocoa, different flavors, and different sizes. Recipes will typically tell you what size to purchase. If it doesn’t have anything specified, I go with the regular-sized chocolate chips as a default.
Recently, I’ve been purchasing the Good Life brand as I’ve been trying to cut dairy when possible. But sometimes, you just need the real thing. When I want true chocolate, I opt for Hershey’s or Nestle Toll House chocolate chips.
I’ve seen so many recipes that include chocolate chips, but there doesn’t seem to be a standard measurement. Some recipes measure in tablespoons, some in cups, and some in grams or ounces of chocolate chips.
Well, this past weekend, Justin and Tyler were on a Cub Scouts camping trip for only 4th and 5th graders, so Ryan and I sacrificed for you all and bought a few types of chocolate chips to see what we could figure out with them. We estimated how many chocolate chips are in 1 cup, how many cups of chocolate chips are really in a bag, and how many cups are really in those bags of chocolate chips.
Originally Published On: February 17, 2023
Chocolate Chips in 1 Cup
Many recipes will give you amounts based on the US cup measurements. But you don’t purchase 1 cup of chocolate chips, the bags always have ounces. Ryan and I dumped out all of the chocolate chips and use a dry cup measure and a liquid cup measure to verify the information. I know chocolate chips are part of the dry ingredients for a recipe, therefore you use a dry measuring cup, but let’s be honest, most people grab that handy dandy liquid cup with all the sizes and go from there. Remember, these aren’t precise measurements, but they have been done in multiple ways to give you the closest amount of chocolate chips in each measurement possible.
Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
The first measurement we made was the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. They are only semi-sweet because I’ve never seen mini chocolate chips that aren’t semi-sweet.
There are a LOT of mini chocolate chips in the bag. I used it as a great math lesson for Ryan as we separated by 10s and then multiplied them together to get the full amounts in all the measurements.
| 2 cups | 2720 chips |
| 1 cup | 1360 chips |
| 3/4 cup | 1020 chips |
| 1/2 cup | 680 chips |
| 1/4 cup | 340 chips |
| 1 TBSP | 85 chips |
| 1 tsp | 34 chips |
Standard Chocolate Chips
Standard chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips come in a huge variety of flavors. While they may all vary slightly, those are pretty standard. This measurement will cover any chips of that same size. We did notice a difference, though, and the amounts in the bags. So Ryan and I got both milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips to get the average for both bag sizes.
| 2 cups | 800 chips |
| 1 cup | 400 chips |
| 3/4 cup | 300 chips |
| 1/2 cup | 200 chips |
| 1/4 cup | 100 chips |
| 1 TBSP | 25 chips |
| 1 tsp | 8 chips |
Jumbo Chocolate Chips
Jumbo chocolate chips are harder to find. We had to go to a different grocery store than our normal one to get these. I noticed that, instead of jumbo chocolate chips, many recipes call for chocolate bark or a square of chocolate.
| 2 cups | 160 chips |
| 1 cup | 80 chips |
| 3/4 cup | 60 chips |
| 1/2 cup | 40 chips |
| 1/4 cup | 20 chips |
| 1 TBSP | 5 chips |
| 1 tsp | 3 chips |
As you can see, the jumbo chips are much bigger than the standard chips. Fitting 3 on a teaspoon was even a stretch.
Ounces to Cups
Since chocolate chips seem to be sold in bags of varying sizes, they all ended up with slightly different measurements. This may not seem significant, but it can change your recipe if you need a specific amount. I’m thinking of the batch cookies Tyler once wanted to make, where we would have needed multiple bags of chocolate chips. If we went purely on the fact that the 11 oz bag of chocolate chips, the 11.5 oz bag of chocolate chips, and the bag with 12 oz of chocolate chips all claim to have about 2 cups, we would have had some issues. I know sometimes it can be due to the size of the chips, but there has to be a better way for them to label these bags.
After counting the chocolate chips, we started weighing a few ways to figure out the best way to do it. First, we verified the amount on a digital kitchen scale and the bags all came out to the weight, in ounces, they claimed to have. Then we used a liquid measuring cup to easily see which line it came up to when pouring the entire bag in. Since that is in US fluid ounces and fluid cups, we knew it might be slightly off. Last, we then moved them to dry measuring cups to verify the amounts and it ended up being the same. So, in this case, the easy way was still correct. Just know that won’t always be the case when measuring for recipes.
Mini Chocolate Chips
When purchasing these, all we had at the store was a 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips. On the bag, it says it’s about 2 cups worth so that’s what we wanted to test. We found that a 12 oz package of mini chocolate chips does indeed contain 2 cups worth of chocolate chips.
| 12 | 2 cups |
| 6 | 1 cup |
| 4.5 | 3/4 cup |
| 3 | 1/2 cup |
| 1.5 | 1/4 cup |
| 0.375 | 1 TBSP |
| 0.125 | 1 tsp |
Standard Chocolate Chips
We moved on to the regular-size chocolate chips next. I was curious to see how the measurement held up since the bag is smaller in ounces but claims to have the same number of cups of chocolate chips. The only size we could find to purchase for milk chocolate chips was 11.5 oz. I also had white chocolate chips since they were in a different-sized bag to really test this theory. That bag said only 11 oz of chips yet 2 cups.
Again, we measured in multiple ways and found that the 11.5 oz bag really had 1 7/8 cup of chocolate chips and the 11 oz bag had 1 3/4 cup. There was not a full 2 cups in either bag. So I added enough to make it to 2 cups and the measurements came out the same as the mini chips. Again, when you’re making one batch of cookies this may not be a big deal. But when you need multiple bags, you start losing out on chocolate chips quickly. Yes, I know it says “about 2 cups” but most of the time, when baking, you need your crucial ingredients to be accurate measurements.
| 12 | 2 cups |
| 11.5 | 1 7/8 cups |
| 11 | 1 3/4 cups |
| 6 | 1 cup |
| 4.5 | 3/4 cup |
| 3 | 1/2 cup |
| 1.5 | 1/4 cup |
| 0.375 | 1 TBSP |
| 0.125 | 1 tsp |
Jumbo Chocolate Chips
Jumbo chocolate chips come in a 12 oz bag, just like the small pieces in the mini chocolate chips bag. Ryan made his hypothesis (yes, they are going over the scientific method in class) that these would end up with the same weight chips to cup chips ratio as the mini chocolate chips. Guess what… he was correct! When weighing and measuring the chips, we found that the number of ounces in a cup was the same as the rest of the chips. There are just less pieces in a cup because of the difference in size.
| 12 | 2 cups |
| 6 | 1 cup |
| 4.5 | 3/4 cup |
| 3 | 1/2 cup |
| 1.5 | 1/4 cup |
| 0.375 | 1 TBSP |
| 0.125 | 1 tsp |
Types of Chocolate Chips
In addition to the size of chocolate chips, you also have a lot of options when it comes to chocolate type.
- Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
- Dark Chocolate Chips
- Semisweet Chocolate Chips
- Milk Chocolate Chips
- Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
- White Chocolate Chips
- Mint Chocolate Chips
- Peanut Butter Chips
- Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips
Does Size Really Matter?
For some recipes, no the size doesn’t matter. But for others, the size of the chocolate chips can make a big difference in the texture and how well the recipe comes together. If you have jumbo chocolate chips when you should have used mini, there will be a larger amount of chocolate in one place, possibly making your dessert unstable. It will also change the number of chocolate chips in your dessert.
Recipes with Chocolate Chips
I thought I was the ONLY one who wondered about this exact question, so I’m happy to have found an answer! I was wondering about the ounces to cups ratio as well as different recipes have different instructions, so this is a great post to keep on hand to reference if you bake often. Super helpful!
This is important to keep in mind in case you lost your measuring cup or do not own a kitchen scale. Thank you.
Sounds like a lot of work, but also sounds like a great teaching moment & activity with your child. I’ve never really thought about this before, but it makes sense seeing as how you said different sized chocolates will take up more space in the cup. I personally love the mini chocolate chips, not sure if it is because they are cute or if they actually taste better.
Wow….2,000 is a lot of chocolate chips for just 2 cups of chocolate! I didn’t even know this or think about it, this way.
I am not a big fan of chocolates but I love chocolate chips in cookies. This is interesting to know how many chips they have in the cookies.
I love chocolate and have purchased more than my share of chocolate chips. I would never have thought to count them out, but since I work in finance, I can appreciate your efforts.
I love chocolate and reading about the different types of chocolate chips is so interesting. It’s so important to have the correct measurement when baking and this guide is very helpful!
Count them? I would eat them in the process. But interesting to know the number of chocolate chips in a cup and more.
For us who don’t bake frequently, this will come in handy to know when reading instructions! Will have to save this for when I try one of your chocolate chip recipes to have the right amount.
Wow, this work is truly impressive! I’m sure you put a lot of work here.
This is such a helpful chart to use when deciphering recipes that call for chocolate. You obviously put in a lot of work to create this!
This is interesting to know about the amount of it. If I have one, it would be as bars. I’ve only tried white chocolate a few times before. Thank you for sharing!
OMG I think I would have said like 60! Seriously I have no concept of the amounts in cups, ounces, etc!
We do a lot of baking with chocolate chips. It is interesting to read the breakdown!
oh wow, this is surely interesting to know! I think it makes a difference to know the amount while baking and cooking.
The solution is simple… eat all
Of them!!
Seriously though, you offered some great tipa