Skip to content

Switch between metric and imperial

Forktastic supports both imperial (cups, ounces, Fahrenheit, pounds) and metric (grams, milliliters, Celsius, kilograms). You pick a default at the account level; the app converts every recipe to your preferred system on the fly.

Set your default

Account Settings

  1. Open the Options tab.
  2. Tap Account settings → Unit preference.
  3. Choose Imperial or Metric.
  4. Every recipe in your cookbook now displays in that system.

How the conversion works

When you set metric or imperial as your default, Forktastic converts ingredient quantities at display time:

Imperial→ Metric
1 cup flour125 g
1 tbsp oil15 ml
1 lb chicken450 g
350°F175°C

Conversions use the standard density for each ingredient where possible — flour at 125 g per cup, sugar at 200 g per cup, etc. — and fall back to volume-only conversion for liquids.

The original recipe’s saved values are untouched. If you switch back to imperial, the recipe returns to its original units exactly.

Per-recipe override

Sometimes a specific recipe needs the opposite system — for example, baking recipes are usually more accurate in grams even if you usually cook in imperial.

  1. Open the recipe.
  2. Tap More → Display in metric (or Display in imperial if you’re on metric default).
  3. The current recipe view switches systems.

This override is per-session and doesn’t change your default.

Temperatures and pan sizes

  • Oven temperatures convert between °F and °C automatically.
  • Pan sizes (like 9×13 inch / 23×33 cm) appear with both values where the original recipe specified them, but Forktastic doesn’t auto-convert pan dimensions — they’re often paired with specific volumes that don’t translate perfectly.

When conversions get tricky

Some ingredients can’t be converted cleanly between systems:

  • “1 stick of butter” (imperial) = 113 g (metric) — Forktastic handles this.
  • “1 medium onion” — no unit conversion needed; counts are universal.
  • “A pinch of salt” — left as-is in both systems.
  • “1 can (15 oz) tomatoes” — kept as the can size since you buy by can, not weight.

If a conversion looks wrong, edit the recipe and adjust the ingredient manually. See View a recipe for how to enter the editor.