How many quarts are in a gallon?
Quick answer
There are 4 quarts in a gallon. That’s also 8 pints or 16 cups. The name comes from the fact that a quart is a quarter of a gallon.
The answer is hidden in the word itself. “Quart” comes from the Latin quartus, meaning a fourth, so a quart is literally a quarter of a gallon.
Converter
The US liquid measure ladder
| 1 gallon equals… | Amount |
|---|---|
| Quarts | 4 |
| Pints | 8 |
| Cups | 16 |
| Fluid ounces | 128 |
A half gallon is 2 quarts, and a quart is 2 pints, or 4 cups, or 32 fluid ounces. If you need the bottom of the ladder, there are 128 ounces in a gallon and 8 ounces in a cup.
Liquid quarts vs dry quarts
There are two US quarts. The liquid quart, used for milk and juice, holds about 0.946 liters. The dry quart, used for things like berries at a farm stand, is slightly bigger at about 1.101 liters. In practice, nearly every quart you’ll meet in a recipe or a store is the liquid one.
The UK quart is larger again, at about 1.137 liters, because it’s a quarter of the bigger imperial gallon. There are still 4 quarts to the gallon either way.
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