How to Choose a Kitchen Scale for Tracking Food

A kitchen scale turns "about a cup" into grams, the unit that appears in parentheses after the serving size on every Nutrition Facts label. This guide sets out what to check before you buy one, whether you cook from recipes or weigh food to track what you eat. It is written for adults. If you are pregnant, are under 18, have a medical condition or have ever had an eating disorder, read the cautions near the end first.

The criteria come from named public sources: FDA labeling rules, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), USDA FoodData Central and the specification pages of scale makers. We do not rank products or rate brands. Amazon links on this page open searches built from the criteria, and you check each listing against its specification.

Decide whether weighing suits you

NIDDK separates a portion, how much you choose to eat at one time, from a serving, the amount printed on the Nutrition Facts label, and notes that the two may not match. Its advice is that you do not need to measure and count everything you eat or drink for the rest of your life; you may only want to do so long enough to learn typical serving and portion sizes. Our guide to kitchen scales and measuring cups compares the two tools.

Capacity and the smallest step

Two numbers on every listing matter first. Capacity is the most the scale can carry, and the bowl counts: on a 1,000 g scale, a 400 g bowl leaves 600 g for food (our example). The smallest step is the finest division of the display. NIST's Handbook 44 defines the value of a scale division, for a digital display, as the difference between two consecutively indicated values. Makers call it readability or resolution.

American Weigh Scales (AWS) explains in its buying guide that most scales are built around 3,000 divisions, so capacity and step tend to travel together, and that scales with 30,000 divisions or more use better load cells and usually cost more.

• About 11 lb (5 kg) in 1 g steps suits most cooking and food tracking. Search for digital kitchen scales with a tare button on Amazon (opens in a new tab).
• 0.1 g steps suit small amounts. FDA says the Dietary Guidelines limit of less than 2,300 mg of sodium a day equals about 1 teaspoon of table salt, and FoodData Central lists a teaspoon of table salt at 6 g, so a 1 g step is a sixth of a teaspoon. Search for kitchen scales that read to 0.1 g on Amazon (opens in a new tab), and check the capacity of any 0.1 g model: the pocket scale below holds 750 g.

Some makers offer both: Ozeri's page lists 0.1 g steps below 1,000 g and 0.5 g steps up to 6,000 g. A small step is not the same as a correct reading, though. Our guide to kitchen scale accuracy, resolution and calibration explains the difference and a home check.

Grams, ounces and milliliters

Labels print the household measure first and the metric amount second, as in FDA's example "1 cup (227g)", so grams are the unit that matches the label. US recipes often use ounces, so look for a scale that switches between grams, ounces and pounds with ounces. An ounce on a scale is a unit of weight, 28.35 g by NIST's conversion factor, although FDA's labeling rules count it as 28 g. A fluid ounce is a unit of volume, 29.57 mL.

Many scales also offer a milliliter or fluid-ounce mode. A scale senses weight only, so those modes assume a density; AWS says its Culinarian has separate water and milk settings. FoodData Central lists a cup of whole milk at 244 g, close to the 237 g of a cup of water, but a cup of honey at 339 g, so weigh thick liquids in grams. Food scales with grams, ounces and milliliters on Amazon (opens in a new tab) is a search for multi-unit models.

Tare, platform, power and care

• Tare. Tare sets the display to zero with a bowl on the platform, so you read only the food. Ozeri's page describes a Tare button that subtracts the weight of a bowl or container.
• Platform. Compare the platform with your largest bowl; AWS lists 8.3 by 5.9 inches for the Culinarian.
• Spills. AWS says moisture getting inside is probably the biggest cause of scale failures. It lists touch-sensitive buttons on the Culinarian, which it says remove a source of spill damage, and Ozeri places its buttons apart from the platform.
• Power. Both list two AAA batteries. Ozeri's auto-off is programmable between 2 and 5 minutes, which helps in the middle of a recipe.

What NIST covers, and what it does not

NIST Handbook 44 sets specifications, tolerances and other technical requirements for weighing and measuring devices. Its General Code applies to commercial equipment: devices used to establish the quantity of things bought or sold, to charge a fee for using the equipment, to decide an award or to compute a charge for services by weight. On our reading, a scale in your own kitchen is used for none of those, so those requirements are not aimed at it, and "legal for trade" on a listing describes commercial use. The accuracy claim on a kitchen scale is therefore the maker's own, which is one reason to check the scale yourself when it arrives.

Three examples that meet these criteria

These are examples, not recommendations or a ranking. Each manufacturer publishes the details the criteria need. The descriptions are in our words from those pages, which change, so check the scale you receive.

• Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale (ZK14-S). The page lists 0.1 g steps below 1,000 g and 0.5 g steps up to 6,000 g (about 13.2 lb), a 0.5 g minimum, six units (oz, ml, g, lb, lb:oz and kg), separate Tare and Unit buttons and two AAA batteries included. Search Amazon for this product (opens in a new tab).
• American Weigh Scales Culinarian. The page lists 22 lb (9.9 kg), a stainless steel platform, a tare function, grams, kilograms, pounds, ounces and water or milk milliliter modes, and a step of 0.03 oz or 1 g in its specification table, although its page title says 0.1 oz. Search Amazon for this product (opens in a new tab).
• Digitz DZ3-750 pocket scale. Sold on the AWS site under the Digitz brand, the page lists 750 g in 0.1 g steps, units of g, oz, ozt and dwt, a 2.99 by 2.54 inch platform and two AAA batteries included, with a 500 g calibration mass not included. Search Amazon for this product (opens in a new tab).

None of the three pages states a tolerance, such as plus or minus a number of grams, for the readings, which is the question our accuracy guide helps you answer. Keep the packaging until you have run its checks.

Who should ask a doctor or other professional first

• Eating disorders. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says some people become fixated or obsessed with weight loss, body weight or shape, and controlling their food intake, and that these may be signs of an eating disorder. If weighing food makes meals tense, stop and talk to a health care provider. ANAD runs a free helpline at (888) 375-7767, weekdays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central time, as ANAD's page puts it, and NIMH points to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in a crisis.
• Pregnancy. The CDC's pregnancy weight-gain tracker tells women to work with their health care provider on weight gain goals at the beginning and regularly throughout pregnancy.
• A medical condition, medicines or supplements. NIDDK calls talking with a health care professional about your weight an important first step, and says they may review medical problems and the medicines or dietary supplements you take.
• Children. This guide is for adults. Ask a child's pediatrician before weighing or limiting a child's food.
• Medicines. A kitchen scale is not a pharmacy instrument. Follow the Drug Facts label and your pharmacist's directions for medicines.

Where the links go

Links marked "on Amazon" or "Search Amazon" open an Amazon search for the words in the link. Amazon decides what appears, and results can include scales that do not meet the criteria above, so check each listing against its specification.

Read next

• Weighing food for calorie and macro tracking: method, label rounding, and raw against cooked weights.
• Kitchen scale accuracy, resolution and calibration: 1 g against 0.1 g and a home check with coins.
• Kitchen scale or measuring cups and spoons: why a cup of the same food can weigh very different amounts.

To turn a weight into nutrition values, try our portion size calculator, and see how to read the Nutrition Facts label for the per-serving figures it uses.

The instructions that come with your scale are the authority on its capacity and care, and the label on the pack in front of you is the authority on that food. If you have a health condition or take medicines, ask your doctor or pharmacist before you change what you eat.