People Are Just Realizing That They’ve Been Using Strainers Wrong All This Time

Sometimes even the simplest of cooking processes can seem slovenly. Straining, for example. It happens often that straining a bowl of boiled pasta or noodles becomes messy. While hot water drains down from the holes in the strainer, some unlucky strands of pasta or noodles slip along the edges and drop down into the sink, destined for the garbage bin rather than the plate. Like other everyday dilemmas, TikToker users have figured out a trick to stop these unlucky noodles from getting strewn in the sink. “I’ve been straining my stuff all wrong my entire life,” confessed Adreanna Spezzaferro (@adreannafs) in a video.

In the 25-second clip, Adreanna documented a kitchen episode of using a strainer. She picked up a pan containing boiled eggs from the countertop and brought it over to the kitchen sink where a colander was already arranged. But instead of pouring the steaming water into the strainer, she did something different. She placed the strainer into the mouth of the pan, aligning it perfectly, and then she flipped the pan into the sink. All the hot water inside the pan drained out from the strainer’s holes into the sink, leaving only the eggs. The simple trick caught the attention of over 678,000 people on TikTok.

In the comment section, @davidspezzaferro admitted that this method “prevents the hot water splashing all over the place and breaking the ravioli.”  @tracey017 said, “This makes so much sense. I am going to try that!” However, many disagreed with Adreanna’s hack. “It has a base or legs at the bottom for a reason,” said @royalreminder5. @goatsandgardens pointed out that with this method, the hot water would run over from the sides and burn the hand. Others said the method is not always feasible as the size and shape of the container may not always fit inside the pot. However, most people found this method "smart" and "epic."

But as it turns out, it is not just Adreanna who uses this straining hack, but a lot of professional chefs too. In separate TikTok videos, chefs Cooking Cards (@CookingCards) and Chef Nancy (@chefnancyg) employed the same method for straining pasta. Johanna Westbrook (@johannawestbrook), whose video has been viewed millions of times, followed the same trick. The Daily Meal explains that even though either method of using a strainer is just as good, the one shared by Adreanna comes with a lesser risk of scalding the hands. Plus, it also prevents boiled spaghetti or noodles from ending up in the sink.

“Like pretty much everyone else in the world, we’ve always drained cooked pasta by putting the colander in the sink and pouring the water and the pasta from the saucepan into said colander. But this isn’t actually the right way to drain pasta,” explained Cookist Wow (@cookistwow) in an Instagram reel. The creator sank a strainer into a pot of boiled pasta and flipped it over to drain the water in the sink. Then they took the bowl, mixed the sauces and vegetables, and displayed a bowl of delicious-looking red sauce pasta on the screen. This way of straining saved the time they would’ve used in shifting the pasta to the strainer and then again to the pan. 

You can follow Adreanna Spezzaferro (@adreannafs), Cooking Cards (@CookingCards) on TikTok and Cookist Wow (@cookistwow) on Instagram for more kitchen hacks!