What Is a Splatter Screen & How Do You Use It?
A splatter screen is one of those things you don’t think you need. Until you stop to realize just how much time you spend wiping up grease and sauce stains from your stovetop, counter, and backsplash. What’s a splatter screen? It’s kind of exactly what you think it is: it’s a screen that protects against splatters. You put it over the top of a frying pan or sauce pot to keep pops of oil/liquid from ending up all over your kitchen —or your clothes, for that matter.
Splatter screens are super helpful when cooking pork chops, frying bacon, letting sauces simmer, frying eggs, and more. Most are flat and wide, made to cover cookware in various sizes, and the handles often fold up for storage. We’ve even seen some (like the one above) with activated carbon filters inside the mesh screen to help minimize lingering cooking odors.
Do these things really work, though? We’ve found there tends to be two camps of home cooks: those who have never used a splatter screen, and those who love them. Try one and you’ll actually be able to see them work because the screens will get greasy (and your stovetop won’t). These screens don’t affect the cooking that’s going on underneath, and while you will have to take them off to stir or add more ingredients, it only takes a second, which is less time than it takes to wipe down dow your stove.
More on Dealing With Grease in the Kitchen
Do you use a splatter screen when you cook? Discuss in the comments below!