Colander vs Strainer: Which One Do You Actually Need?

We owned 4 strainers and zero colanders for 2 years. Every box of pasta ended with a wet counter and a mesh basket that bent a little more. Then someone asked the obvious question: are you using the wrong tool?

What is the main difference between a colander and a strainer?

Hole size. That is almost the whole story.

A colander has holes you can see through. Water leaves in a few seconds. Anything bigger than a pea stays inside. The word comes from the Latin for sieve, and the shape has barely changed in a few hundred years: a bowl, holes, usually a handle or two.

A strainer is fine mesh stretched over a frame. The gaps are small enough to stop a grain of rice, a raspberry seed or a clump of flour. It drains slower, because the water has to find its way through the mesh, but nothing small slips out.

In our kitchen the test is simple. If what you are draining is bigger than a blueberry, you want a colander. If it is smaller, you want a strainer.

What is a colander for?

• Draining pasta, boiled potatoes and blanched vegetables straight from the pot
• Rinsing a head of lettuce, a bunch of grapes or a pound of strawberries
• Letting washed produce sit and drip before it goes in the fridge
• Holding fruit on the counter while you work through it

A colander is a volume tool. It handles a lot of food at once and lets the water go fast. That speed is also its weak point, which we get to below.

What is a strainer for?

• Rinsing rice, quinoa, lentils and other small grains
• Straining stock, custard or a sauce to catch lumps and skins
• Sifting flour or powdered sugar over a cake
• Dusting cocoa, or draining a can of corn without losing half of it

A strainer is a precision tool. It is slower, holds less, and the mesh can bend if you press a spoon against it. But it catches what a colander lets through.

Here is the part most comparison articles skip: where the water goes matters as much as the hole size.

Colander vs strainer: what nobody mentions about the sink

Both tools assume you are standing over a sink. You rinse, the water falls through, and it runs down the drain. That works for pasta. It works less well for produce.

Berries and greens are better off soaked for a minute than blasted under the tap. The FDA's produce guidance is to rinse under running water and dry with a clean towel. Fine. But if you have ever tried to soak strawberries in a colander, you know the problem: the water runs straight out.

So you reach for a mixing bowl, fill it, dump the berries in, fish them out with your hands, and then tip the gritty water away. Three tools, two trips to the sink.

A colander with a matching bowl underneath solves this in one piece. The colander sits inside the bowl. You fill the bowl, the produce soaks, and when you lift the colander out the water stays behind. The grit and sand are in the bowl, not back on the fruit.

Colander vs strainer side by side

	Colander	Strainer	Colander with bowl
Holes	Large, visible	Fine mesh	Large, visible
Drains	Fast, into the sink	Slow, into the sink	Fast, into its own bowl
Best for	Pasta, potatoes, greens	Rice, quinoa, sauces, sifting	Berries, grapes, herbs, soaking greens
Can it soak?	No	No	Yes
Catches seeds and grains?	No	Yes	No
Where it lives	Cabinet	Drawer or hook	Counter or nested in a cabinet

The third row in that table is the one people get wrong at the store. Here is why.

How to choose a colander

Match the size to the pot, not the cabinet

A colander that is smaller than your biggest pot means pasta on the floor. Measure the pot you use most. For most home kitchens that is a 6 to 8 quart pot, which drains comfortably into a colander about 26 cm (10 in) across. If you cook for one or two, a 22 cm (8.5 in) size handles everything short of a full pound of pasta.

Handles on both sides

A single long handle looks like a saucepan and tips the same way. Two short handles let you lift a full, dripping basket with both hands and set it down level. If the colander sits inside a bowl, the handles also keep your fingers out of the water.

Material: metal, silicone or plastic

Stainless steel lasts forever and goes in the dishwasher, but it is loud and it dents. Silicone collapses flat, which is handy, and then refuses to stay open when it is full. Plastic is the quiet, light option. Look for food-contact plastic and a dishwasher-safe label. Restaurant kitchens run all three and pick by job, not by brand.

Does it nest?

Three colanders that stack into one footprint take the space of a single large bowl. Three that do not nest take a whole shelf. If you are short on cabinet space, this is the deciding feature, ahead of colour and ahead of material.

Our colander bowl set is three sizes, each with its own clear bowl, and the whole set nests into the large one. It is the piece we reach for in the one-bowl berry method, and it is on our kitchen must-haves list for the same reason: it does the soak and the drain without a second bowl.

How to choose a strainer

Pick mesh over perforated metal. Mesh is finer and lighter. Then pick the size by what you strain most: a 3-inch strainer for tea and dusting, a 6 to 8-inch strainer for rice and stock. Look for a hook or a lip that rests on the rim of a bowl or pot so you have both hands free.

One strainer is usually enough. Two colanders, a big one for the pot and a small one with a bowl for produce, cover the rest.

We almost did not add the bowl. Here is what changed our mind.

What we actually use in a week

Monday: grapes rinsed in the small colander, soaked for a minute, lifted out, bowl tipped into the sink. The grapes go to the table in the same basket. Tuesday: pasta into the large one over the sink, the old way. Wednesday: a head of romaine in the medium one, soaked, lifted, left to drip on the counter while dinner gets made. Thursday: rice in the mesh strainer, because the colander would lose half of it.

The strainer gets used once. The colanders get used daily. The bowl underneath is what moved the washing off the sink and onto the counter, where there is light and room to work.

If your week looks like that, start with a colander with a bowl, then add one fine mesh strainer. If you cook a lot of rice and grains, flip the order. Either way, you probably do not need four strainers. We checked.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use a strainer instead of a colander?

For small amounts, yes. For a pot of pasta, the mesh is slow and the frame can bend under the weight. Use a strainer when you need to catch small pieces, and a colander when you need speed and volume.

What do Americans call a colander?

A colander. Some people say strainer for both, and in the UK a fine strainer is often called a sieve. The tool is the same; only the hole size changes.

What are the downsides of using a colander?

Three. It cannot soak, because the water runs straight through. It lets small things like rice and seeds escape. And it drips on the counter when you move it, unless there is a bowl underneath.

What can I use if I do not have a colander?

Hold a pot lid slightly off the rim and tip the water out. Or use a slotted spoon to lift food from the pot. For produce, soak it in a bowl and lift it out by hand, then dry on a towel.

Is a plastic colander safe for hot pasta?

Check the label. Food-contact plastics like PET handle a quick drain of boiling water, but do not leave hot food sitting in them. For soaking and rinsing produce, which is what a colander with a bowl is for, the water is cold and the question does not come up.

If you have a question we did not cover, write to us. We will answer and probably add it here. — Lisa, Strabella