SANTOKU
SANTOKU
A colander is a rigid, bowl-shaped kitchen tool perforated with many holes, used for draining liquid away from food — most commonly pasta, boiled vegetables and washed salad leaves. It usually has two side handles and either a footed base or a wide, flat bottom, so it can sit in the sink on its own.
A strainer — in British kitchens usually called a sieve — is a finer tool with a woven wire-mesh bowl and a single long handle, used for straining stock and sauces, sifting flour, and rinsing small grains such as rice, quinoa and couscous that would fall straight through a colander.
The difference in one line: a colander has holes and drains big things; a strainer has mesh and catches small things.
Both tools separate solids from liquid, and plenty of people use the two words interchangeably. But they are shaped the way they are because they do different jobs, and once you know which is which, choosing between them takes no thought at all. Here is what each one is, what it is for, and when the difference actually matters.
Table of contents
What is a colander?
A colander is a rigid bowl, perforated all over with holes, used to drain liquid away from food. The name comes from the Latin colare, meaning to strain. It is the tool you tip a pan of cooked pasta into so the water runs away down the sink and the pasta stays behind.
What makes a colander a colander, rather than just any perforated bowl, is that it stands up unaided. Most have either a ring-shaped foot or a wide flat base, plus a handle on each side, so you can set it in the sink, pour with both hands and leave it to drip.
What is a colander used for?
- Draining cooked pasta, noodles and gnocchi
- Draining boiled or steamed vegetables and potatoes
- Washing salad leaves, herbs and soft fruit
- Rinsing tinned pulses such as chickpeas, beans and sweetcorn
- Lifting large solids out of a stockpot before the liquid goes through a finer sieve
- Letting salted aubergine or courgette sit and drain before frying
The common thread is bulk. A colander shifts a lot of water quickly, away from something big enough not to fall through the holes.
What is a strainer?
A strainer is a bowl of finely woven wire mesh set into a rim, with a single long handle and usually a small hook on the opposite side so it can rest across a bowl or a pan. In British kitchens it is normally just called a sieve; “fine-mesh strainer” is the more common American phrasing for the same tool.
The mesh is almost always stainless steel; the rim and handle may be steel or plastic. Because the mesh is far finer than a colander's holes, a strainer catches things a colander simply cannot hold — and because it has one handle rather than two, it is meant to be held rather than set down.
What is a strainer used for?
- Straining stock, broth and sauces so only the liquid passes through
- Sifting flour, icing sugar and cocoa to break up lumps
- Rinsing rice, quinoa, couscous and small pulses, all of which fall straight through a colander
- Draining small items such as capers, peas or sweetcorn
- Catching pips and pulp when straining citrus juice
- Dusting icing sugar or cocoa evenly over a finished dish
The common thread here is fineness. You reach for a strainer when the thing you are catching is small, or when the liquid is the part you want to keep.
Colander vs strainer at a glance
| Colander | Strainer (sieve) | |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | Rigid bowl punched with many round holes | Finely woven wire mesh |
| Material | Stainless steel, enamelled metal, plastic or silicone | Stainless steel mesh, with a steel or plastic rim and handle |
| Handles | Two, one on each side | One long handle, usually with a rim hook opposite |
| Stands on its own? | Yes — footed ring or wide base, sits in the sink unaided | No — held, or hooked over the rim of a bowl |
| Best for | Pasta, potatoes, boiled veg, washing salad, rinsing tins | Stock, sauces, sifting flour, rinsing rice and quinoa |
| What you usually keep | The solids; the liquid goes down the drain | Often the liquid; the solids are what you are filtering out |
| Speed | Fast — large holes, high volume | Slower — fine mesh restricts the flow |
What is another name for a colander?
In everyday British usage, a colander is often called a pasta strainer, a pasta drainer or simply a drainer. None of those are formal terms, but all three are widely understood — and they are a large part of why the words colander and strainer get muddled in the first place.
What a colander is not another name for is a sieve. A sieve is the fine-mesh tool with a single handle, and swapping the two words will get you the wrong implement.
Two cone-shaped strainers have names of their own, worth knowing if you read a lot of recipes:
- Chinois — a tall, narrow cone of very fine wire mesh, used with a ladle or pestle to push sauces and stocks through until they are completely smooth.
- China cap — the same cone shape, but made of perforated metal with larger holes. Coarser than a chinois, and closer in function to a colander.
Both are specialist cone strainers rather than alternative names for a colander.
Types of colander and strainer
Beyond the two basic shapes there are a handful of variations worth knowing about — in much the same way it helps to know the different types of frying pan before you buy one.
Colanders
- Stainless steel — the standard. Rigid, heatproof and dishwasher-safe, and it will not warp or stain when you pour boiling pasta water into it.
- Plastic — light and cheap, but it can warp or discolour over time, and very hot water straight from the pan is hard on it.
- Enamelled metal — hard-wearing and good-looking, though the enamel can chip if you knock it about.
- Collapsible silicone — folds flat for storage, which is genuinely useful in a small kitchen. Less stable in the sink than a rigid one, so a heavy pan needs a steadier hand.
- Over-the-sink — an extending frame that rests on the sink rim, so the colander never sits in the basin.
Strainers and sieves
- Fine-mesh sieve — the general-purpose one. A round mesh bowl with a handle, good for everything from sifting flour to rinsing rice.
- Tea strainer — a small version that sits over a cup to catch loose leaves.
- Chinois — the fine cone described above, for very smooth sauces and consommés.
- Drum sieve, or tamis — a flat, shallow drum of mesh, used for sifting dry ingredients and pushing purées through evenly.
Can you use one instead of the other?
Up to a point — and it depends which direction you are going.
A sieve in place of a colander: fine for small quantities. A large fine-mesh sieve will drain one portion of pasta or a handful of washed vegetables perfectly well; it just drains more slowly, because the mesh restricts the flow. The real limits are size and stability. Most sieves are smaller than a colander, they have only one handle, and they will not sit unaided in the sink, so tipping a full pan into one is awkward and a little risky.
A colander in place of a sieve: much harder. Rice, quinoa, couscous, flour and small pulses all pass straight through the holes, and a colander will not strain a stock or a sauce in any meaningful way. For anything fine, there is no substitute for mesh.
If you are only buying one, buy the colander — it covers the jobs you do most often. But a sieve is inexpensive, it stores neatly inside the colander, and it handles everything the colander cannot.
Cleaning and care
Both tools share one weakness: food gets stuck in them. Rinse them straight after use, before anything has a chance to dry on, and most of the work is already done.
Cleaning
- Rinse under a hot tap as soon as you have finished, pushing water through from the outside as well as the inside.
- Wash in hot soapy water with a soft brush. A washing-up brush gets into a colander's holes far better than a sponge, which tends to skate over them.
- For a fine-mesh sieve, hold it at an angle and run the water through the mesh from behind. That dislodges trapped particles, which scrubbing from the front only pushes further in.
- Rinse thoroughly so no soap is left sitting in the perforations.
- Dry completely — upside down on the draining rack is easiest — before putting it away.
Care
- Do not leave either tool standing in water. Prolonged damp is what causes staining and corrosion, even on stainless steel.
- If a stainless colander or sieve does pick up rust spots, make a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water, leave it on the marks for a few minutes, then work it gently with a soft nylon brush. The same principle applies to removing rust from kitchen knives.
- Avoid steel wool and wire brushes. They scratch the surface and can leave behind steel particles that go on to rust in their own right, which makes the problem worse rather than better.
- On plastic or silicone, skip abrasive powders and bleach — both cause discolouration and can damage the surface.
- Store somewhere dry and airy so mould or mildew has nothing to work with. Nesting a sieve inside a colander saves a surprising amount of cupboard space.
- Check the mesh on a sieve now and then. Once it is dented or split it stops straining evenly, and it is not really worth repairing.
Frequently asked questions
What does colander mean?
Colander means a rigid, bowl-shaped kitchen tool perforated with many holes, used to drain liquid away from food. The word comes from the Latin colare, meaning to strain. In everyday use, a colander is what you tip a pan of cooked pasta into so the water runs away and the pasta stays behind.
Is a strainer the same as a colander?
No. A colander is a rigid perforated bowl with holes, designed to drain a lot of water quickly away from something bulky such as pasta or boiled potatoes. A strainer, which British cooks usually call a sieve, has a finely woven wire mesh and a single handle, and is designed to catch small particles or to separate a liquid you want to keep from the solids you do not. They overlap, but they are not interchangeable.
What is another name for a colander?
In everyday British usage a colander is often called a pasta strainer, a pasta drainer or simply a drainer. It is not another name for a sieve, which is the fine-mesh tool with a single handle. Two cone-shaped strainers do have names of their own: a chinois is a cone of very fine wire mesh, and a china cap is a cone of perforated metal with larger holes.
Can you use a strainer instead of a colander?
For small quantities, yes. A large fine-mesh sieve will drain one portion of pasta or a handful of washed vegetables perfectly well, it just drains more slowly because the mesh restricts the flow. For a full pan it is awkward, because most sieves are smaller than a colander, they have only one handle, and they will not sit unaided in the sink. Going the other way is harder: a colander cannot replace a sieve for anything fine, since rice, quinoa and flour pass straight through the holes.
What is a colander used for?
A colander is used for draining cooked pasta, draining boiled or steamed vegetables and potatoes, washing salad leaves and herbs, rinsing tinned pulses such as chickpeas and beans, and lifting large solids out of a stockpot before the liquid goes through a finer sieve. Anything small enough to fall through the holes needs a sieve instead.
The bottom line
Reach for a colander when you are moving a lot of water away from something bulky — draining a pan of pasta, rinsing new potatoes, washing salad. Reach for a sieve or fine-mesh strainer when the thing you are catching is small, or when the liquid is what you actually want to keep — straining stock, sifting flour, rinsing rice. Most kitchens end up with one of each, and neither really replaces the other.
This guide is part of the kitchen-basics series from Santoku Knives, a UK specialist in Japanese-steel kitchen knives. If you are kitting out a kitchen from scratch, our guides to choosing a chopping board and basic knife and kitchen safety cover the next two things worth getting right.
