How do I use a stick blender without spraying soup everywhere?

A stick blender that sprays is almost always being used in the wrong vessel. The blade throws liquid outward and upward, and it is only the depth of liquid above it and the walls of a narrow container that contain the spray.

Safety

Step by step

1. Use a tall narrow container.The jug that came with the blender, or a tall measuring jug or a deep saucepan. A wide shallow pan gives the liquid room to fly and nothing to hit. If you are blending soup in the pan you cooked it in, tilt the pan so the liquid pools deep at one side and work in that pool.
2. Fill no more than halfway.The blender displaces liquid and raises the level, and the vortex it creates lifts it further. Half full leaves room for both. Blend in two batches rather than one full jug.
3. Submerge before you switch on, and stop before you lift.This is the whole technique. Push the head right down to the base, start it, and never let the blade break the surface while it is running. Release the trigger and let it stop completely before lifting it out. Almost every splatter incident is one of these two mistakes.
4. Angle the head slightly and move it up and down.Tilt the shaft a few degrees off vertical so the liquid circulates rather than spinning in a fixed vortex, and lift and lower the head slowly through the liquid to bring the top layer down to the blade. Do not stir it round in circles — that just spins the whole contents.
5. Start slow, then increase.If the blender has speed settings, start at the lowest with the head at the bottom and bring it up once everything is moving. Starting at full speed in cold thick soup is what throws the first spray up the wall.
6. Let hot soup cool a little.Just off the boil is much safer than boiling. Boiling liquid is also full of steam bubbles that expand as the blade moves through them, which makes it splash more. Take the pan off the heat and give it five minutes.
7. Take the pan off the hob and use a lid or a cloth.Blending on a live hob ring means the pan can be knocked and the cable can drape near the heat. Move it to the worktop. A tea towel draped loosely round the jug mouth catches anything that does escape.

Tips

• Push the blender head against the base of the pan and it creates suction that pulls the contents down onto the blade, which blends faster with far less movement.
• A stick blender does not make soup as smooth as a jug blender. For a genuinely velvety soup, blend with the stick and then pass it through a sieve, or use a jug blender in batches with the lid vented.
• Never fill a sealed jug blender with hot liquid to the top — steam builds and blows the lid off. Fill it a third full, remove the centre cap and hold a folded towel over the hole.
• For mayonnaise and emulsions, a stick blender in a narrow jug is the easiest method there is: put everything in, push the head to the bottom, run it, and lift slowly once it has emulsified at the base.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask