The Inside of the Microwave Is Splattered Again
Soup and sauce dry onto the ceiling and walls between cleans, and scrubbing them off is the same job every week
The short answer
The scrub is not the fix. The cover is. Splatter happens because reheating soup and sauce boils in bursts and throws drops at the walls and ceiling. A vented rigid cover catches those drops on a surface that rinses clean, and the vents let steam out so food does not go soggy under a sealed lid. The Nordic Ware Plate Cover holds 4.7 stars from 1,750 reviews at Target (November 2026), with 94 percent of reviewers saying they would recommend it. Two fit points decide if it works in your kitchen. It has to fit over your plate with room to spare, and it needs headroom in a small microwave. Both checks take a minute and both are in the steps below.
Why does this happen?
Liquids with sauce or fat in them do not boil gently in a microwave. Pockets of steam build under the surface and pop, and each pop throws small drops up and out. The ceiling of the microwave takes most of it because the bursts go up. Left for a day, the drops dry into a film that needs soaking and scrubbing.
The usual covers fail in their own ways. A paper towel sags into the food as it gets damp and can shed fibers. A plate balanced on top seals the bowl, so steam builds up and the food steams instead of reheating, and the plate itself gets too hot to lift. A loose sheet of wrap traps steam the same way and melts where it touches hot food.
A rigid vented cover works because it does two jobs at once. The dome gives splatter a near surface to land on, and the vents give steam a way out. The cover takes the mess, and the cover is small, smooth, and dishwasher safe, so the weekly scrub becomes a rinse.
The fix, in order
The steps are ordered cheapest first. Stop at the one that solves it and skip the rest; the product is there only for where the free steps run out.
Free step
Clean the microwave once, the easy way
Put a bowl of water with a spoonful of vinegar in the microwave and run it until the water steams well. Leave the door shut for five minutes. The steam softens the dried splatter so it wipes off with a cloth. This is the last deep clean the cover should ask of you.
The product step
Reheat with the Nordic Ware cover on
Set the cover over the plate or bowl each time you reheat soup, sauce, or anything that spits. Leave the vents open. When the cycle ends, lift the cover by its handle area and rinse it, or put it in the dishwasher. Wipe the microwave walls once a week with a damp cloth to catch the little that escapes.
The product for this step
Nordic Ware Plate Cover, 10.5 inch, vented
Habit step
Keep the cover where the plates live
Store the cover with the dinner plates, not in a back cupboard. A cover that is in reach gets used. One that needs fetching gets skipped on busy nights, and one skipped night is a fresh layer on the ceiling.
The evidence, in tiers
Tier 1 · The method
The method is prevention at the source: cover the food with a vented rigid dome so splatter lands on a washable surface and steam can still escape. The maker directions govern use: the cover is for reheating, vents stay open, and the heat and time limits printed for the product set the boundary.
Tier 2 · This product
The Nordic Ware Plate Cover holds 4.7 stars from 1,750 reviews at Target (November 2026), with 94 percent of reviewers saying they would recommend it. Its scored marks in the same record are high where it counts: 4.83 for easy to clean and 4.8 for ease of use. Those figures come from the retailer record read for this guide. No meal was reheated for this guide.
A record of this size, with a recommend rate in the mid nineties, is strong for a low cost kitchen item. The complaints are useful rather than worrying. They gather on fit in small microwaves and on steam making some foods soft, and both points are printed on this page as checks, not buried.
Tier 3 · What owners report
Owners describe microwaves that stay clean for weeks once the cover is in daily use, and covers that go through the dishwasher and come out clear. The unhappy reports name covers too tall for compact machines, food that went soggy when the vents were covered by a large plate, and warping when a cover was used for long cooking instead of reheating.
The alternatives, conceded where they win
| Option | What it is | The honest verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Nordic Ware Plate Cover, 10.5 inch, vented | Rigid vented dome for plates and bowls | The pick: the largest and strongest record on this shelf, a high recommend rate, and the vented shape that keeps food from steaming under a sealed lid. |
| Nordic Ware Deluxe Plate Cover | A taller cover from the same maker, for deeper dishes | The row for tall bowls and stacked food. It holds 4.3 stars from 59 ratings at Target, a much smaller record, printed as small. Buy it for height, not for a better score. |
| The damp paper towel method | A wet paper towel laid over the bowl, the free method | Free, and better than nothing for one bowl of soup. It sags into the food as it dries, it can leave fibers behind, and it does nothing for the next meal. The cover exists because this method wears people out. |
The honest price comparison
One cover is the whole spend, and it should last for years of daily use. The free towel costs nothing and asks for the scrub to continue. Spend once on the cover if reheating is a daily habit in your house. Skip it if your microwave is a compact model the dome cannot fit, and use the towel plus the steam clean instead.
Where it falls short
The weaknesses below come from the product's own review record, the same record the recommendation rests on.
- Height is the hard limit. In a compact microwave the dome can crowd the plate or touch the top, and a cover that cannot sit flat lets splatter out at the edges.
- Steam still softens some foods. The vents help, but crisp food reheated under any cover comes out softer than it went in. This is a reheating tool, not a crisping tool.
- It is not a cooking cover. The maker limits are for reheating times and heat. Long cycles can warp the plastic, and warped covers stop sealing at the rim.
- It covers one plate at a time. A family reheating four plates in a row will pass the cover from plate to plate, which works, but it is a step someone has to own.
The product, in short
Nordic Ware Plate Cover, 10.5 inch, vented
Questions people ask next
Will it fit my microwave?
Measure two things: the width it needs over your largest plate, and the height from the turntable to the top with a plate under the dome. The product record shows compact microwaves are the tight case. If the dome cannot sit flat and clear the top, this is the wrong cover for your machine.
Can I cook with it, or only reheat?
Reheat only, within the time and heat limits the maker prints for the cover. It is made to catch splatter during short reheating cycles. Long cooking can warp it, and a warped cover no longer sits flat.
Why vented? Would a sealed cover hold more splatter?
A sealed cover holds steam in, so food steams and goes soggy, and pressure can lift the cover mid cycle. The vents let steam out while the dome still catches the drops that fly up. That trade is the design.
How do I clean the cover itself?
Rinse it after use, or put it on the top rack of the dishwasher. Dried sauce on the smooth plastic comes off far faster than the same sauce baked onto the microwave ceiling, which is the point of the swap.
Target listing record for the Nordic Ware Plate Cover, 10.5 inch (November 2026) · Target listing record for the Nordic Ware Deluxe Plate Cover (November 2026) · Nordic Ware cover directions: vent use and heat and time limits
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