If you’ve ever warmed pasta sauce in the microwave, you know it often leaves quite a mess by splattering all over. Luckily, there is a method for preventing pasta sauce from bubbling over and staining your microwave’s surfaces, and it all comes down to a bit of science.

Many pasta sauces are thick or have chunks in them, which can easily trap the steam of the microwave and build up within the sauce until, eventually, it explodes. A straightforward solution can be to thin your sauce, but this won’t prevent it from being able to trap heat and will change its texture.

Of course, the most obvious solutions are to reheat your sauce in a pot on the stovetop or cover the container with a microwave-safe lid or plate. To tone down the mess caused by splattering pasta sauce in the microwave, you can stop the microwave every few seconds to stir or cover your sauce with a lid, but you’ll have to repeat this process consistently every few seconds.