How to prevent liquids from spilling when pouring from measuring cup?

There are two options I've found that work.

The easier one is, just controlling the flow. Make sure the front bottom edge of your measuring cup is also above the pan, and while it drips - it will drip into the pan. This can be tricky if the pan is only a little wider than the measuring cup itself, but it can often help once the dripping starts (since once the front is wet, there's a bit of pull that way via surface tension, and the liquid likes to keep following that path). Specifically, in that picture, the measuring cup can probably be moved two or three inches towards the far side of the pan without issue, and the drip is only one inch or so from being over the edge of the near side.

The trickier one is to pour more cleanly. Pouring fast helps - one sort of example is quickly dumping it into the pot, where there isn't time to drip and the sprout is very quickly lower then the bottom edge anyway... though that does mean you have less control over the flow. But, more than that, the trick is to never "let up" - that is, once it starts pouring, the angle should only get deeper, never shallower.

When the angle gets moved from deeper to more level, even a bit, the spout functionally swings backwards in relation to the pot, and the angle of the stream of liquid can easily sloshes back enough to touch the side. Once wet that side becomes a path of less resistance, and so it slides down instead of pours clean. It is really easy to do accidentally, a little rock backwards to slow the stream or gentle it as the pot gets fuller, or to look into the pot or away to something else, or just any means of getting distracted for a second.

As an aside, if it starts to spill down the side when pouring, either move the bottom over the pot, dump the liquid fast, or stop to clean and dry before pouring again - the wet side is easier to go down, so once it starts it won't pour cleanly till the side is dry again, despite most any techniques.

Well, actually, another possibility is to nudge the spout of the measuring cup over the side of the pot, actually touching the pot's side. As I mentioned, running down a side is easier than jumping off - so if the spout is touching the side of the pot, it will tend to run straight down that inside instead of trying to jump over the edge backwards to run down at a shallower angle.

The method that I always use is just to pour down whatever utensil I'm using at the moment (e.g. spoon, knife, rubber scraper, etc.). You just press the utensil into the pouring notch as you pour and the liquid will follow the utensil (bartenders will often use this "trick" when making cocktails).

Those shortform cups are harder to use than the tallform of the same volume. You get larger waves moving across the surface that contribute to volume surges at the lip. Overload the lip, and liquid won't break cleanly at the lip bottom. It curves around and you get spillage. A better designed measuring cup will make your pouring easier.

Go slower and let the spout/pointy part of the lip do its job.

The reason spilling is happening in the picture is because the pourer is pouring faster than the spout part of the cup can handle.

The cup in the picture does have a pretty small spout, granted. To avoid spill, the pourer would have to go pretty slow with this cup.

The pointy part of the lip on a measuring cup like this WILL let out a flow of liquid dropping straight down into the receiving vessel without causing any of it to run down the outside of the cup you're pouring from, but only if the poured liquid is actually flowing through the spout and not flooding past the spout and pouring down the regular round edge of the measuring cup. If you pour more than the lip-shape can catch, then you're really not doing any different than pouring over the side or back of the cup where there is no spout/lip.

Short answer: If that's too slow for you, then you can switch measuring cups to one with a bigger, deeper, wider spout so that more fluid can flow through it in the short time you're willing to spend.

Warm the liquid prior to pouring. Warm/hot liquids are less viscous and are less likely to cling to the surface of the vessel while pouring. If warming the liquid is an option (hot water instead of cold, for example), it'll pour faster and more cleanly.

Also, pouring slowly while allowing for at least a perpendicular angle between the spout tip and the surface will prevent this overflowing effect which is often the case of using a shallow spout angle with a mostly full vessel. Vessels without spouts benefit from faster/all-in-one pouring motions.

The physics explanation is that surface tension causes the liquid to adhere to the glass, and you need sufficient force to break that adhesion. The pour spout on Pyrex measuring cups is the worst because it's rounded, providing a nice gentle slope for the liquid to dribble down.

There are two fixes for this;

One is to pour all the liquid out very quickly all at once.

Otherwise, if you have to pour slowly, use a cup that is twice as big as the amount you're measuring. This way the pour angle will be too steep for the liquid to dribble down the side.

Tilt the cup longitudinally so that you're pouring on a slant, not directly tilting the container toward the cup. This will simulate a pouring spout and allow the pour to proceed more cleanly.

Maybe stating the obvious, but if possible, have the bottom of the pitcher above the target as well so if anything runs down the side it still ends up in the target and not on the counter. Still makes a mess on the pitcher, but that is probably easier to clean up.

An old grandmum's trick is to wipe a bit of butter on the underside (outside surface) of the spout. Because the butter is an oil it is hydrophobic (water beads up on hydrophobic surfaces instead of wetting them) so the water or milk's own surface tension will hold it together and discourage it from wetting and running down the glass surface.

This also works with stubborn teapots that never want to pour properly.

Use a beaker! (:

Or a measuring cup with a good tip. Our (glass) Pyrex measuring cups have these.

They have "drip tips" that allow you to pour without worrying as much about spillage:

_{(from Wikipedia)}

Edit: Oops, I didn't see that you have the same kind (probably; I can't see the spout in the picture). Pouring carefully (but not too slowly) helps.

First of all, I wound up here because I have the exact pyrex measuring cups mentioned above, a 2 quart, and two smaller ones at 1 quart each. Only one of the smaller ones does this, so I'm inclined to say that it is a minor manufacturing defect.

I recommend buying a new one that may have a thinner spout (rather than a rounded one) if you use the cup to its full potential (like heating liquids in it)… However, since I have two, I may experiment with the one I hate, and carefully shave the spout with my dremel diamond blade in an attempt to eliminate the rounded lip at the end of the spout.

I warn against trying this at home, unless you're familiar with the dangers of sanding glass, breathing glass dust, and risks involved with etching tempered glass before baking with it.

With all the risks involved, I recommend just looking for a new one that has a less rounded lip instead. They do exist, and they don't cost much. Just keep an eye out, not all pyrex products are created exactly the same.