You Usually Don’t Need to Pre-Rinse Your Dishes

You usually don’t need to rinse your dishes before loading the dishwasher.

Many dishwasher detergents contain enzymes that bind to and break down food residue. Rinsing your dishes first means doing part of the detergent’s job by hand.

Additionally, some dishwashers adjust the cycle based on how dirty the wash water is. So washing the dishes beforehand could actually make the dishwasher underestimate how dirty they are.

So scrape off the large pieces of food, but don’t necessarily rinse.