A method of minimizing ink consumption during printhead priming in an inkjet printer. The printhead has a nozzle face defining an array of nozzles for ejecting ink on to a media substrate. The method includes the steps of: providing a porous pad having a contact face dimensioned so that it can encompass all the nozzles in the array; moving the porous pad such that the contact face engages the nozzle face to cover the array of nozzles; forcing ink into the printhead under pressure until ink flows out the nozzles in the array and into the porous pad engaged with the nozzle face; and withdrawing the porous pad such that the contact face disengages the nozzle face.