To clean a pizza stone, let it cool completely first (a hot stone can crack from temperature change), scrape off food bits with a bench scraper or plastic spatula, then scrub stuck-on spots with a paste of baking soda and water using a brush. Wipe away the paste with a damp cloth and let the stone air dry fully before storing. The cardinal rule: never use soap and never soak a traditional pizza stone — it’s porous and will absorb soap and water, leaving you with soapy-tasting pizza or a cracked, moldy stone. Dark stains are just absorbed oil and are harmless. Here’s the full guide.
How to take care of a pizza stone
The key fact: a traditional pizza stone is porous, so it absorbs water and any cleaning solution far more than other cookware. That’s why soap and soaking are off-limits, and why you let it cool before cleaning — a sudden temperature change (like cold water on a hot stone) can crack it, and a hot stone can burn you.
What you need
- Bench scraper
- Plastic spatula
- A stiff brush or toothbrush
- Baking soda
- A non-shedding cloth
Cleaning a pizza stone with baking soda
- Let the stone cool completely — cleaning it hot can crack it or burn you.
- Scrape off food scraps with the bench scraper, spatula, or brush.
- Mix about 1 tablespoon of water with 1 tablespoon of baking soda into a paste, and scrub it onto stained spots with the brush.
- Wipe the paste away with a barely-damp cloth (use as little water as possible).
- Let the stone air dry completely — several hours — before storing or using again.
What if the pizza burned and the stone is covered in black, stuck-on residue?
How to clean a pizza stone that’s gone black
Can you wash a pizza stone? No matter how dirty it looks, you can’t run a traditional stone under water or let it soak — that’s what ruins and warps it. Instead, for a badly stained black stone:
- First, know that the darkening is just oils and fats absorbed into the porous stone. It’s harmless — it doesn’t affect flavor or cooking, and a well-used stone is naturally dark. You don’t need to (and can’t fully) remove it.
- For the parts you do want to lift, start with the baking-soda-and-water paste and a stiff brush.
- Bring in the scraper — use a plastic spatula or bench scraper on stuck-on bits.
- If needed, make a stronger paste: three parts baking soda to one part water, and scrub again.
- Wipe off and dry completely. For stubborn baked-on bits, you can bake them off: run the empty stone in the oven at 500°F for an hour, which carbonizes residue so it brushes away once cool. (Make sure the room is ventilated — it may smoke a little.)
What happens if you use soap on a pizza stone?
The short answer: your next pizza could taste like soap, because the porous stone absorbs the soap and releases it when heated. A few other things go wrong if you don’t care for a stone properly:
- Trapped water that never fully dries out can lead to mold inside the pores of the stone.
- Soaking or thermal shock can warp or crack it permanently.
- Soap isn’t the only thing absorbed — any cleaning product can be, which is why plain baking soda and water is the only thing you should use on a traditional stone.
How to dry a pizza stone
Drying is the easy part, but don’t skip it — trapped moisture is what causes mold and cracking. After wiping up the baking-soda paste with a barely-damp cloth, go over the stone with a dry, non-shedding cloth, then let it sit out and air dry for several hours (ideally overnight) before using or storing it. Don’t store a stone that’s even slightly damp.
How to clean a Pampered Chef stone
A common myth is that Pampered Chef stoneware can be washed with soap because it’s “not porous.” That’s not right — Pampered Chef’s unglazed stoneware is porous, and the company specifically says not to use soap on it, for the same reason as any stone: it absorbs the soap. Their actual guidance is:
- Let it cool, then scrape off food with a pan scraper.
- Rinse with hot water (no soap) and scrub with a nylon brush or the backside of a sponge if needed.
- For stubborn spots, make a baking-soda paste, let it sit, then scrape — same as any stone.
- Dry completely before storing.
The exception is Pampered Chef’s glazed stoneware (and glazed/enameled baking dishes generally), which has a sealed surface and can be washed with dish soap and water like regular dishware. So the rule depends on glazed vs. unglazed: glazed tolerates soap, unglazed (like most pizza stones) does not. When in doubt, treat it as porous and skip the soap.
A note on “seasoning”
When unglazed stoneware darkens, that’s not a problem — it’s the stone developing a natural non-stick patina, much like a cast iron skillet. Experienced pizza makers prize a well-darkened stone. So resist the urge to scrub it back to its original color — just remove stuck-on food and stains, and leave the seasoning be. If you ever run a stone through the dishwasher (only do this if the manufacturer marks it dishwasher-safe), you’ll strip that seasoning and reintroduce the soap-absorption problem, so it’s best avoided.
Handy tips
Not all stones are the same, so match the method to what you have:
- Only soak if it’s genuinely water-safe (a glazed or manufacturer-marked dishwasher-safe piece) — then a 30-minute warm-water soak loosens stuck food. Never soak a traditional porous stone.
- Use the scrubby side of a sponge (slightly damp) rather than anything as harsh as sandpaper to lift black stuck-on bits.
- Don’t dry with paper towels or anything that shreds when wet — the bits stick to the stone. Use a non-shedding cloth to pat dry, then air dry.
- When in doubt, bake it off — a high-temp empty oven run carbonizes stubborn residue so it brushes away (ventilate the kitchen).
The bottom line
Cleaning a pizza stone is simple once you know the rules, but it’s not like other cookware: no soap, no soaking, and no cleaning it hot. Keep water to a minimum because the porous material absorbs it, which can warp the stone or trap mold. For the black stains everyone worries about, a baking-soda-and-water paste (stronger as you add more baking soda) used as a spot treatment lifts what it can — and the rest is just harmless seasoning. The one exception to all of this is glazed stoneware, which can be washed with soap and water like a normal dish.
