Cleaning the oven is not at the top of most people’s priority list. And the bad news for us is that the more we put it off, the worse it will be to clean. It’s not an unheard story where someone realizes they need to clean their oven because, all of a sudden, it started smoking. Oops, that may have been the grease build-up.
Instead of spending hours scrubbing (you may have to), several oven-cleaning hacks can make life much easier when it concerns cleaning your oven. Some situations may be too difficult or too far gone for hacks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of oven-cleaning tips.
Let’s not wait any longer.
How Did My Oven Get So Dirty?
Every time you cook, the food droppings gather in the crevices of the oven at the base, in the fillers, and anywhere inside. Eventually, this can affect your oven’s performance and even the food you are cooking inside of it. Having a dirty oven isn’t particularly dangerous, which is why it probably goes overdue without cleaning in the first place.
So how do I get burnt stuff off the bottom of my oven?
The good news is that the list of materials needed isn’t long.
The first step in this process requires you to get up all the crumbs and loose bits that are hiding in the oven. They won’t come out easily once you start cleaning, so it makes sense to get them out with a vacuum first. Be wary of getting your vacuum cleaner greasy. There is no need to scrub with it.
Oven Cleaning Hacks with Baking Soda
Baking soda is alkaline as opposed to acidic. Because grease stains are acidic, baking soda has the ability to break down grease and become easily removable. Most of the stains you will find in an oven are hard because of the grease that has been set because of the heat. Baking soda works to unset it. Be aware that it takes 12 hours and is not a shortcut. It’s an oven-cleaning hack overnight.
Here’s What You Need To Do:
Take out your oven racks. You don’t want to spend time working around them; they also need to be cleaned. Lay them down on old towels, newspapers, or something where the grime doesn’t spread in your house.
Mix 1 cup of water with 1 cup of baking soda to make the paste. It shouldn’t be runny or too thick. Since it’s a 1:1 ratio, you’ll need to make enough to cover the entire inside of your oven.
Put on your gloves and apply the paste to the inside of the oven, except for any of the heating parts. For particularly dirty areas, you can leave more paste.
Leave it overnight for 12 hours. In the meantime, you can work on cleaning the oven racks. Let them soak in hot water for a few hours, and use a mild dish soap to scrub off any grime.
Wipe down the inside with a sponge or a damp cloth. You can use an old toothbrush to work on particularly stubborn areas with grease stains.
For double measures, spray white vinegar into the oven to eliminate any remaining difficult areas.
Voila, this is how a deep clean is done in a dirty oven. But, understandably, we don’t always have 12 hours free without using the oven. That’s why there are some other hacks you can take advantage of.
Oven Cleaning Hacks Without Baking Soda
Baking soda isn’t the old way to clean your oven. There are several ways, like using a dishwater tablet or salt. Sometimes we just need a quick fix. Here are some alternatives.
Oven cleaning hack dishwasher tablet
Oven cleaning hack with lemon
Oven cleaning hack with salt.
Let’s get to it.
Oven Cleaning Hack with Dishwasher Tablet
You may have heard along the grapevine that dishwasher tables are oven door cleaning hacks. This is true. Having grease smeared inside the window or door isn’t the best look. But it’s an easy fix with this process.
Grab a pair of gloves and dishwater tablets.
Hold the dishwater table between your fingers and gently wet it in warm water. Move it back and forth over the glass door and notice how the grease stains instantly start coming up.
That’s it! The tablet will dissolve, and you may need a second one, depending on how quickly it does.
Oven Cleaning Hack with Lemon
This trick may have been around for some time but recently blew up over TikTok. And for good reason, because it’s one of the easiest hacks there is to clean an oven. Here is how to do it.
Cut up a lemon into quarts and place it in an oven-safe dish.
Pour water over the lemons into the dish and stick it in the oven.
Bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit and put the timer on for 30 minutes.
After the timer is off, dip a sponge into the lemon water (carefully) and wipe down the racks and oven door. Be careful that it is hot so let the oven cool down inside first.
Oven Cleaning Hack with Salt.
Fresh grease spills can be treated almost immediately to minimize the amount of damage in the future. When hot grease leaks, you can open the inside of the oven and pour some salt directly onto the area. Let the salt sit for 2-3 hours while the oven cools off after cooking. Then you can simply wipe up the area, and it should have removed all, if not partially, the stain.
Are Gas Oven Cleaning Hacks Different Than an Electric Stove?
Lastly, let’s address the type of stove you have. Some people wonder whether they should treat grease spills any differently in a gas oven than in an electric oven. The inside of the oven may have different heating, but the grease stains still set the same way in heat, no matter what. This means that any of the above hacks can work fine for any oven.
Don’t Wait Too Long
The less time goes between your oven cleanings, the easier time you will have to get up baked in stains. Having said that, the process remains relatively the same regardless of when you last cleaned it. The best method is doing overnight baking soda. This allows it to soak and loosen up big messes.
But sometimes, we are in a pinch. That’s why using salt in a pinch can be a big lifesaver down the road. And, of course, burnt food is never a great smell, so try the lemon hack to have some more fruity smells floating around the house.
