The oven is often one of those places where cleaning is something we gladly postpone. However, it eventually needs to be done, especially if you are someone who bakes frequently, both cakes and various types of meats, casseroles, pizzas, etc. During baking, many products not only evaporate but also bubble over slightly, causing small pieces of food to settle on the walls of the oven. It's worth ensuring their regular removal, but to do so without unnecessary effort and effectively, you need to know how to clean a burnt oven.
What will you learn from this article?
- How to clean an oven with vinegar and other home remedies.
- Why regular cleaning of this appliance is very important.
- What to consider when choosing the right method for cleaning the oven.
Take care of the bottom of the oven and its other parts
Even with the best recipes and culinary skills, dishes may bubble over or spill for some reason while baking. In such a situation, the oven should be cleaned as soon as possible, although cleaning a hot oven at high temperatures can be very dangerous. It is definitely better to wait until the interior of the oven has completely cooled down. Unfortunately, the dirt will also cool down and adhere more strongly to the walls of the appliance. However, they cannot be left there, as they will burn even more when the oven is next started, which can cause smoke and the smell of burning to appear.
The ideal solution would be regular oven cleaning – after each use, although few remember to do this. Leaving dried grease in the oven is not only an aesthetic problem but also a hygiene issue. It not only looks bad, a dirty oven with food residues can be a source of an unpleasant smell and a breeding ground for various microorganisms, and in exceptional situations, even for bugs. Among other things, this is why keeping the oven clean should be one of those things that can never be forgotten.
Oven cleaning – choosing methods
A dirty oven might be why the dishes baked in it have a smell that isn't quite what you'd expect. Crumbs, rancid grease, or burnt food fragments found in a heated oven can give your dish a peculiar smell. If you want to avoid this, oven cleaning must become part of your regular cleaning routine. If you are one of the lucky ones with an oven with an automatic cleaning function, you just need to remember to turn on the appropriate program. Everyone else will simply have to manually clean the oven.
Wondering how to clean an oven? There are plenty of home methods that do not require expensive detergents. By cleaning regularly, you can wash the oven with a damp cloth with dishwashing liquid. If you need to clean a burnt oven, you have to opt for more complex methods. You can start by trying to clean the oven with steam. Pour water into a heat-resistant dish and put it in the oven preheated to at least 100 degrees. The water will begin to boil, and the steam will soften the deposits on the walls of the oven. Then it's enough to clean the oven with a damp cloth, but this needs to be done before the oven cools down completely.
How to clean an oven?
If you have a really dirty oven and want to effectively clean it by removing burnt grease, you can choose ready-made chemical products or a much more eco-friendly solution, which is home methods of cleaning the oven. We know how to thoroughly clean a burnt oven using products that most likely everyone has in their kitchen:
- baking soda,
- vinegar,
- lemon.
These three products can handle even the most soiled areas, not only cleaning but also disinfecting the entire oven's surface.
How to achieve a clean oven interior step by step?
If you want to quickly clean the oven, just follow a few simple steps:
- Remove any dried food residues from the oven.
- To the extent possible, remove the layer of burnt grease.
- Mix some baking soda with water and vinegar – apply the paste to the dirtiest spots and leave for several minutes.
- Remove the baking soda along with the dissolved grease and other dirt.
- Wash the oven with warm water and some dish soap.
If you don't have baking soda, you can try cleaning the oven with lemon. Additionally, a fairly popular method is cleaning the oven with aluminum foil rolled into a ball. This solution is definitely safer for the surface than a scrubber or the rough side of a sponge, and it allows the oven to be cleaned to a more than sufficient degree!
Summary
If you're wondering what to scrub a burnt oven with, it's worth trying proven home methods. One of the most effective solutions is the combination of baking soda and vinegar. This mixture creates a natural cleaning agent that effectively removes burns from the oven. Simply apply the paste of soda and vinegar to the stained areas, leave it for several minutes, and then wipe with a damp cloth. This makes the most effective oven cleaning simple and eco-friendly.
Another method for burnt oven cleaning is to use lemon. Simply cut a lemon in half, place it in a heat-resistant dish with water, and put it in the oven heated to 100 degrees for about 30 minutes. The steam combined with the citric acid will soften the burns, making them easier to remove. If you want to know what to clean a burnt oven with (home methods), lemon and baking soda are your best allies. Thanks to them, the issue of how to remove burnt grease from the oven will cease to be a problem, and your oven will regain its shine without the use of harsh chemicals. And you can read about other types of clever "tricks" on our blog, like in the article about how to arrange your kitchen in a block.