The oven is often one of those places that we are very reluctant to clean. However, at some point, it must be done, especially if you belong to those who bake frequently, whether it's cakes or various types of meat, casseroles, pizzas, etc. During baking, many products not only steam but also slightly boil, causing small pieces of food to detach and settle on the oven walls. It's worth taking care of their regular removal.
Maintain the Interior of the Oven
Despite the best recipes and culinary skills, it can happen that a dish boils over or spills during baking for some reason. In such a situation, the oven should be cleaned as soon as possible, but cleaning a hot oven can be very dangerous. It is definitely better to wait until the oven's interior has completely cooled down. Unfortunately, the dirt will also cool down and stick more strongly to the walls of the appliance. However, they cannot be left, because during the next operation of the oven, they will start to burn even more, which may cause smoke and a burnt smell to appear.
Ideally, cleaning the oven after each use would be the best solution, but few people remember that. Leaving dried grease in the oven is not just an aesthetic problem, but also a hygiene one. It not only looks bad, but a dirty oven with food remnants can be a source of unpleasant odors, as well as a breeding ground for various microorganisms, and in exceptional situations, also for worms. Among other reasons, this is why maintaining the oven in cleanliness should be one of those tasks that should never be forgotten.
Oven Cleaning – Choosing Methods
A dirty oven can be the reason that the dishes baked in it do not smell quite as expected. Crumbs, burnt grease, or charred pieces of food found in a heated oven can give your dish a specific smell. If you want to avoid that, cleaning the oven must become a part of your regular cleaning routine. If you are one of the lucky ones who own ovens with a self-cleaning function, you only need to remember to activate the appropriate program. Everyone else simply has to focus on manual cleaning the oven.
Wondering what to clean the oven with? There are plenty of homemade methods that do not require expensive detergents. By doing this regularly, you can clean the oven with a damp cloth and a dish-washing liquid. If you have a burnt oven to clean, you need to use more complex methods. First, you can try cleaning the oven with steam. Pour water into an oven-safe dish and place it in the oven preheated to at least 100 degrees. The water will start to boil, and the steam released will soften the residues on the oven walls. Then, it's enough to clean the oven with a damp cloth, but this should be done before the oven completely cools down.
How to Clean a Heavily Soiled Oven?
If you have a really dirty oven and want to effectively clean it by removing burnt grease, you can reach for ready-made chemical products or a much more eco-friendly solution, which are homemade oven cleaning methods. We know how to thoroughly clean a burnt oven using products that probably everyone has in their kitchen. Baking soda, vinegar, and lemon. These three products can manage even the most soiled areas, not only cleaning but also disinfecting the entire oven's surface.
Oven Surface Cleaning Step by Step
If you want to quickly clean your oven, just follow a few simple steps:
-
Remove dried food remnants from the oven,
-
As much as possible, get rid of the layer of burnt grease,
-
Mix a portion of baking soda with a portion of water and a portion of vinegar – apply the paste to the most soiled areas and leave it for a few minutes,
-
Remove the baking soda along with dissolved grease and other dirt,
-
Wash the oven with warm water mixed with dish-washing liquid.
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 brush or the rough side of a sponge, and it allows you to clean the oven sufficiently!