How to Clean an Oven
by Doris Wheeler 07/07/2019
Baking sounds like a lot of fun, especially when you see the outcome of your culinary creation. The hard part is when you have to deal with the spills, dirt and other remnants of your gastronomic exercise as you figure out how to clean the oven. The high temperature of the oven doesn't even make the job easier as everything seems welded into the pans. Little wonder many people shy away from this task. But with a few helpful tips, you may find out that cleaning an oven is not as tough as it sometimes looks to you.
- Empty the oven. Remove everything you have in the oven and put them out. Oven racks, thermometer, trays; everything is coming out. That makes it a lot simpler to clean.
- Mix your baking soda into a paste. Add up a few spoons of baking soda into a bowl and then mix with a few spoons of water, until you have an even consistency. Depending on the size of your oven, you may need a more significant mixture. Now coat the insides of your oven with this paste, avoid the heating elements while doing so. Pay extra attention to the particularly greasy areas.
- Wait. Leave the mixture to sit in the oven for at least twelve hours. You can do this in the evening and let the mixture stay put all through the night. After the 12 hours, the baking soda will have turned into a brownish color. You can use this period to also soak your oven racks and other washable parts in a bowl of warm water with dishwashing liquid
- Wipe down the oven. After the twelve hours are over, spread some vinegar gently over the paste and allow them to interact. Time helps to make the paste much easier to scrape off. Now use a damp washcloth, or if the mixture is still too hard, use a spatula or piece of plastic to scrape the paste off. Don't forget the corners and crevices; you should get the entire baking soda paste out.
- Do a final wipe down. Spray some more water and vinegar into the oven and then wipe down again until all the baking soda remaining has been removed. Dry your oven racks and then replace them, and your oven is as good as new.
Congratulations, you just cleaned out your oven. Don’t know where to get baking soda and vinegar? Check your local grocery store.