3 Super Easy Ways to Clean Your Oven

Posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2019

From all the times you’ve served a beautiful home-cooked roasted chicken at your family dinner, or baked a cake for your friend’s birthday, you’ll be aware of how greasy and messy your kitchen oven can quickly get.

Hiring a professional cleaner to come in to do oven cleaning may be the best way to clean your oven especially for those who are constantly on-the-go or need much more assistance with any laborious tasks. But if you have the time and would like to know how to clean your oven yourself with a DIY approach, we’ve outlined three ways to do so – using store-bought cleaners, baking soda with vinegar, and lemons (the last two being milder and more natural homemade cleaners).

1. Store-bought Cleaner

One of the best oven cleaning methods for ridding tough grime stains is by using store-bought cleaners. The strong chemicals found in store-bought oven cleaners are what make powerful and effective at removing dirt and grime, but it can also pose health risks if mishandled – so ensure to wear protective gear.  

You will need:

• Gloves (important)
• Safety glasses (important)
• Large garbage bag
• Newspaper and paper towels
• Dish cloths
• Abrasive scrub or
• Silicone spatula

Steps

1. Get out everything that is removable from your oven: This includes racks, pizza stones etc. You’ll clean them separately later.  
2. Place newspapers or paper towels on the floor directly beneath the oven.
3. Wearing gloves and safety glasses, spray the inside of the oven with the store-bought cleaner
4. Store-bought cleaners usually only take 20-35 minutes to soak but refer to your individual product for a more accurate waiting time.
5. While the oven is sitting in the store-bought cleaning mixture, take the removed parts of the oven (such as the rack) with the large garbage bag outside or to a ventilated area.
6. Spray the removed parts with the store-bought cleaner, and let it sit inside the garbage bag for 20-35 minutes (or however long is listed on the store-bought cleaner).
7. Wipe down the oven with a clean dish cloth.
   It may take several dish cloths for severely grime-filled ovens.
8. Rinse the rack with soapy water and insert it back into the oven.
   

2. Baking Soda and Vinegar

For this DIY oven cleaning method, you can make your own homemade oven cleaner with these ingredients that you may already have at home.

You will need:

• Baking soda (1/2 cup)
• Vinegar (1/2 cup)
• Water

As well as:

• Newspaper and paper towels
• Gloves
• Spray bottle
• Dish soap (1/4 cup)
• Dish cloths
• Abrasive scrub or
• Silicone spatula

Steps

1. Get out everything that is removable from your oven: This includes racks, pizza stones etc. You’ll clean them separately later.  
2. Place newspapers or paper towels on the floor directly beneath the oven.
3. For the homemade oven cleaner mixture: Combine ½ cup of baking soda with 2 or 3 table spoons of water until you get a thin paste.
4. Put your gloves on and lather the mixture along the inside of the oven. Cover walls and corners but refrain from placing the mixture on parts that heat up the oven – i.e. for electric ovens, avoid the heating area; for gas ovens, avoid where the gas comes in.
5. Let it sit overnight (or approximately 12 hours).
   
   While you wait, you can clean your oven racks and other removed oven accessories: soak the rack in your bathtub or sink with ¼ cup of dish soap for 1-2 hours. Scrub off the residue with a clean cloth and rinse.
6. Using a new damp dish cloth, remove the paste residue inside the oven. For grime that’s harder to remove, use an abrasive scrub or silicone (not metal) spatula to loosen it off the surface.
7. Using a spray bottle consisting of ½ cup of vinegar and 2 cups of water, spray the inside of the oven
8. Use another damp clean cloth to wipe off the vinegar and water mixture.
9. Insert the oven racks and other parts removed in step 1.   

3. Using Lemons

Lemons can be a natural oven cleaner for those that are light to mildly greasy – anything more than that would need a stronger cleaning method such as the previous two options.

For this cleaning method, have ready:

• Medium oven baking dish
• 2 lemons (or lemon juice equivalent)
• Water

As well as:

• Gloves
• Newspaper and paper towels
• Dish cloths
• Abrasive scrub or
• Silicone spatula

Steps

1. Get out everything that is removable from your oven: This includes racks, pizza stones etc. You’ll clean them separately later.
2. Place newspapers or paper towels directly below the oven.
3. Fill the medium oven baking dish with water and add either: two lemons cut in halves, or the juice of two squeezed lemons.
4. Heat the oven to 121°C and place the baking dish inside on the rack for 30 minutes.
   You can clean the removed parts in the meantime. Soak the rack with dish soap (in the sink or bathtub) for 1-2 hours, then scrub and rinse.
   
   Be careful: If smoke rises out of the oven, open the windows to let it escape. Keep an eye out to ensure that it does not escalate into a fire.
5. After the oven has cooled down, use an abrasive scrub to remove the grime off the oven’s interior surface. Use a silicone spatula for even tougher grime build-ups (not metal ones as they can damage the surface).
6. Dry the oven with a towel or paper towels and reattach the oven rack (and other parts).

Whether you’re constantly cooking up delicious oven-baked meals for your family and friends, or haven’t touched the oven in months, it’s always ideal to maintain a thorough and consistent oven cleaning schedule. Every home is different, so you can test out each of these methods to see which is the best way to clean your oven and give you the desired finish you want – although it’s good to take advantage of the range of professional cleaning services if a DIY approach simply doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle.

Are you wondering how stunning your home can look with Myhome professional cleaning services? Get a free quote via filling in form online at https://www.myhomeclean.com.au/contact-us/ or call us on 13 22 31.

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