Do you suffer from oven cleaning avoidance syndrome? The thought of spending a perfectly good afternoon with your head in the oven, scrubbing away at burnt food, and greasy gunk while inhaling nasty cleaning chemicals can be enough to make anyone turn a blind eye to a dirty oven. Believe it or not, there are many natural ways to clean an oven without using a commercial oven cleaner.
An overly dirty oven can fill your home with smoke every time you use it and even be a fire hazard when spilled food ignites into a flame. The carbon-based fumes created in a dirty oven can also alter the taste of your baked goods. Therefore, regular cleaning of your oven should be on your to-do list.
Natural Ways to Clean an Oven
More and more people are turning to DIY solutions that involve cleaning without chemicals. It’s quite easy to make your own household cleaners and that includes those for the oven. There are several obvious signs that it is time to clean your oven.
The first one is the most obvious, and that is its appearance. If ashy crumbs litter the bottom of your oven, it’s time to clean it.
The second sign that your oven needs proper cleaning is if you get a kitchen full of smoke or a bad odor when you preheat your oven. We have natural cleaning recipes that get your oven clean without using harsh chemicals.
Natural Oven Cleaner
The inside of your oven gets dirty over time from accidental food spills and cooking grease splatters. While you may have the desire to put off cleaning a dirty oven, this is not advisable. The following natural oven cleaner is environmentally friendly and makes your job of oven cleaning easier.
Natural Oven Cleaner Recipe
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 3 tablespoons of water
- Small bowl
- Scrub brush
- Sponge
Remove the oven racks from the oven and set aside. Mix the baking soda and warm water in a bowl until it forms a thick paste. Spread the baking soda paste onto the bottom of the oven, sidewalls, and the inside of the oven door and allow it to sit overnight.
Use a scrub brush to scrub all areas of the oven to remove gunk and use a spatula to scrape away areas of burnt food. Use a wet sponge to wipe away the grimy residue.
A Natural Degreaser for Oven
White vinegar is an excellent natural degreaser for oven cleaning. Its a mildly acidic and non-toxic liquid that loosens up grease so you can easily scrub greasy, stuck-on foods out of the oven.
Oven Degreaser
- Scrub brush
- 1 cup white vinegar
- Baking soda
- Water
- Spray bottle
- Sponge
Remove the oven racks and set aside. Fill the spray bottle with water and spray the interior surface of your oven. Sprinkle baking soda onto the wet areas and let sit for about an hour.
Empty the water from the spray bottle and fill with white vinegar. Spritz the vinegar onto the baking soda and watch as they react to each other by bubbling.
Use a sponge to wipe away the vinegar, baking soda, and grime residue. Wipe down the inside of the oven with clean water before returning the racks to their places.
Cleaning an Oven with Lemons
Lemons are a natural way to clean oven if it is mildly dirty. The following natural oven cleaner recipe not only gets your oven clean but leaves the kitchen with a fresh lemon scent.
Lemon Oven Cleaner
- Two lemons
- Oven-safe bowl
- Sponge
For simple oven cleaning with lemons, cut the lemons in half and put them into an oven-safe bowl filled with water. Set the bowl in the oven at 250°F for one hour. The water and lemon juice evaporate while forming steam and condensation on the inside of the oven, loosening dirt and grime that has accumulated on the interior bottom and sides of the appliance.
Turn off the oven after an hour and let it cool down just a little. You want the inside of the oven to be warm enough for cleaning yet not so hot that you burn yourself.
Use a wet sponge to wipe the softened grime from the bottom and sides of the oven, making sure that you get into all the nooks and crevices.
Deep Clean an Oven with Ammonia
If you have a filthy oven and need something a bit stronger to get it clean, try ammonia. While ammonia has a pungent odor, it can be used safely to clean your oven if you do it correctly. Make sure that you have plenty of ventilation in your kitchen before proceeding with this method.
Oven Deep Clean
- Oven-safe bowl
- 1/2 cup of ammonia
- Water
- Saucepan
- Scrub sponge
Bring a pot of water to a boil while you preheat your oven to 150°F. Pour the ammonia into the bowl and place it on the top rack of the oven. Place the pan of water onto the bottom rack and close the oven door. Let the ammonia and water steam do its job overnight.
The following morning, remove the bowl of ammonia and pan of water from the oven. Remove the racks and use a sponge to scrub away the build-up of grime.
Use a wet cloth to remove all of the residue. Dip the sponge into the leftover ammonia liquid and wipe the inside of the glass oven door for a streak-free clean.
Cleaning Oven Racks
This process is one of the easiest for cleaning oven racks naturally using a little soap and water. It’s a long process, so you’ll want to do this at night before bed.
Fill the bathtub with enough hot water so that the oven racks will be wholly submerged when placed into the tub. Squirt a bit of dish soap into the water and place the racks in the soapy water.
Allow the oven racks to soak overnight. Use a scrub brush or scouring pad for scouring the loosened grease and food off the shelves. Rinse thoroughly with clean water and dry before replacing them into the oven.
Clean Oven Racks with Baking Soda
It may have been a while since you cleaned your oven. If this is the case, you also have to contend with extra dirty oven racks. These racks can get caked with burnt pizza cheese, splattered grease, and other grime that need a heavy duty cleaning.
Heavy-Duty Oven Rack Cleaner
- Baking soda
- Water
- Dish soap
- Scrub brush
Mix enough baking soda and hot water to form a spreadable paste. Place one of the oven racks into the bathtub. Lather the paste onto the oven rack, and scrub into all of the edges and corners. Use the scrub brush to clean the rack from top to bottom and front to back.
Set the second oven rack in the tub atop the first one and repeat the process. Fill the bathtub with enough water to cover the oven racks and a few squirts of degreasing dish soap.
Let the oven racks soak for a few hours and then use the scrub brush to remove any leftover residue. Give the shelves a proper rinse with clean water, dry with a towel, and replace them into the clean oven.
Clean Your Oven Using the Self-Cleaning Function
If you have an oven equipped with a self-cleaning cycle, you can use this method without having to use any cleaning solutions or elbow grease. Because you will be heating the oven to extremely high temperatures, you’ll need to be home during the entire process for safety reasons.
Self-Cleaning Oven
If you have metal racks in your oven, remove them, or they may become harder to slide and get discolored. Enamel covered shelves can remain in the oven while cleaning. Use a spatula to scrape and remove any bits of food.
Shut and lock the oven door. Decide on which time setting you want to use. Two hours works for light cleaning, and three to four hours is best for heavy duty cleaning. After the self-cleaning has finished and the oven has cooled, use a damp cloth to wipe it down.
Deep Clean a Gas Oven
Gas ovens can be cleaned like electric stoves. The critical thing to remember when cleaning a gas oven is that you do not spray household cleaners or natural cleaning products into the area where the gas comes in. The following homemade natural cleaner method gets your gas oven clean and ready for duty.
Gas Oven Cleaning
- Metal baking dish
- Hot water
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- Sponge
Remove the grates from the oven and sweep out any debris and ashy material from the bottom of the oven. Pour water and vinegar into the dish. Replace the bottom grate and place the bowl in the center. Close the door and set the oven temperature at 350°F.
Allow the water and vinegar to come to a boil as it releases steam into the interior of the oven. Turn off the oven and let it cool to a temperature that you can safely work with without burning yourself. Remove the dish and rack, and use a damp cloth to wipe away all of the dirty residue.
If you don’t like the smell of vinegar, add some lemon juice to the mixture or a lemon that you have cut in half. The oven will not only get clean but smell heavenly.
Cleaning the Oven Using a Vacuum Cleaner
If the inside of your oven doesn’t have grease splatters and stuck-on food, use a vacuum cleaner to clean out any dried food debris from the bottom of the oven. Use a vacuum cleaner to remove ash from the oven after running the self-cleaning function.
Vacuuming the Oven
Remove both racks from inside the oven. Use the hose attachment on your vacuum along with the smallest crevice tool to suck out bits of dried food remains and ash on the inside of the oven. Make sure that you get along the wall edges and beneath the heating elements.
Use a damp cloth to wipe away any dusty residue. You can use a microfiber cloth and a splash of vinegar to wipe the inside of the oven window for a streak-free clean.
Keep Your Oven Clean
Performing regular cleaning on your stove and inside the oven will make your job a lot easier when it comes to annual cleaning. The following steps show you the easy way to give your oven a quick cleaning between meals.
Easy Oven Cleaning
- Dish soap
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- Spray bottle
- Sponge
- Paper towels
Combine water and vinegar in a bottle and add a squirt of dish soap. You can add a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil to the liquid to take away any unpleasant vinegar scent. Give the bottle a gentle shake and label for future use.
After spillage occurs in the oven, let the oven cool. Spray the recently dirtied area with the vinegar all purpose cleaner. Let the solution sit and then wipe away the dirty residue with a sponge. Use paper towels to dry the area.
Understanding that there are easy and natural ways to clean your oven should set your mind at ease and relieve you of your oven cleaning avoidance syndrome. No more baked goods that reek of burnt leftovers and a home filled with smoke. A sprinkle of baking soda here and a spritz of white vinegar there, mixed with a little elbow grease will bring your oven back to tip-top shape.
Now that you have sharpened your oven cleaning skills, you might want to try your hand at a dishwasher soap recipe to get your dishes and pots and pans clean every time before they go into your oven.
Between that and our natural ways to clean an oven, you are now a natural cleaning pro, so why not share these natural oven cleaning tips with your friends and family on Pinterest and Facebook?
