Can you tell me how to clean an oven after a grease fire? The stove and everything works okay. It just looks really dirty.
Daniela Perkins, Chicago
Of course, it is always better to clean up grease right after it happens to prevent a grease fire, both on the stovetop and on the inside of the oven. You can easily make your own grill degreaser that also works on the stovetop and on the oven interior and racks. However, in spite of our best efforts, sometimes a grease fire can happen anyway.
There are a lot of great tips for how to clean a dirty oven even after a grease fire in our detailed article here: https://www.tipsbulletin.com/how-to-clean-an-oven-from-the-stove-top-to-between-the-glass-in-the-door/ I’ll share some of them with you here.
It’s important to take care of cleaning a gas oven safely, as well as an electric one. Use proper ventilation and the proper tools to ensure that you do not breathe in fumes leftover from the fire or from the ingredients you use to clean. This is where using natural home remedies is beneficial.
Chemical fumes are no problem when using lemon juice, baking soda, or vinegar. It is still a good idea to use protective equipment if you are sensitive to smells or cleaning supplies. Rubber gloves and a mask should do the trick.
Two of your best tools for cleaning up a stovetop or oven are baking soda and vinegar or lemon juice. A natural oven cleaner with lemon not only gets rid of buildup and grease, but it also smells great, too.
These ingredients are effective at removing baked-on food and grease and make a great homemade oven cleaner without the nasty and harmful fumes of chemical oven cleaners. Get rid of nasty grease stains and other food debris while you clean baked on grease from an oven or the top of the stove with simple items you probably already have.
Make a paste from the baking soda and lemon juice or baking soda and vinegar, then spread it on the stains you want to remove. Let it sit and work for a few minutes. Use a sponge or microfiber cloth to scrub away the residue. Rinse with a clean sponge or cloth. Use this simple recipe as the best way to degrease range hood and leave it shiny and with a pleasant smell, too.
You may have to apply some extra pressure for those hard-to-remove stains while you clean a burnt oven bottom or sides. A repeat application of the baking soda and vinegar or lemon juice paste may also be necessary for stubborn spots. This is also the best way to clean an oven without using harsh chemicals that have noxious fumes.
Instead of using lemon juice, you can also use a lemon itself. How to clean an oven with a lemon involves slicing it in half, dipping the cut side into some coarse salt, and rubbing it over the surfaces you want to clean. All-natural and pleasant-smelling, this solution will clean up grease and burned-on food in a flash and you don’t even need a sponge.
You can also mix baking soda with water and spray that on the dirty areas as an oven grease cleaner. This solution works inside an oven, as well as being a DIY stove cleaner for the surface. But, you’ll have to wait a couple of hours to let it sit before wiping and rinsing it for optimum results.
Ammonia is very useful for cleaning a burned stovetop. For example, you can place a burner grate into a bag or container filled with ammonia. Let that work overnight and see how easily the burned stains wipe away.
One more option is to use commercial oven cleaner. It is very important to use this type of cleaner with plenty of ventilation, and don’t forget to wear gloves as the chemicals can be harmful to breathe and touch.
Finally, for hard to reach spots like the between the glass panes in the oven door, you might have to use tools and take apart the door. If you have an owner’s manual, it may help you complete the task. Otherwise, vinegar will do a good job of cleaning the glass.
I hope these tips help you remove all the burned marks from your oven.
Joan
