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When the weather gets warmer and the sun stays up longer, it’s officially spring cleaning season. Time to sort clothes in full Marie Kondo fashion! Empty the garage! Give a good cleaning to your home's seldom-thought-about corners! One section of the kitchen that often gets forgotten, though? Inside the oven.
It's understandable. Out of sight, out of mind—right? But grease and food particles can build up over time, creating hard-to-scrub surfaces that can seem impossible to get clean. Not to fear, we tapped a few lifestyle bloggers and #cleantok superstars for learn about some great cleaning methods and hacks to get your oven sparkling.
What’s the best method to clean your oven?
Ashley McCrary of the lifestyle site Healthy Little Peach mixes together a half cup each of Dawn dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar. “It makes this foamy white paste,” she said in a recent TikTok video. “I add it all over my oven and let it sit for two hours, then I scrub the mess out of it.” If the paste gets too dry, she'll spray it down with a water bottle before wiping everything down with cloth or paper towels.
What if you don't have any dish soap on hand? Mallory Hudson of The Purposed Plan makes a cleaning paste that's a simple mix of a half-cup of baking soda and a couple tablespoons of water. She'll use it to cover the inside of her oven, let the stuff sit overnight, then wipe it all down with a towel saturated with white vinegar. If surfaces needs extra elbow grease, Hudson spritzes dish spray and wipes until clean.
Her method offers a good alternative to chemical-packed cleaners, she added. “The ingredients found in traditional oven cleaners are typically not safe for self-cleaning ovens and can potentially cause lasting damage,” Hudson said. “This method got the job done safely, efficiently, and effectively.”
How do I clean the oven racks?
“I add [the racks] to a tub of hot water, and soak that with some Dawn, detergent, and baking soda,” McCrary said on TikTok. She then lets the racks sit for awhile. Afterward, a light scrub takes all that build-up right off. “You can also use dryer sheets,” she continued, explaining that she sometimes adds up to 10 dryer sheets to the initial soaking mixture.
Do you have to let the cleaning solution sit for a few hours?
Delish followed up with both Hudson and McCrary for more cleaning deets. “Baking soda takes time to work,” Hudson told us. “Letting it sit overnight allows it to really break down the grease and food stains to make scrubbing everything off much easier.”
How do I clean the glass door of an oven?
“You do have to be careful with the glass,” McCrary explained, but assured us that her paste of dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar is super safe—so long as you take a few precautions. "Make sure not to add too much liquid or it can get in between the glass," she cautioned. "And don’t press too hard as the glass could shatter."
Hudson also uses her go-to baking soda-and-water paste. “The only difference [from cleaning other parts of the oven] is that I let the baking soda only sit for 30 minutes on the glass,” she said.
How often should I clean my oven?
“Depending on how often you use your oven, [it] will be ready for a deep clean every three to six months,” Hudson advised.
McCrary's cleaning schedule is on a slightly less strict “I usually clean my oven once a year,” she said. “However, you can clean it as much as you want depending on how much you cook and how dirty it gets.”
But my oven is self-cleaning. Does it still need a deep clean?
“I have a self cleaning oven and although it is more convenient, I don’t like running it,” McCrary shared. “It can blow a fuse and damage the control panel. It also puts out terrible fumes and the smell will linger in our house for weeks. So, instead of going for convenience, I put a little more effort to save the life of my oven and keep the house from collecting fumes.”
Any other tricks?
“Once you clean your oven, add oven liners to the bottom that will help collect food drippings,” McCrary offered. “When it gets dirty, simply throw it away.”
Once you have that oven all sparkling clean again, go ahead and test it out with some recipes like this roast beef or these oven BBQ ribs. You're welcome!
