How To Clean an Oven without Harsh Chemicals: using Baking Soda & Vinegar

I recently came home with an urge to clean something. Do you ever get that? I pointed towards the oven – which I had been procrastinating to clean for months. I was in the mood to scrub and was ready to pour my stress all over it.

Instead of using harsh chemicals or the auto-cleaning function which basically means putting your oven on to crazy-high temperatures (as if the kitchen wasn’t hot enough in this heat wave) I’m going to share with you a completely safe, natural and effective way to clean your oven.

What you need

Spray bottle

Baking soda

White vinegar

Water

Damp dish cloth

Plastic spatula

Let’s do it

Remove everything inside the oven: oven racks, pizza stone, thermometer, and set aside.

1. Make the paste: in a small bowl, mix a 1/2 cup of baking soda and about 3 tablespoons of water. Adjust as needed until you have a spreadable paste.

2. Coat the oven: spread the paste to cover all the interior, without touching the heating elements. It could get a little disgusting at this point, but soldier through! Kitchen gloves could come in handy here to really get in there. The baking soda will start turning a brownish colour.

3. Spray on the vinegar: put a little vinegar in a clean spray bottle and spritz all over the baking soda. The vinegar will react and gently foam.

4. Let it sit overnight: allow the baking soda mixture to rest for at least 12 hours, or overnight.

5. Clean your oven racks: meanwhile, soak the oven racks in scorching hot water and then cover in baking soda and spritz the vinegar over it. Let it react and then scrub off the residue.

6. Wipe it out: after letting it sit for 12 hours, take a damp dish cloth and wipe out as much of the dried baking soda paste as you can. Use a plastic spatula to help scrape off the paste for those hard-to-reach places.

7. The final wipe down: rinse the damp cloth clean and wipe out the remaining residue until it is all gone. Add more water or vinegar to your cloth to get the oven clean and shiny.

8. Replace the oven racks and anything else you keep in your oven, and voilà!

The Cook

I will be sharing with you my daily experiences with food, whether that’s shopping for the right ingredients, understanding products and sharing with you simple culinary skills that I have learnt along the way. My mission is to make food preparation more enjoyable and rewarding.