I’ve been looking for a good homemade dishwasher detergent recipe for a while now. They are pretty easy to find, but the problem is almost all of them have borax in them. I don’t generally have a problem with borax as natural cleaning agent, but it is not something that I want on my dishes.
Borax is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined more sustainably than most. (source) Borax is not carcinogenic, but if ingested in high amounts it can cause nausea and vomiting and can negatively affect the endocrine and reproductive systems, metabolism, and development. (source)
So I want to take the precaution of making sure there is no borax residue on my dishes just to be safe. The chances of actually ingesting enough to cause problems from dish detergent residue is very low, but better safe than sorry.
So I set out to create a borax free dish detergent recipe. And I’m also kind of lazy and don’t like to have to scoop out proper amounts so I figured making already-sized tabs would be the best way to go. The results were even better than I could have expected!
Here are the ingredients you will need:
- Washing soda: cuts grease, good all purpose cleaner, more alkaline than baking soda so balances the acidic properties of citric acid and vinegar, reduces effects of hard water (see how you can make your own washing soda)
- Baking soda: cuts grease, good all purpose cleaner
- Citric acid: reduces effects of hard water, removes build up and scale, antibacterial
- Kosher salt: reduces effects of hard water
- Liquid castile soap: extra grease cutting and cleaning power
- White distilled vinegar: binds ingredients together and also a good all purpose cleaner
- Lemon essential oil: antibacterial, for scent
The recipe should give you enough to make 2 ice cube trays worth of dishwasher detergent tabs. They should last 28-56 loads depending on the load size (you can cut them in half).
Homemade Dishwasher Tabs
Ingredients:
- 2 cups washing soda
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1 cup citric acid
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar
- 1 teaspoon castile soap
- 15-20 drops lemon essential oil
Directions:
- mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
- gradually add vinegar a little bit at a time and mix well (some fizzing will occur and the mixture will start to clump) You may not need the entire amount of vinegar, so add it a little at a time.
- mix in castile soap and lemon essential oil
- pack well into two ice cube trays (take your time doing this and make sure they are well compacted)
- set ice cube trays out to dry for at least 24 hours in a sunny spot
- take tabs out of trays and store in a tight-lidded container
When you take the dishwasher detergent tabs out of the ice cube trays, they will be a little crumbly. You can just collect and keep the extra crumbs and combine them to use in a small dish cycle.
The tabs are pretty big so you may not need to use the entire tab for each cycle. They are really easy to cut into smaller segments to make them the appropriate size for your load.
I did the calculations and these babies only cost you 9 cents a load. That’s pretty impressive. I used to use the Seventh Generation dishwasher tabs and those cost 40 cents a load, so it’s definitely saving money!
I have used these several times now and I am so happy with the results! They are better than any dishwasher detergent I have ever purchased.
I kind of thought we just had a lame dishwasher at this apartment because it hasn’t done an amazing job washing our dishes in the past, so I didn’t have high hopes for the detergent to make huge improvements, but it really did! I even ran a test cycle where I didn’t rinse out the leftover almond milk and granola in a bowl just to see if this detergent was powerful enough to wash them out, and it was! I have never been able to load a dishwasher without thoroughly rinsing bowls and be confident that they would get completely washed out. I think we are going to be using the dishwasher more often from now on!
Let me know how homemade dishwasher detergent goes for you!
supplies used in this post
Excited about making your dishwasher detergent tabs? You’ll love these laundry detergent tabs too!
Erlene says
I was just thinking about making my own dishwasher soap, but I didn’t like the idea of borax in my soap either. This is perfect. Thanks for sharing it. Pinned.
Roberta @ Mommy Like Whoa says
Hey! I love this! Just wanted to let you know I featured you on my blog this morning! http://mommylikewhoa.com/2014/04/best-internet-volume-7/
Susie says
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!
Jocie@OPC says
totally on my to do list now!!! Thanks so much for sharing and featuring you tomorrow on the blog- thanks for linking up at creativity unleashed and hope to see you back!
Susie says
Thank you so much!
Karen says
Can you use “normal” dish soap instead of castile soap?
Susie says
Yes! I prefer castile soap because it is biodegradable and more environmentally friendly, but regular dish soap should work as well.
Renee says
Vinegar and Castile soap cross each other out and should not be mixed together
Sarah D says
I love this recipe but struggled to keep in a cube form. So what I did was just grounded it up using a fork to a fine grain consistency and then use 1tbls per load. So far so good, I agree it works better and leaves less residue (most importantly less water marks on my wine glasses) than our former detergent. And way more cost effective. Thanks for sharing you recipe !
Heather says
Can you leave out the lemon essential oil if you don’t have any?
Susie says
Yes! But they will be unscented, and you will lose the added anti-bacterial properties of the oil
karen says
You should never mix vinegar and Castile soap. It reacts with the soap and makes oil.
Colleen says
While this is true, it doesn’t apply to this recipe if you follow the directions. The way the steps are set up here, the vinegar reacts with the baking soda in the dry ingredients and has already been nullified by the time you add the castile. So it’s not a problem.
Since the baking soda and the vinegar cancel each other out, from what I can tell, the vinegar acts as a way to moisten the dry ingredients into a malleable form without adding water. Which is fine, it worked great. But me personally, I’m kinda lazy, so next time I make this, I’m just going to leave out the baking soda and vinegar and make a powder with everything else, and then use vinegar separately as a rinse aid. I just don’t have the patience to press soap into ice cube trays :)
Yvonne says
I just tried this but it clumped up so much I was barely able to rescue enough to put into the ice cube tray… Thoughts on what I did wrong?
Susie says
My guess is you used too much vinegar or poured it on too quickly. The truck is to do it very gradually and stir it in slowly. When it gets clumpy enough, stop adding vinegar. You won’t necessarily need the full amount in the recipe.
Patty says
I pretty much need exact instructions. It says to use “1/2 cup plus 2 tbs of vinegar, but you don’t necessarily need that much”. I made this and used all the vinegar but was only able to get 2 good cubes that stayed together (the rest I will use in powder form). Was my problem using all the vinegar, and if so, can you tell me how much should actually be enough? (hope this makes sense:)
Susie says
Hi Patty. You could have had trouble making tabs either from too much or too little vinegar. Depending on what altitude you live at and humidity and other factors these recipes can come out differently in different areas. When I make these I add the vinegar gradually until the mixture starts to clump up on its own. If you didn’t get that clumping, you might need a little more. If you did and kept going, you might have used too much. Sorry I can’t give more specific of an answer without actually seeing you make it. You also might have added the right amount of vinegar and might not have pressed the mixture into the molds with enough pressure. Hope this helps!
Patty says
Thanks Susie. Based on your answer, I think I may have used too much vinegar because it did start clumping but I continued to add more vinegar. I’ll try it again and use less this time.
Shirley Jackson says
I made some today and used 1 today. I have a residue on my glasses. Any ideas?
Susie says
I have gotten a residue a few times as well. In my experience, it only happens to dishes that are not meant to be in the dishwasher, and accidentally make it into the cycle. The residue is from hard water, so you may want to increase the amount of salt and citric acid in your recipe for your water. Also, you can add some white vinegar as a rinse aid if you like, which can help clean the dishes even more and get rid of residue. You can do this by putting the vinegar in the rinse aid compartment, but some dishwashers are not supposed to have vinegar in that compartment. The other option is to fill a small cup with a bit of vinegar and put it in the top rack when you run the dishwasher. Hope this helps!
sharon says
I’m having the opposite problem to the last post, mine wont clump at all, just keeps fizzing and expanding, any ideas ?
Susie says
My guess is you probably are adding the vinegar too quickly as well, and probably adding too much if it won’t stop fizzing. Maybe try diluting your vinegar with water and adding it very slowly, a little at a time. I hope this helps.
Kelly Hilliard says
Just had a little confusion with the recipe as the picture shows Iodized salt and the recipe states Kosher, which is correct? We have hard water and I want to make sure I use the right type of salt!
Susie says
Kosher is better! We didn’t have any on hand and regular iodized salt will do the job, but Kosher is more effective. If your water is very hard you might want to increase the amounts of citric acid and salt slightly because those ingredients will help counteract it.
Kiran says
Loved the ingredients you have used here. I am using some organic or natural laundry detergents from last few months and its really good. Well i would like to make it myself following your recipe. Thanks for sharing. Pinned to my twiiter account @kirinshys
Simplykathyh says
Made a batch today, will be running a load too see how this compares to a recipe which called for lemon aide drink mix. Will let you know the results.
Jennifer says
Have you tried using the Dr. Bronner’s Citrus Liquid Castille soap? It contains orange, lemon, and lime oils as well as citric acid. I already have it and I’m curious if I can use it for the castille and lemon oil part of the equation.
Susie says
It’s certainly worth a try! Although, I would still use lemon essential oil, because there is so little castile soap in the recipe it probably won’t be as effective as the lemon oil. But if you want to experiment and try the soap instead there’s nothing wrong with that.
Phyllis says
I just found your blog this morning. I have been thinking about making my own detergents and cleaners recently, but I was questioning what was in Fels-Naptha etc. I wasn’t thinking about the dishwasher rinse, but I like the idea of trying white vinegar. One question: where do you find citric acid?
Susie says
I get mine on amazon. I’ve updated the post with a link to the citric acid. Hope this helps!
M says
Hi, Thankyou for the recipe… one concern, if an essential oil isnt of food grade quality (safe to be ingested) should it be used in the recipe? In the same sense that Borax leaves minute/trace amounts of toxins so do many essential oils (even those of very high quality). Just a thought.
Susie says
Thanks for mentioning that M. I always use high quality essential oils and I encourage readers to as well.
Mati says
Just to let you know I made this and tried it last night, I’m really happy with the results! Dishes really clean and shiny, no residue at all. Couple of changes, I didn’t have citric acid so I used 1 cup of fresh lemon juice (have a lemon tree so I get it for free!), also I forgot the salt while I was making it so I must remember to add it every time I load the dishwasher but as I said it worked really well, thank you very much!
Kate says
Can you use this as a powder instead of making cubes and just keep in an airtight container? Thanks
Susie says
Yes. Just skip the last steps of adding vinegar and putting in an ice cube tray. I have saved all the powder from when I break these in half and it works just as well.
SRI says
SUSIE.. Thanks for a wonderful Recipe. I tried for the first time exactly as per recipe and the cubes came out well. I used Finely powdered Sodium Chloride in place of Kosher Salt as the same is not available in my neighborhood shops. The utensils are not coming out with the shine that is expected just like the branded dishwashing powder. Is it because of the salt or I added less Vim Liquid (in place of Castle Soap) fearing too much of foam inside machine during wash. Pls advise so that I will correct my expertise next time….. With your permission I share your recipe in my social network pages.
Susie says
Hi! Different types of water can make you need to tweak the recipe a bit to get the shine- one sure fire way without scrapping the tabs you’ve already made is to add a white vinegar rinse. You can just put a small bowl with 1/2 cup of vinegar on the top shelf of your dishwasher and you should get more shine that way.
Karen says
Fabulous! I made your recipe last night and used the first cube this morning. The recipe made 3 full trays (48 cubes). I fill my “rinse” compartment with distilled white vinegar. Dishes are clean and no powdery residue (that residue which seems to happen with other homemade versions I’ve tried). Love that these are borax-free, too. Thanks so much for posting.
Ann says
Hi! I have made several variations of dishwasher tabs in the past, and usually use citrus zest b/c I (until now) hadn’t delved into the world of essential oils enough to know anything about them.
What are your thoughts on Sweet Orange oil. I don’t have lemon on-hand. And as a side note – They’re already in the sun drying. This is basically a question of “I will probably use them regardless, but will I include baby dishes in these loads”!
Thanks!
Susie says
I’m a fan of orange oil! It is also great for cleaning. Most citrus oils are.
Kandice says
Great Recipe! Made them last night and the cubes came out great and cleaned my dishes like a charm. Very excited. Thank you!
Melissa says
can I use Epsom salt instead of kosher?
Susie says
I haven’t tried it myself, but you could try. I usually use table salt or kosher salt for cleaning and epsom salts for beauty recipes.
Adell says
This will NOT work with Chromium.
Kelly says
I was so excited about this recipe, and followed the directions exactly. I tested the first one yesterday and all of my (once clear) glasses are completely covered in residue that won’t come off. I tried running them through the cycle with a regular detergent pod, and no luck :(
You can’t even see through anything in our dishwasher any more :( The reside is all over the dishwasher, too. I don’t want to throw away everything I washed in that load, but everything is filthy. We’ve tried soaking in hot water, scrubbing, and still no luck.
Help!!
Susie says
Oh no! Here are my tips: Do a rinse cycle with white vinegar. I often do this and it helps shine up my dishes. It sounds like you are dealing with some very hard water, so if you want to give it another try, try making the detergent without castile soap and increase the salt. Sorry about the residue. The vinegar ALWAYS helps for me.
Brooklyn says
I was wondering if I could leave out the citric acid, if not could I substitute it?
Susie says
The citric acid is pretty essential to the recipe. The acidity is what gives the dishes shine and it also counteracts hard water.
Kristen says
I made this recipe yesterday and can’t wait to try it. Where did you get your cute container from?
Susie says
I believe I got it at Home Goods, but here is a similar one at target: http://rstyle.me/n/btn8bmb65w7
Corrine says
I am in the middle of testing out my first batch and I really admire the consistency. I’m hoping it works out well. I did leave out the castile soap after reading this:
http://www.lisabronner.com/a-word-of-caution-about-vinegar-and-castile-soap/
Lisa Bronner is the granddaughter of the founder of Dr. Bronner’s Soap, so I think she is on-point on this one!
Everything else about the recipe seems perfect- thanks! Also, I could tell from your photo of the drying tabs that you are in Chicago. I lived in Logan Square for over 10 years before moving to Oakland, CA. Your photo made me a little homesick!
Susie says
Thank you! Feel free to omit the Dr. Bronners or replace with dish soap. The amount of vinegar in this recipe is so small I wouldn’t worry. Hope that they work out for you! The picture is from my old apartment in Evanston- just about 5 blocks north of Roger’s Park. I love Chicago :)
Anna says
Can I use glycerin soap instead of the castile?
Susie says
Yes, that should be fine.
Vanessa says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It is difficult to find one without Borax! Do they get very crumbly?
Susie says
They’re fairly crumbly but wont like fall apart
Suzanne says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! Where can I find Citric Acid?
Susie says
I get it on amazon.
Holli says
I’m curious if you have hard water or not. We have fairly hard water where I am and I’m not sure if I should tweak the recipe to start with. Thanks!
Susie says
I have hard water as well, but it’s not super hard. You can increase the amount of citric acid to counteract hard water.
Tasha says
I just found your recipe and made it right away. So I didn’t add salt because I didn’t have the type you called for. So the only odd thing is they are expanding in the tray, it’s really neat but why do you think they are doing that ? Can’t wait to use it..
Susie says
The means you probably added a little too much liquid, but they should still work! Hope it worked out for you.