This week I was popping some veggies in the oven, and I actually took a good look inside for the first time in a while… Gah- it was so dirty! I can’t be the only one who always forgets that the oven is dirty… when the door is closed you don’t see it. And it’s so easy to be distracted while cooking and not actually look at how dirty your oven is.
But I saw it this time. And man was it dirty. I knew I had to come up with a solution.
So I opened my cupboard to check out what ingredients I have- and I decided to whip up the world’s simplest homemade oven cleaner. It only uses 2 ingredients, and it costs less than 25 cents! You really can’t beat that. Plus- it works!
Can you guess the ingredients?
Baking soda and water!
(and essential oils, if you want, it will make it smell amazing!)
You may or may not know how much I love baking soda… but I’m kind of crazy for it. So just why do these two ingredients work?
When you mix them together, they form a paste that is just abrasive enough to remove set in stains while also being gentle enough not to scratch your oven. Baking soda is great at cutting through dirt and grease.
All right, here are the official instructions:
homemade oven cleaner
ingredients
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1-2 tablespoons water
- 5-10 drops essential oils (optional- I used lemon for this recipe!)
instructions
- Add the water to the baking soda a little at a time, until you get a thick paste that is not watery. If you’re using them, add the essential oils and stir
- Using a scrub brush, scrub the oven using baking soda. You can use a smaller brush or a toothbrush to get to small spaces. You may need to spend some time scrubbing the more serious stains
- Wipe out with hot water and a sponge or microfiber cloth
- Admire your clean oven!
You may or may not appreciate how difficult the burnt in stains are to remove from your oven, but baking soda really did the trick! I had to scrub pretty hard on some of the worst spots, but my homemade oven cleaner did a great job cleaning.
Just check out the before and after below:
What a difference! It’s amazing how effective such a simple combination of ingredients is at cleaning.
I’m so glad my oven is clean now. Next time I open it up, I won’t have to cringe. Together with a round of my awesome granite cleaner, my kitchen is gleaming and clean!
So what do you think- ready to clean that oven? Let me know how this homemade oven cleaner goes for you!
Betty says
I really enjoy P&P, Susie. Great job.