You're Cleaning Your Oven Wrong

Time for a good scrub? Here’s a cleaning kit that won’t melt your face off.

Look around you. Is the fridge jammed with epic leftovers? Are the cookie tins full to bursting? Oven decked in grease and food grime? It must be Holiday Time.

‘Tis the season for oven cleaning. But it can be tricky. Without some sort of solvent, heat-hardened food is impossible to chip off. Which is why you see so many chemical cleaners that promise to make it easier.

If you’ve used these products, you know the cure can be worse than the illness. Yes, chemicals burn through food mess with a vengeance. But they can also be fierce on your hands, eyes and lungs. *cough cough gag shriek*

No thank you. If you want to come clean AND breathe easy, here’s an all-natural recipe—made with items you surely have on hand: 

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• Spatula
• Scraper
• Sponge & scouring pad

Have it together? Here goes:

Step 1) Combine soda, salt and water into a paste. Add baking soda until it’s thick enough to spread on.

Step 2) Prep your oven by removing as much caked-on grime as possible (grill scrapers work wonders). The more you remove beforehand, the easier it is later. Sweep out loose crumbs and chunks, or even use your vacuum.

Step 3) Coat the interior of your oven with the soda/salt paste, doing extra coverage on the big chunks. Close the door.

Step 4) Heat your oven to 180°F and set a timer for 15 minutes. You can use the time to scour that stove top (baking soda works there, too). Or just have a drink.

Step 5) When the timer’s done, pop open the oven and allow it to cool (you need to work in there). Use the clean, wet sponge and scouring pad to wipe out the paste and debris. What was like cement should now come off with a bit of elbow grease.

That’s all there is to it: No burning, no coughing, no kidding. Now, on to the next holiday mess!