Cleaning the oven door is one of the most dreaded chores, as no one is eager to spend ages scrubbing away at burnt-on grime. However, it needs to be done, as grease can make an oven really smoky, and food splatters can be a hotspot for bacteria and germs to thrive.
You often need a strong product to remove greasy stains, but Erin, an expert from Lemons, Lavender & Laundry, has shared that cleaning an oven is simple as long as you use one simple ingredient everyone has in their kitchen cupboard. Erin said: “I have to admit, I never really paid attention to the inside of my oven door. I simply ignored the fact that baked-on food had been accumulating for years. While there are lots of tips and tricks on how to clean a glass over door, I love this method because it uses one simple, natural ingredient: baking soda.”
Why use baking soda to clean an oven?
Baking soda is one of the best ways to remove stains from an oven. It is alkaline, which means it can easily break down acidic substances like grease, food fats, and cooking oil.
It helps dissolve any old, greasy buildup in an oven while also soaking up any new splatters, so your oven will be completely clean without much effort.
What is fantastic about baking soda is that it is incredibly gritty. Its abrasive texture helps lift away any baked-on grease without having to do any hard scrubbing.
Baking soda alone can clean an oven without much hard work in under an hour, so you can ensure your oven is always spotless and will never suffer from greasy buildup again.
How to clean an oven without scrubbing it for ages
All you need to do is spread a generous amount of baking soda on the oven door, and then use a wet cloth to dampen it.
This will create a thick paste. Use the cloth to spread the paste evenly until it completely covers the glass on the oven door. If the paste is clumpy, add more water, but if it is too runny, add more baking soda.
Then, simply leave the baking soda on the oven door for at least 30 minutes, but it tends to be more effective to leave it for 60 minutes. Once the time is up, use a scour pad to scrub the oven door.
The grease should easily come away without much effort. Use a wet sponge to remove any baking soda residue, and your oven should be completely clean.
If there are any more stubborn brown stains remaining, then leave the baking soda paste on longer, ideally overnight, and the grease should dissolve once you scrub at it again.