The oven is often one of the messiest areas of the home, due to food spillages, dirt and debris that we often don’t clean as much as we should. Oven trays in particular can get covered in burnt-on stains that never seem to go away, no matter how much you scrub them.
For many people, it’s just a case of throwing the trays in the bin when they get too dirty, and replacing them. But if you’re trying to save money and want to attempt cleaning them instead, then there’s one hack you should try. Cleaning fans in the Facebook group Kitchen Stuff have been sharing their suggestions for cleaning oven trays, and one method seems to be very popular.
One woman took to the group to ask for advice on how to transform her stained oven trays. She attached a picture, showing that it was covered in black burnt-on food and grease, writing: “How to clean oven tray? I already tried dish soap, vinegar and scrubbing with baking soda… but it’s still very bad.”
Fellow group members soon flooded the comments with suggestions, with one unusual one seeming to stand out. Apparently, all you need to make your oven trays sparkle again is a couple of tumble dryer sheets.
One person said: “Put enough hot water to cover it and place a dryer sheet in it. Let it soak about an hour and you can just wipe it clean. It works great in glass casserole dishes.
“Any thing that gets burnt or stuck in any pan or dish. My cousin told me this and I tried it and I was surprised how it wipes completely clean with no scrubbing.”
Another wrote: “Try soaking it with a dryer sheet like Bounce and hot water. Let it soak. Works like magic.”
A third also hailed the benefits of dryer sheets, commenting: “Soak a dryer sheet and [dish soap] overnight (add water to the top). Use an SOS or Brillo and it comes right off.”
And another person penned: “Try some dryer sheets overnight.”
Dryer sheets are very affordable, with a pack of 40 costing as little as £2.50 from Tesco. They also usually have a lovely fresh scent, so using them to clean your oven trays will make your whole kitchen smell great.
There’s also minimal effort involved, especially if you choose to soak them overnight. Replying to this suggestion, another cleaning fan wrote: “Sometimes this method requires overnight soaking but it’s worked for me for years.”
Other popular suggestions included using another popular household item – a dishwasher tablet. One person commented: “Fill with boiling water and a dishwasher tablet to soak.”
Another echoed: “Boiling water and a dishwasher tablet, let it sit until water cools then scrub.”
