Cleaning your oven can seem like an arduous and unwelcome chore. But there are plenty of oven cleaning hacks which can make this tedious task certainly feel a little easier. The best part is, you can make up all of the best oven-cleaning solutions with natural homemade cleaning products or things you can find in your home.
1. Start by vacuuming your oven
Before you can really go to town with the stubborn mess in an oven that likely hasn’t been clean for months (if not years), get rid of any loose charred leftovers lurking at the bottom by vacuuming with all appliances removed. Think of starting work on a clean slate.
2. Use bicarbonate of soda, white vinegar and water to clean your oven
Begin by mixing half a cup (about 65g) of bicarbonate of soda with water to create a thick paste, and using an old paintbrush or cloth spread all over the inside of your oven, from the door to the bottom to the inside walls, but avoid heating fixtures.
For best results, leave the paste to do its work overnight (or a minimum of two hours) and then it’s time for the magic trick. In a spray bottle mix equal parts white vinegar and water and spray onto the paste to create a foaming action. The fizzing will lift away stubborn dirt and grease particles and make wiping away with a damp cloth much easier.
3. Steam clean your oven with white vinegar
Another one of our favourite oven cleaning hacks and a brilliant way to lift grime and dirt without quite so much elbow grease is to steam clean your oven before you tackle it manually.
Take a medium to large pot and bring about a third of the pot full of water to the boil. After half an hour or so, add roughly the same amount of white vinegar and boil for another 30 seconds or so. Then, while the mixture is still hot, place it in the centre of a cold oven (no heat) for 45 – 60 minutes.
4. Use salt to clean as a quick fix cleaning solution
It's common for spillages to occur on the surface of the oven when you are cooking or baking and salt can be a quick fix. Simply sprinkle the salt on the spill and when the oven has cooled, you'll find it easier to remove the mess.
5. Steam clean with water and lemon
Lemon is a brilliant natural cleaning solution. Simply fill up an oven-safe pan with water, and add the juice of two lemons and the lemon halves too. Then pop the pan in the oven and turn it on. Wait until the water boils before you take the pan out. The steam will loosen the grime and grease inside your oven and will help you remove it more easily.
Let the oven cool down before wiping it down with a damp cloth.
6. Clean your oven racks in the bath
Instead of awkwardly trying to scrub off months worth of burnt on grime awkwardly over the kitchen sink, make things easier for yourself by soaking them in a hot bath with a normal dishwashing tab. Like the vinegar solution above, this will soften hardened dirt and make it much easier to wipe clean the metal.
7. Use a dishwasher tablet
One of the easiest oven cleaning hacks that's easy to do. Using hot water, wet a dishwasher tablet with hot water and scrub it against your oven door as if it is a sponge. This will help to eliminate grime.
8. Use an old toothbrush for those extra-difficult to reach spots
Just like in the awkward crevices inside your mouth, a manual toothbrush is the perfect tool for scrubbing off concentrated marks, lather up in the bicarb solution for extra effectiveness.
Now cleaning with traditional oven cleaner or even a sponge and washing up liquid should be much easier.
Once you've tried all these time, money and effort saving hacks, wipe the inside of your oven with your regular all-purpose anti-bacterial kitchen spray for a sparkling oven that you won't need to look at for another few months...
9. Buy oven liners
This is one of Mrs Hinch’s favourite oven cleaning hacks to help manage food spillages. Oven liners go in the bottom of your oven to help stop food and grime sticking to it. You then simply remove the liner, clean it and pop back in the oven. It'll definitely help keep your oven cleaner in the long run.
10. Soak the knobs
If your oven has knobs or dials, they can be fiddly to clean, so often the best way to give them a good clean is to soak them. Many oven knobs can be easily removed by simply pulling them off before submerging them in warm, soapy water which will get rid of any grease or dirt without scrubbing. Once clean, rinse the knobs in clean water and leave to air dry on a paper towel or clean tea towel.
Oven cleaning buys
Best for removing built up grease
This is Mrs Hinch's favourite oven cleaning product, which she nicknames ' Elvis'. With just a few sprays, this multipurpose degreaser and cleaner will remove grease and oil from fabrics, metal and plastic, making it a great all-rounder for your home.
Review: "Wow when I read on the description and reviews that this product was good I didn't fully get it until I purchased it myself and used it on the toughest areas in my own kitchen.
"For a long time now we have been without an extractor in the kitchen we have noticed a build up of grease and grime on the ceiling and walls that most other household cleaners didn't really seem to penetrate fully.
"As soon as I started using this product the results where instant from the first spray. It is as tough as an oven cleaner but without any strong smells and harmful feeling you get when you know you're using a tough cleaner product.
"I went mad with it spraying and cleaning everywhere, before I knew it I had cleaned nearly the whole kitchen ceiling walls, cupboards doors, surfaces, floor and I didn't stop there I went upstairs with it and cleaned the bathroom and toilet."
Best for built up oven dirt
Developed for professional oven cleaners, this paste is environmentally friendly and just needs to be applied directly to a scourer to start budging grime.
Review: "Used this on fairly dirty AGA ovens. Left it on a good half hour. Surface dirt removed easily but still needed a good bit elbow grease and scourer for more stubborn bits. Better than most products I have tried and the tub will give a lot of applications as goes a long way."
Best for cookers and pots
This cleaner uses a non-acidic formula and can be used on all ovens, cooker tops, pans, cookware, sink & tiles to remove stubborn grease, burnt oil and dirt.
Review: "My old kitchen pots looked brand new. The stainless steel was shining. But to achieve that some hard work in scratch several times . My arm was sore after 3 hours and 10 pots. Worth it!"
Best if you struggle with scrubbing
Simply spray Mr Muscle on internal surfaces and allow the foam to loosen any grease and build-up. The self-scouring formulation works by emulsifying any baked-on spillages meaning there is no scrubbing required.
Review: "Spray the warm oven, close the door and leave for 25 minutes, scrub with scouring pad. Still tiring, but this is the best product I know for this horrible job."
Best all-round natural cleaning solution
Popular on social media, this miracle cleaning paste is made from 99 per cent natural ingredients and is ideal for cleaning saucepans, cooker tops, sinks, ceramic tiles and much more.
Review: "A friend recommended this and I wondered how good it could possibly be. I use it to clean marks from a GRP boat and it’s amazing. I’ve been able to remove scuffs and mysterious blue marks (never managed to work out what they were) in seconds, having tried loads of other methods without success or an awful lot of effort. Very pleased and have now ordered one for a friend 😊"
Another one of Mrs Hinch's favourite products. The scratch-free, Scrub Daddy's FlexTexture foam goes firm in cold water for tough scrubbing and soft in warm water for light cleaning, making them suitable for a range of different tasks. They're also designed to fit comfortably in your hand to provide good grip and coverage.
Review: "We do not have a dishwasher, so are constantly washing dishes. Before, we used the wand sponges, which we would find ourselves replacing every other day. The scrub daddies however can easily last us 2+ weeks without getting grimy or smelling nasty. Even with tough staining products like pasta sauce, the sponge daddies will just wash out. Sometimes I will throw them in a bowl with water from the kettle to clean them and I believe people throw them in their dishwashers as well. They are great for scrubbing difficult items to get off of dishes like refried beans or old soup. I liked this product so much that I bought more to clean with, like our sinks and bath tubs. It is wonderful because they get soft but are still sturdy enough to get those tough stains out. This pack is a wonderful value and having multiple coloured sponges is nice so that they can be assigned for different purposes. I will never use a different brand sponge again!"
www.lakeland.co.uk
These heavy duty oven liners last five years, dishwasher safe and come with a 3 year guarantee. Simply pop in the bottom of your oven and let these liners do the work for you.
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Lorna White is a Senior Digital Writer at Yours.co.uk. She was previously a writer at Yours Magazine writing features and news stories before joining the digital team. Lorna loves the great British countryside and likes to spend her spare time out and about in her home of Nottinghamshire walking her dog, Pippin.