Homemade Oven Cleaner Recipes

With the exception of one of the recipes below, you can make oven cleaners that are much safer for the environment than commercial oven cleaners containing harsh chemicals. They’re also much more frugal!

Homemade Oven Cleaner Recipes

Recipe #1

Baking Soda
Water
Dish Detergent

Directions:

• Fill a spray bottle with water and spray oven generously.
• Generously sprinkle baking soda over the water. Leave overnight.
• The next day wipe out much of the baking soda and grime.
• Soak a sponge in hot water, squeeze out excess water and scrub the inside of the oven with liquid dish detergent first drizzled over the sponge.

Recipe #2

Ammonia
Water
Baking soda

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 200° then turn off oven.
• In an ovenproof dish, fill with ammonia and set on middle rack of oven (about 1 to 2 cups of ammonia).
• In another ovenproof dish, fill with boiling water and set on bottom rack of oven (2 cups).
• Leave overnight.
• The next morning, remove dishes and wipe down the oven with a hot wet sponge first drizzled with baking soda.

Recipe #3

3 tsp Borax
1/4 cup vinegar
1/8 cup liquid dish soap
2 cups hot water

Baking soda (do not add to mix)

Directions:

• Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and shake to mix.
• Spray mixture in oven generously.
• Sprinkle generous amounts of baking soda on top.
• Spray liquid mixture over the baking soda.
• Leave overnight.
• The next morning wipe out the cleaning mixture and wash the oven with hot soapy water.

Recipe #4

1 cup baking soda
1/3 cup table salt
Water

Directions:

• Spray oven well with water.
• Mix together the dry ingredients then sprinkle over the water.
• Spray again with water.
• Leave overnight. Wipe out the next morning and scrub oven with hot soapy water.

You can also use this homemade softscrub cleaner for the next day’s scrubbing after using one of the methods above.

Cleaning Oven Racks

• Place the oven racks in an extra large heavy-duty garbage bag, pour in a cup of ammonia and tie the bag closed (tightly).
• Set the garbage bag outside away from children and pets.
• The next day remove the racks and scrub them clean in hot soapy water.

If the racks aren’t that grimy, you can choose instead to soak them in hot soapy water. Scrub clean with a baking soda and water paste.

Oven Cleaning Tips

• 20 Ways Vinegar Can Help Your Kitchen Sparkle: Oven Rinse–Wipe the inside of your oven with vinegar to remove the residue left behind by oven cleaner. Also mentioned in Quick Tips For Kitchen Cleaning.
• 10 Easy Household Time Savers: Do a quick wipe inside the oven while doing the dishes, cleaning up any spills and splatters (the oven should have cooled down enough by then). Your oven won’t need as many deep cleaning jobs and will never be nasty again!
• Line your oven with a large foil baking sheet or a strip of aluminum foil to catch spills and drips.

More tips for cleanup: 8 Cleaning Tips For Crusty Stove Tops and How To: Microwave Cleaning Tips.

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