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How to clean your oven with baking soda

By Airtasker

Updated: January 8th, 2024

Baking soda can be particularly effective for oven cleaning. See why and how here!

You may have heard people raving about using baking soda as a cleaning product. Once you’ve tried using it in your home, you’ll see what they mean! Baking soda can be particularly effective for oven cleaning.

It’s inevitable that food will splatter down the inside of our ovens. Our pasta bakes bubble over, oil spills from a roast, and sauces drip onto the racks. At some point, we’re all faced with a black, sticky mess in our oven. That, let’s be honest, we try and ignore for as long as possible!

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But eventually, the time will come when we need to clean it. This means you’ll need an oven cleaning service to remove the baked-on grime. Or you could simply turn to two simple supermarket ingredients – baking soda and vinegar.

One of the best things about using a baking soda and vinegar solution is it means not exposing your skin to another cleaning product laden with chemicals. What’s more, it’s cheap and you probably already have it in your kitchen!

Baking soda

Baking soda and bicarbonate of soda (“bicarb soda”) are leavening agents, meaning they create bubbles that expand while baking, causing batters to rise. Bicarb soda is the purer form of the leavening agent and requires an acid plus moisture to cause the bubbles. Baking soda is simply bicarb soda which has already been premixed with an acid (often cream of tartar).

It’s this bubble-making action that is so effective in lifting food debris from your oven. When you use baking soda or bicarb soda together with highly acidic vinegar, the resulting mixture breaks down food particles like nobody’s business.

Because it’s a natural product, you may be assuming it can’t be effective on a crusted-up oven. But it actually does a brilliant job at oven cleaning. Best of all, there are no harsh fumes emanating from your oven next time you bake, and no harmful chemicals lingering in the place where you cook your food. Sure, you may want to wear rubber gloves if old food grime is a bit icky, but at least you won’t be risking burns if you don’t.

So what’s the best way to use baking soda for an oven cleaning service?

  • Begin by removing your oven racks. These likely need a good clean too, so place them to soak in your sink with hot water and a splash of vinegar.
  • Meanwhile, mix equal parts water, baking soda, and vinegar in a bowl to create a spreadable paste.
  • Spread this paste on the inside of the oven, coating all interior surfaces but avoiding the heating elements.
  • Add a thick layer (about a quarter of an inch) to the bottom of the oven. Leave overnight or for at least 12 hours.
  • The next day, use a wet cloth to wipe off as much of the paste as possible.
  • Pour vinegar into a spray bottle, spritz all surfaces, and wipe down with a clean cloth.

To clean the oven window:

  • Make another paste, apply directly to the window and let sit for half an hour.
  • Use a clean cloth to wipe the window clean.
  • If there are stains inside the double oven window, you may also need to carefully unscrew these so you can clean the inside of the glass.

To finish up…

  • Thoroughly wipe off all the residue and rinse everything with clean water and a clean sponge.
  • Add some vinegar to your sponge to get your oven extra shiny.
  • Wash off the racks–this will be a breeze after their soaking–and return them to the oven.

 

For really stubbornly baked-on grease and food, you might need to repeat your oven cleaning service to get perfect results. Just make sure all the baking soda residue is removed completely before you use the oven again to cook, as any baking soda that remains on the heating elements can cause smoke.

And there you have it- a sparkling clean oven!

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