Oven racks are the ugliest, most annoying things to clean in the kitchen! Plus, they're bulky and probably won't fit in your sink, meaning you'll have to find another place to take care of them. And the longer you wait, the dirtier they get. That's why we want to share with you some great methods to help you tackle this annoying task and make the entire oven sparkle. How to clean the oven rack with detergent is the topic of this article!
Why you should clean your oven
You may be tempted to use your oven over and over again without ever scrubbing it thoroughly. After all, it regularly gets hot enough to kill most harmful bacteria and viruses. However, there are many good reasons to take the time to get your oven sparkling. If left uncared for, your oven can:
- Producing enough smoke to set off a fire alarm – sometimes triggering a call to the fire department and creating a nuisance to this valuable community resource
- Catch fire due to accumulation of grease
- Drenching your food with unwanted, burnt flavors
- Ants and other insects are attracted to the leftover crumbs
- The performance of the oven is affected by the accumulated dirt.
How often you should clean your oven:Using your oven creates grease, dirt and crumbs. The more you use it, the more often you will have to clean it. On the other hand, the more often you clean it, the easier it is to keep it clean.
Not cleaning your oven for a long period of time means you are continually exposing spills and drips to high temperatures. This type of treatment makes it much more difficult to remove the original contamination.
Tips on how to clean the inside of the oven with water and detergent
A good place to start is the inside of your oven. Make sure your oven is off and cool, then empty any racks or trays you have in it - these will be cleaned later.
- The easiest way is to use a plastic scrubber or sponge and hot, soapy water with dish soap. Don't scrub too hard as you could scratch your oven.
- Place a wet cloth over particularly stubborn areas to loosen the baked-on dirt. Then wait a few minutes, or longer for thicker areas, and scrub again.
When water and dish soap aren't enough, soaking with baking soda is a time-consuming but safe and effective alternative. This is especially true since baking soda can help with grease that has burned into your oven.
Clean oven rack with dish soap – Choose one of the following methods
We have compiled a list of techniques you can use to clean the oven rack with dish soap. Now it's just up to you to find the strength to do it!
Give your oven racks a bath...
- Place an old towel (it will get greasy) on the bottom of your bathtub. Place your oven racks on the towel (the towel will protect the bottom of the tub from scratches).
- Fill the tub with hot water until the oven racks (and towel) are completely submerged.
- Add 75 ml (¼ cup) of dish soap to the tub. Alternatively, you can also use 200 ml (¾ cup) of detergent
Tip – Clean the oven with baking soda and vinegar: If the racks are particularly gross, you can use white vinegar instead of dish soap and add some baking soda to the mix to remove grease and dissolve burnt food.
- Allow the racks to soak overnight.
- The next morning (after coffee, of course), scrub the shelves with a soft brush or old rag.
- For really tough stains, you can add salt to your scrubber to enhance the effect.
- Rinse the grates with hot water to remove any remaining cleaning products.
- Dry the oven racks and replace them.
...or take them out into the garden
That’s right – it’s going to get messy!
- Take the oven racks outside and place them in the garden.
- Rinse them with hot water from the hose.
- Make a mixture of hot water and degreasing detergent solution. Grab a scrubber and get to work.
- Scrub, rinse and repeat if necessary. This may not be the least effort on this list, but it can work wonders.
- Rinse the dishes and let them dry outside on towels.
- Wipe with a clean kitchen towel before replacing the oven racks.
Clean the oven rack with dishwashing liquid and dryer cloths
Again, you can use your bathtub to soak the oven racks - or use the sink.
- Fill your tub with very hot water and add a few generous squirts of dish soap to degrease.
- Then add about 10 dryer sheets to the mixture and stir. The water should foam up. (If you don't feel like wasting dryer sheets, used ones will do!)
- Let this strange soup sit overnight.
- Drain the water in the morning and then use the damp dryer sheets to wipe any remaining residue from the oven racks. They should be shiny now!
- Rinse the oven racks thoroughly with warm water.
- Dry the oven racks and replace them.
