Wish you knew how to clean your oven in minutes? Need to get rid of all the baked on grease? After years of trial and error I finally found a cleaner that doesn’t fill the house with harsh smells and cleans the oven easily with very little elbow grease.
How on earth do ovens get so dirty? I get that sometimes we spill or a dish might bubble over, but the door? Why does the door need to collect anything and everything that goes inside the oven?
I have tried SO MANY CLEANERS over the years trying to get my oven to look even remotely clean. I tried using the self cleaning option using the recommended method for our exact model. I tried the baking soda and vinegar method. I tried heavier duty cleaners that left me with a headache and a stinky house. No thanks!
I knew there had to be a better way out there so I did the hard work for you to make sure that this is the method that will work with astonishing results and none of the chemical headaches from harsher cleaners.
Why does the oven get so dirty?
All the oils in our foods, even without a convection setting, swirl around the oven and cling to every surface, most notably – the door. What was once a clean, clear, window into the oven is now an orangey-yellow, sticky, greasy, cloudy wall. It’s gross.
There is nothing you can do to prevent grease from clinging to your oven walls. Your only chance of keeping it from getting out of control is to make cleaning it a regular habit. Once every couple months should be plenty, unless you make lots of foods that contain oils and grease. You might need to up to once every month, even a simple wipe down, just to stay on top of the sticky grease.
The best method to clean inside your oven
Recently I came across an instagram post from someone using a cleaner I had never heard of before but she showed off her before and after pictures and I immediately pulled up my Target app to see if they had it in stock.
I was shocked to discover that not only did our Target carry this product, but it was only $1.49 for a canister! Introducing Bon-Ami. And not only is it incredibly inexpensive, it’s clean, biodegradable, non-toxic, and fragrance-free. Could it really work as well as advertised?
Look at that before and after. I spent maybe an hour total working on the oven and that included pausing for kid breaks when they needed things, taking pictures, and letting it dry to see if I missed any bad spots.
How did I clean my oven?
- Wipe down the oven with a wet cloth or spritz with water bottle
- The surface should be damp before adding cleaner. I used a water bottle to get everything wet to make sure I got inside all the corners and sides of the oven.
- Sprinkle Bon Ami on all surfaces
- I tried to get an even covering of Bon Ami but this was a little difficult on the sides so do your best to add some where you can. In the next step you can even it out.
- Use a gentle scrubbing pad to swirl cleaner and cover all surfaces evenly
- I have these great little crocheted scrubbers that my aunt makes but even a regular sponge with a scrubbing side would work well. Do not use anything harsh or abrasive.
- Let sit for a few minutes. Grab a cup of coffee
- I gave it about 5-10 minutes to sit and work. I wanted it to soak into all those grease spots and make it easier to wipe off. I would have gone longer but I didn’t want to leave the oven door open and risk a kid smashing into it.
- Start scrubbing
- Add a little extra water to your sponge and start scrubbing. If the grease isn’t coming off easily you have two options:
Option 1: Let the cleaner sit for a bit longer
- Option 2: Grab an oven scraper or straight edge razor and scrape it off (the razor is for glass only!)
- I used both options. On the inside of the oven where there were stubborn spots I added more cleaner and let it sit while I worked on the glass window.
- I used a straight edge razor on the glass to scrape off the grease. It came off easily, including in the corners and edges where my sponge was having trouble.
- Add a little extra water to your sponge and start scrubbing. If the grease isn’t coming off easily you have two options:
- Wipe everything down with a clean, wet rag
- Once you’ve removed all the baked on grease and burnt bits you are going to want to wipe down everything in the oven with a clean, wet rag. Even though the cleaner is non-toxic, you still want to remove any remaining residue.
The best method for cleaning oven racks
Oven racks are awkward to clean because the are so dang big! It’s impossible to clean them in the sink without getting water everywhere, so instead move to the tub! The bathtub is the perfect place to clean oven racks because it’s large enough, deep enough, and getting water everywhere is not a problem.
This worked so well my son actually asked me if I bought new oven racks because he had no idea they were supposed to be silver and not black! Whoops, I guess I needed to clean them before now 😉
- Set oven racks in the bathtub and sprinkle Bon Ami cleaner evenly
- The cleaner doesn’t have to cover every part because you will be soaking the racks in a cleaning solution
- Add enough hot water to cover racks
- You should only need an inch or two of water before the racks are covered completely.
- Let sit for a few minutes. Grab a cup of coffee
- I let the racks sit in the tub the entire time I was working on the oven so I’m not sure how short you could leave them in and still have as easy of a time cleaning them as I did. My racks soaked for at least 30 minutes.
- Use your scrubber to wipe down every wire
- Go over every part of the racks and wipe them down to remove the baked on grease.
- Rinse thoroughly
- We have a tub/shower combo so I turned on the shower to rinse the racks off but using cup fulls of water would work as well.
The last thing you need to know about cleaning your oven
There might be stubborn spots in your oven that require extra soaking or scrubbing. Only use the razor on the glass so you don’t scratch your oven door or sides.
I’d love to know if this method worked as well for you as it did for me!
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