27 Jul 2009
Can baking soda really clean your oven?
So after my oven caught fire and an embarrassing run-in with the firemen, I decided to clean my oven.
Dirty oven about to be cleaned with baking soda
But over my dead body would i use those toxic oven cleaning foams. Environmental toxicity and aerosol can aside, I’m fricking worried about the health side-effects. I once borrowed a can from a neighbour and 24hrs later, I could still smell the toxic odour in my kitchen. I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be contaminating my food, or worse, could the leftover fumes explode with the heat in the oven? I have read in the past that a simple baking soda paste (baking soda + water) could do the trick if you let it soak overnight. So I decided to give it a try… I took out a box of baking soda, poured it into a big bowl and added enough water until I got a consistency much like icing sugar.
Baking soda paste oven cleaner (Baking soda + water)
I spread it over the mess in the oven then went to bed.
Spreading the baking soda paste in the oven
Technically, one night is all it takes, but I have been so busy that I didn’t get to cleaning it until one week later. Here it is. The baking soda hardened and it was super easy to break off. It absorbed the burnt food and turned it brown. For the real hardened pieces, I scrubbed them off with an SOS pad.
Scrubbing the paste off the oven
After all the dried paste bits were removed, I scrubbed the bottom with an SOS pad then rinsed with a cloth. Voilà. A clean new oven. My oven won’t catch on fire again and the firemen will no longer be needed chez moi. Although, that wasn’t such a bad thing! I’ll be honest, I didn’t actually think this would work. In the back of my mind, I was wondering what else I could try to complete this post. But low and behold, it did work. And it was easy. And best of all, this was all done naturally with ingredients I already had in my house. Your turn – have you ever tried this? Have any other natural cleaning methods that worked on your oven?
Naturally cleaned oven - Baking soda & SOS pas
Baking soda is wonderful for ovens, that is all I use. It even managed to clean a horrendously dirty oven in a rental house that I moved into! It even works if you just put baking sode in the oven and spray it with water, just as easy as the paste just different route.
veganverve
July 28th, 2009 at 3:22 ampermalink
Wow, love the fact that you took pictures. We recently used the “self-cleaning” function on our oven but that too seems counter intuitive: The oven temp goes sky-high and needs about 4-5 hours in order to “clean” the oven. Not too good for the environment, or our wallets. I never wanted to use chemicals either and so baking soda it is, for next time. Thanks for proving it works.
Be warned however, Arm & Hammer baking soda is tested on animals. Dogs, bunnies, etc. I’m finishing my box and never buying that brand again. I’m pretty sure my local health food store (Tau, in Laval) carries an animal friendly brand.
Melissa Thibodeau
September 19th, 2009 at 1:55 pmpermalink
Hey Melissa, glad to see you liked my post. Thanks for mentioning the part about Arm & Hammer. I never use them either. About the self cleaning function, that scares me as it heats up to an insane degree. Glad it worked out for you though. Cheers!
UrbanGreenGirl
September 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pmpermalink
Thanks so much for the pics! I just got butter all over the bottom of my oven, and thankfully avoided needing the fire department. I was trying to figure out how to clean it without killing me and my family or pets with toxic fumes. Here I go–thanks for the visual help!
Jana
January 8th, 2010 at 8:18 pmpermalink
Thanks for the post on baking soda. Your concerns about the fumes, contamination, health effects and explosions are EXACTLY the same concerns I have been having since I used oven cleaner in the last 24 hours only to realise what a big mistake I have made. Makes you wonder how many other people feel the same way we do. I’m going have to slip it into all my conversations casually when I talk to family and friends and make sure they never use those poisons ever again
x
missy
July 21st, 2010 at 6:52 pmpermalink
thank you soooo much. I was looking for the sos oven cleaner pads they are so hard to find. They are the only product i’ve used that doen’t have fumes. But now I am going to use the baking soda and water method.
paula, sc
paula vinci
January 25th, 2012 at 8:21 pmpermalink
Very happy to hear Paula. Good luck with your green cleaning!
UrbanGreenGirl
January 25th, 2012 at 8:22 pmpermalink