Non-Toxic Oven Cleaning Tutorial
02 March 2024
It's been 2 years since I've cleaned my oven, and in this video, I show you how to go from a disgusting, grimy mess to an extremely clean and sparkling oven. All with non-toxic ingredients you probably have at home.
An effective oven cleaning using baking soda, vinegar, and Sal Suds. Say goodbye to harsh chemicals and hello to a healthier home with this non-toxic oven cleaning method that involves minimum hands on time.
If you want to watch the entire tutorial, you can do so below!
https://www.youtube.com/@SallySaraClark
WHAT YOU NEED
Vinegar
Dish Sponge
Microfiber Cloth
Old Towels
Razor Blade Scraper
Gloves
[If you click on some of the above supplies, you will be taken to the products I used]
Journal Articles
Toxicity resulting from exposure to oven cleaners: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28443378/
BEFORE & AFTER
METHOD 1
Step 1:
PROTECT YOUR FLOORS
You are going to want to put an old towel down to protect your floor; this will also make the cleanup a little easier because this is going to get a little messy.
Step 2:
BAKING SODA & VINEGAR
Make a paste with baking soda and water until it's the consistency of cake icing. (I ended up making about 2 cups of baking soda to cover the whole oven). Then take the paste and with gloves on, spread it all over the inside of the oven and on the glass door, avoiding the heating elements and the fan.
Baking soda is an awesome scratchless abrasive that is safe on metal and glass. It's great for breaking down molecules to cut through dirt and grime.
The next thing you want to do is add 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of boiling water to an oven-safe dish. Place the rack back in the oven and the dish onto the rack, then close the oven door and turn the oven onto fan bake at 100°C for 45 minutes. The steam created from the liquid should help loosen the dirt and grime.
Open the oven to let it cool before you start scrubbing the grime. At this point, you also want to take out the rack (with oven gloves on in case it’s still hot), and then follow the oven rack cleaning method outlined below.
Step 3:
SCRUBBING INSIDE THE OVEN & GLASS
TIP: With some ovens, you can actually detach your oven door, which makes it easier to clean inside the oven. To learn how, you can Google the make and model of your oven, and usually, there will be an instruction manual online. I show you how I removed mine in the video [linked here].
INSIDE THE OVEN: With gloves on, using a dish sponge soaked in hot water, start scrubbing away at the inside of the oven. You can see, it actually works quite well and came off easily (even for my oven in the video, which had 2 years of greasy buildup). However, if there is some excessively stubborn buildup in some areas, then you want to make more baking soda paste, place it on the stubborn areas, and then continue to scrub. I had to do this two times for my oven, and as you will see, it worked, but it's not the "minimum hands-on time" that I was hoping for at the beginning. So I definitely think read method 2 if your oven is as bad as mine.
OVEN GLASS: As for the oven glass, this method was not successful on the glass part of my oven (hello 2 years of buildup), but I used this bake method on a friend's oven and it worked really well. So for the glass, do the same as what you did inside the oven but be gentle with the abrasive side of the sponge because you can scratch the glass.
Step 4:
REMOVE & CLEAN RUBBER SEAL
Once you are done scrubbing the inside of the oven, you can actually remove the rubber seal of the oven to easily clean the edges. Wash the rubber seal with the non-abrasive side of a dish sponge, warm water and some dish soap. Wipe dry and place back on the oven.
Step 5:
CLEAN THE EXTERIOR & EDGES
For the edges of the oven and the door, I sprayed a mixture of 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, and 1 tbsp of Sal Suds (or 2 tbsp of dish soap or Castile soap). Spray and then wipe clean with a microfiber cloth, then cover a butter knife with the cloth to get into all the crevices. Then buff with a dry cloth to remove any streaks and remaining debris. And see, this is why you want to lay down an old towel for easy cleanup.
Spray down the door with the same DIY cleaning mixture from earlier, wipe with a microfiber cloth, and then buff with a dry cloth to bring out that shine that we've all been waiting for. Do the same for this knob area.
METHOD 2
Step 1:
PROTECT YOUR FLOORS
You are going to want to put an old towel down to protect your floor; this will also make the cleanup a little easier because this is going to get a little messy.
Step 2:
BAKING SODA PASTE
Make a paste with baking soda and water until it's the consistency of cake icing. (I ended up using about 2 cups of baking soda to cover the whole oven). Then take the paste and, with gloves on, spread it all over the inside of the oven and on the glass door, avoiding the heating elements and the fan. Take the oven rack out and follow the oven rack cleaning method below.
Leave everything for 24 hours and then come back to clean up.
The longer you wait, the less hands-on time you will have when it comes to scrubbing.
Step 3:
SCRUB AWAY THE BAKING SODA & GRIME
With gloves on, using a dish sponge soaked in hot water, start scrubbing away at the inside of the oven and the glass door. You can be aggressive with the abrasive side of the sponge for the inside of the oven but be gentle with the glass door. If there are any stubborn, grimy spots, apply more baking soda paste and continue scrubbing.
Step 4:
SPRAY CLEAN
Wipe away all the mess and then with either a spray bottle filled with 50% vinegar & 50% water or the DIY Cleaning Spray (1 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp Sal Suds), spray the inside and outside of the oven. Wipe everything clean with a microfiber cloth and then buff dry with a clean dry cloth to remove streaks and any remaining debris.
TIPS
Check if you can remove your oven door to make cleaning easier.
Check to see if you can remove the rubber seal to easily clean the edges and clean the rubber in the sink.
Check to see if you can remove your oven glass, to leave it soaking overnight with the oven racks.
Make a non-toxic DIY cleaning spray that can be used all over the oven or if your oven is not that bad then you can just use a spray bottle with 50%vinegar & 50% water.
TROUBLESHOOTING
My oven hadn’t been cleaned in 2 years, so the buildup was really bad. To avoid a lot of scrubbing and 'hands-on time', you can use a brand new razor blade scraper on the oven glass to remove the greasy buildup. But be sure to use a new razor that doesn’t have any dents, so you don’t scratch the glass.
CLEANING THE OVEN RACKS
Step 1:
Place a towel at the bottom of your bathtub to protect it from scratches. Then place your rack on the towel, cover it with hot water, 1/4 cup of Sal Suds (or 1/2 cup dish soap or Castile soap).
Step 2:
Leave this overnight so that the water and degreasing properties from the soap can do the work for you. The longer you wait, the less hands-on time you will have.
Step 3:
After leaving the racks overnight, you can see in the video [linked here] how easily the grime comes off the racks. On these stainless steel racks, it is safe to use the abrasive side of the sponge to scrub off the grime, and then for the hard-to-reach corners, a scrubbing brush will do the trick.
Step 4:
Once the rack is clean, rinse it with clean water and wipe it dry. If there are any stubborn black spots left, you can use a razor blade scraper to remove them easily.
RACK BEFORE & AFTER
This blog post is not sponsored and all items were purchased by me. Some affiliate links are used, which I earn a small commission, which helps support my work at no cost to you.
