How to Clean an Oven Without Chemicals

Forget the harsh chemicals; clean your oven with baking soda.

Most commercial oven cleaners are extremely toxic: The fumes can cause serious health problems such as difficulty breathing, a drop in blood pressure, vision loss and organ damage, not to mention the burns the corrosive chemicals cause to skin if the cleaner makes direct contact. That's a lot of risk to keep your oven clean, but it's not necessary. Next time, try using common household ingredients that are so non-toxic they're probably sitting in your food pantry.

Things You'll Need

• Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
• Table salt
• Bowl
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Rubber gloves
• Sponge
• Plastic scraper
• Mild dish soap

Instructions

1. Remove the racks from the oven.

2. Mix 1 cup of pure baking soda, 1/3 cup of salt and 1/3 cup of water in a bowl.

3. Spray the inside of your cold oven with plain water.

4. Spread the baking soda and salt paste on the entire surface of the oven interior, using gloved hands or a sponge.

5. Allow the mixture to sit on the oven interior surfaces overnight.

6. Scrape the dried mixture off of the oven surfaces with a plastic scraper or spatula and wipe away the debris with a clean, damp sponge.

7. Spray the oven interior with plain water to rinse, and wipe with a sponge. Repeat, after rinsing out any baking soda and salt from the sponge. If a white film appears when the water dries, add a few drops of liquid dish soap to the sponge and wipe the oven down again.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a nylon scrubber or fine steel wool pad to remove stuck-on stains.

• You may notice a white coating on the oven interior after your first post-cleaning use. This removable film is just baking soda left behind; allow the oven to cool and wipe again with a damp sponge or microfiber cloth to remove it.

• Remove spills inside the oven as soon as possible.

• Do not use baking powder as a substitute for baking soda.

References

• Medline Plus: Oven Cleaner Poisoning
• Earth Easy: Non-Toxic Home Cleaning
• EPA: Safer Cleaning Resource Guide

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish