How to Clean Burnt Aluminum Pans

Aluminum is sometimes a real mess to clean up. It stains easily and it's really hard to get it clean when foods stick or burn badly. You can't use just any cleaner because the pans can get pitted and marred by using the wrong cleaners. Here are some tips for cleaning burnt aluminum pans the right way.

Things You'll Need

• Tomatoes
• Baking Soda
• Ammonia
• Dishwashing liquid

Instructions

One of these should work for you!

1. Try the easiest thing first. Heat up tomatoes in the burned pan. Use tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes or tomato juice. Food will be loosened in no time by the acid in the tomatoes.

2. Try this trick: Fill the pan half full with water and add dishwashing liquid. Bring it to a rolling boil and keep it boiling for 10 to 15 minutes. You can boil as long as you'd like - but if the food doesn't come off in an hour, this isn't going to help.

3. Fill your pot with water again and add 1/4 cup of baking soda and 2/3 cup of vinegar. Boil hard and turn it down to a simmer for about half an hour. Don't leave this in the pan more than an hour or it could pit the surface. When you've done this, let it cool a bit. Empty the water out and take a spatula and scrape off the burned food. Clean off all of the baking soda.

4. Make a paste to clean aluminum that has been stained by being burned. The paste should consist of baking soda and water. Spread it over the burned places and let it sit about 30 minutes. Rinse well and then clean it to remove the baking soda.

5. Try denture tablets - two per two cups of water - and a little fabric softener - about 1/4 cup. This sometimes softens and loosens the black burn marks so the pan will come clean.

6. Coat the pan with oven spray if the pan is all aluminum (no handles of plastic or wood) and put it in the oven. Do this while you clean your oven to get two jobs done at once. Follow label instructions carefully. This can be used only for pots and pans that are oven-proof. If they have plastic handles, this will be too much heat for them. You can use this method if you can remove the handles - some are detachable.

7. Get busy and with a little care and ingenuity, you can get your aluminum pots and pans back in shape.

Tips & Warnings

• Always try the simplest and easiest things first. Soaking is best if you want to go to bed - boiling is if you're in the kitchen. Most all of these will work.

• Don't leave baking soda on aluminum for any longer than one hour or it could pit the surface.