Simple Way to Clean Oven Racks

You may love to make delicious meals in your oven, but dread the tedious chore of cleaning the oven racks. Food, grime and grease that bake onto oven racks can negatively affect the way any food cooked in your oven smells and tastes. Commercially prepared oven cleaners contain toxic, corrosive chemicals that can cause health problems if they come into contact with the ears, eyes and breathing passages, and potentially damage lung tissue, according to The University of Wisconsin. You can clean your oven racks a simpler way using common ingredients found in your own home that won't pose such a risk to your health.

Things You'll Need

• Towels
• Powdered laundry soap
• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Liquid dish washing soap
• Ammonia

Instructions

1. Line the bottom of a bathtub with towels to protect it from scratches. Place your oven racks in the bathtub, turn on the hot water faucet and fill the tub with enough hot water to cover them. Add 1/2 cup of powdered laundry soap and 1 cup of baking soda to the water. Make sure that the oven racks are submerged in the water and allow to soak overnight. In the morning, the grime on the oven racks will be dissolved.

2. Put your oven racks in a bathtub. Turn on the faucet and add just enough hot water to submerge them. Add 1/2 cup of vinegar and 3/4 cup of liquid dish washing soap to the water. Allow the oven racks to soak in the mixture for two hours. Rinse the oven racks under warm water and any grime that still hasn't dissolved will come right off.

3. Place your oven racks in a bathtub. Turn on the faucet and fill the tub with hot water. Add 1/2 cup of ammonia to the water. Allow the oven racks to soak for at least 15 minutes and then rinse clean.

Tips & Warnings

• Use steel wool or a scouring pad to remove any leftover food particles still remaining on the oven racks.

References

• University of Wisconsin-Extension: Chemical Hazards in the Home
• Repair Guide: How to Clean Oven Racks
• Choosing Voluntary Simplicity: An Almost Effortless Way to Clean Oven Racks
• Readers Digest: Tips For a Clean Oven
• The Orange County Register: Clean Oven Racks With Baking Soda, Powdered Laundry Soap

Resources

• Pioneer Thinking: Stove Cleaning & Care