Clean Your (Non-Self Cleaning) Oven!

Cleaning an oven naturally is actually quite simple and we have had great success with the following techniques that require nothing more than some eco-friendly solutions and some elbow grease.

Lemon and other citrus oils are great natural degreasers, and you can clean your oven—especially convection ovens—with just two lemons and a little effort. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juices into the baking dish. Place what’s left of the lemons in the dish as well. Fill the dish about 1/3 full of water, place it in the oven, and bake at 250 degrees for about 30 minutes. If the buildup is really bad, you can try leaving it in for a bit longer. The water and lemon juice will heat up and the vapors will cling to the grime, loosening it and helping it come clean. Remove the dish and let the oven cool. After the oven has cooled off, use a scouring pad and microfiber cloth to scrub away what’s left of the grime; have a silicone spatula handy for removing bigger chunks. Use the lemon water as a rinse aid when cleaning down the inside of the stove. Keep sponging with the lemon water until clean and then use a towel to dry it off. Be aware that the oven emits smoke when this happens, so be sure to turn on the oven fan and open a window.

The second technique, which is good for any type of oven, involves vinegar and baking soda. Simply spray vinegar all over the inside of the oven. Follow that with an even sprinkling of baking soda and allow for the mixture to bubble and fizz. Leave the mixture to sit for about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how many former Christmas dinners are still clinging to the walls of the oven. Then use a scouring sponge to scrub the walls and bottom of the oven to remove the grime and build up. Vinegar is a great degreaser, so try rinsing the sponge in vinegar to maintain its grease cutting abilities during your scrubbing. You can rinse the oven by sponging clean water on the walls and bottom, this way no chemicals are required to achieve a clean oven.

Tips & Pointers

– To avoid having to clean your oven often, cover the bottom with an oven liner. They prevent food from sticking to the floor of your oven and are super easy to clean!

– If you have a hot bubbly mess on your hands, take a handful of table salt and throw it on it while it’s fresh. Let your food finish cooking and after you’ve removed it, let the oven cool. The salt prevents it from sticking, so the spill can easily be cleaned off the bottom of your oven. It also keeps it from becoming a smelly, smokey mistake.

For more cleaning tricks check out our E-Book Bundle! It gives you three fantastic e-books full of cleaning secrets that I have learned throughout my 20 years in the cleaning business.