How To: Clean Your Oven Naturally

Recently, my friend Kristen mentioned that I should do a post on how to clean your oven naturally. Brilliant idea! I've always had reservations about oven cleaning products with harmful chemicals. And the thought of the residue of those chemicals in your oven and altering the taste of your food?! Yuck. I did some research and tried some things on my own oven today and here is what I've learned:


1. If something spills over while baking and you are lucky enough to realize it (baked potato leaking, pie bubbling over, etc), apply table salt using an oven mitt to the spill while food is still baking. After the baking is through and the oven has had time to cool off get a damp sponge and scrub spill away.
2. Baking Soda mixed with water into a paste acts as a great abrasive. Apply it to baked on spills or if your oven is really dirty you can spread the paste over the entire oven floor and let sit for at least 20-30 minutes (I read some articles that said you could leave it on overnight even). The baking soda paste will help absorb grease and soften it (if you have a lemon on hand you can squeeze the lemon juice into the paste as an added option). After the twenty minutes, use a plastic scraper (something similar to a wallpaper scraper) to scrape off spills and baking soda. Use a damp sponge to rinse any residual baking soda.
3. To clean oven racks, remove from oven (obviously when they are cool). Scrub w/ rough sponge with warm soapy water, rinse and let air dry or wipe down.
4. If you don't need your oven that day, you can always use the self cleaning option that comes with most ovens. During this process the oven heats to 900 degrees and turns all the baked spills into ash that you sweep out after the cleaning process is finished. I would recommend doing this once a year at the most since it uses up quite a bit of energy in the process.  


To prevent spills, you can use a cookie sheet or piece of foil placed on the rack directly underneath the item you are cooking. I always do this and I rarely have to clean up spills. It's a no-brainer but sometimes we forget.


I hope this was helpful and I would love to hear any tricks you have to keep your oven clean! Thanks for stopping by today!


image by Briana