How to clean your oven

Do you like savoury things? Or do you have more of a sweet tooth? No matter what your heart desires – you prepare many of your dishes with the help of the oven. Thanks to this versatile kitchen helper, you can cook up a wide variety of appetisers, main courses and desserts without much effort. From time to time something overflows, drips or splashes. Such stains are unfortunately part and parcel of using an oven, baking tray and grid, no matter how hard you try to avoid them. Prevent persistent dirt and remove it more easily with the right cleaning utensils and a few smart tips.

What you’ll need

To cleanse your oven after each use, keep a cleaning sponge and an oven cleaner handy. Use a cleaning cloth for wiping, or a microfibre cloth for more delicate surfaces. To clean the grid and baking trays, use hand-washing detergent. Household paper helps to prevent further cleaning as well as wiping after cleaning. For hard-to-reach areas and stubborn burnt-on dirt, use an old manual toothbrush. Use the glass scraper to remove dirt buildup from the bottom and walls of the oven. For the after-treatment of areas that aren’t clean, use a gentle kitchen cleaner. If you prefer natural remedies, baking powder, baking soda or vinegar will help. If you have sensitive skin, I also recommend that you wear cleaning gloves.

How long it takes

To avoid frequent large-scale cleaning sprees, you should briefly clean your oven after each use. The longer you wait, the more food residue will burn in and the more difficult it will be to get it out again. The cleaning routine also includes the grid or baking tray. The whole process takes no more than five minutes each time. On the other hand, you need to allow a little more time for a thorough cleaning of the oven. You should do one about every three to four months for normal use, and twice a year for infrequent use. For intensive cleaning you have to leave the oven cleaner on for several hours or even overnight for stubborn dirt. Plan enough time for it. For the actual scrubbing and cleaning, you need at least half an hour to a full hour, depending on the degree of dirt. To prevent long cleaning sessions, use baking paper any time you bake. This will ensure that not only your tray and rack stay clean, but also that as little food crumbs as possible get onto the oven floor. Also, use casseroles and baking pans with high sides and plenty of volume to avoid overflowing as well as splattering.

Clean after each use

Although oven cleaning is probably no one’s favourite thing to do, it helps if you give it a quick wipe after each use. It’s not a big effort and will save you a lot of tedious work later. After you bake, clean the inside of the cooled down oven as well as the tray and the side grid with a kitchen cleaner and a sponge. If something has already become encrusted or dried up, you can leave the cleaner on for a few minutes and then wipe it away with a cleaning cloth. If this method doesn’t remove all the dirt, I recommend you use an oven cleaner and apply it specifically to the dirty areas. For ovens with an integrated steam system, run the programme for a few minutes between 80 and 100 degrees Celsius to soften the dirt and then remove it more easily with a sponge. If your sheet and grate are dishwasher safe, putting them in the dishwasher is a convenient way to get them clean again. Before doing so, however, be sure to check the instructions to see if this is the case with your oven accessory.

Preparation is half the battle

In addition to cleaning after each use, it helps to be prepared before the actual intensive cleaning to make it faster – unless you have a self-cleaning oven. To prepare the oven, first remove the support grids on the left and right, if possible. They’re either screwed or plugged in. Depending on the type of oven cleaner, spray or brush the interior of the oven with the cleaner and let it work as directed by the manufacturer. Put the baking rack, trays and support grids in your sink, fill it with hot water and add a few squirts of dishwashing liquid. Let soak for one hour. If there isn’t enough room for this in your sink, fill the trays with hot water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Again, let it soak for an hour. Generously soap the grate and the support grids with hot water, dishwashing detergent and a sponge. Put the grate upright in the sink to soak.

Self-cleaning ovens

If your oven has a self-cleaning programme, consider yourself lucky. Then all the preparation work isn’t necessary. In fact, you don’t have to do anything but select the cleaning programme according to the oven instructions, follow the necessary steps and sit back. Cleaning then is as satisfying as the baking itself. There are three such self-cleaning technologies. If your oven works with catalytic cleaning (article in German), it has a special coating that decomposes grease residues already during baking. You don’t even need to select a programme, because the self-cleaning process starts at temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius. In ovens with pyrolysis (article in German), the temperature in the oven is turned up to 500 degrees Celsius for self-cleaning. All impurities burn and remain as ash on the oven floor, which you can wipe away with a rag after cooling. With an integrated steam system, the steam softens the dirt during the cleaning programme, making it easier to remove.

Cleaning the inside of the oven

Once you have removed the grate, trays and support grates, the next step is to take care of the inside of the oven. To do this, first wipe the sides, bottom and door of the oven with household paper. This is how you remove the first layer of grease, which can be dissolved without cleaner. Then apply the oven cleaner, close the oven and let the solution work according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After the cleaner is absorbed, wipe everything with a sponge. Depending on how dirty it is, apply some extra kitchen cleaner. Make sure that neither the sponge nor the kitchen cleaner are rough, as the surface inside the oven is very delicate. Use a discarded toothbrush to get into hard-to-reach corners, and use a microfibre cloth to clean the lights in the oven, for example. If you want to scrape off dried dirt, use a glass scraper. If the oven is still not completely clean after this, repeat the process, including soaking overnight. Efficient chemical oven cleaners dissolve dirt in such a way that no major scrubbing or scraping is required afterwards. The dirt should be easy to wipe off. Cleaners in spray form are particularly practical, as they allow you to reach almost any place without any problems, and the foam sticks and works where it should. To get rid of bad odours and cleaner residues, you can then run the empty oven for fifteen minutes at 100 degrees Celsius.

Cleaning the accessories

Scrub clean the soaked trays, support grids and grate with a sponge and some kitchen cleaner. Again, repeat the soaking if you don’t get all the dirt off the first time. There are also special cleaners just for trays, support grids and grill grates. Usually, you put the oven accessories in a bag, which you then fill with a cleaning solution. Close it and let the cleaner do its thing. Afterwards, all you have to do is drain the solution, wipe off the accessories and they will shine in new splendour. Or leave the accessories in the oven and let the oven cleaner do its work there, too. The rubber gaskets on the oven should only be cleaned with warm water and a cloth. Acidic or abrasive cleaning agents could damage the seals and cause the oven door to no longer close properly. Clean the oven door with a microfibre cloth to get rid of streaks and other traces. This will also remove any marks on the outside of the oven.

Home remedies for a dirty oven

It’s not always necessary to break out the chemicals. Some home remedies work almost as effectively. For example, baking powder: mix it with three tablespoons of water and apply the mixture to the dirty area. After 30 minutes of exposure, you can wipe off the dirt with a damp rag. Baking soda also helps if you mix it with water in a 1-to-1 ratio. Then, apply the mixture to the affected area, let it sit for 20 minutes, and wipe it off with a damp cloth. A casserole dish filled one third with water and the juice of one lemon also helps. Place the dish in the oven for one hour at 120 degrees Celsius. After that, you just have to wipe the interior clean. You can also use vinegar to fight dirt in the oven. To do this, mix some vinegar in a cup with a few squirts of dishwashing liquid and apply the mixture to the dirt. Use a damp sponge to scrub the dirty area until it starts to foam. After five to ten minutes of exposure, wipe it away with a damp cloth. Coke or tonic also help: Put the drinks on the grate or tray, let sit for an hour, wipe off with a damp sponge, and the dirt is gone.