How to Clean Grease in an Oven

Grease accumulates and you may not pay attention to this fact until it is too late. The grease and other food items that come from your delicious meal preparations can add up. When they do and you do not notice this accumulation, you end up with a pretty big mess on your hands.

At this stage, it will take some work to get the oven clean again. You can turn to commercial grease fighters, or you can go natural. Either way, your oven will be sparkling clean after you apply some elbow grease to the problem.

To learn how to fight the grease build-up in your oven, just continue to read our article. It fills you in on what to use so that your oven is germ-free.

How to Clean Your Greasy Oven

You do not have to use commercial cleaners when doing this task. Those cleansers come with a lot of harmful chemicals as major ingredients which can harm you and your family. The best way to go would be using natural cleaners like vinegar and baking soda.

Method 1: Baking Soda and Water

This natural cleaning solution needs to be mixed together at an almost equal amount. You want to make a paste of the two ingredients, then spread the paste over your oven’s interior.

Make sure to remove the oven racks and you can either soak them if they are not too greasy or use the paste to clean them. Be careful of using the baking soda paste on aluminum racks as the baking soda can discolor them.

When it comes to your oven’s interior it is said you should not rub the paste in to get the grease off but to leave the paste there overnight and then remove it using a plastic scraper. However, you can use a damp cloth to wipe away the paste without rubbing.

Once the oven is clean, put the racks back and get back to making some great meals.

Method 2: Vinegar, Water & Tea Tree Oil

Just mix 1 cup of vinegar with water and add a little tea tree oil. The last ingredient will act as your degreaser and help cut through that greasy mess. Then take a good cloth and wipe the mixture over your oven’s interior.

You may need to let the mixture sit on the grease for a few hours before wiping it off. During that time, you can clean the oven racks to make sure there is no greasy residue left on them.

Some people say that you can clean the oven racks by placing them in a tub filled with water and throwing in some dryer sheets. The dryer sheets are supposed to soak up the grease.

When you are ready to wipe away the grease make sure to rinse well.

Method 3: Commercial Cleaners

You are already familiar with how these products work. The best thing to do is make sure your kitchen is well ventilated so that the fumes do not harm you. Then make sure to follow all the instructions on the can, bottle, or jar.

Following the instructions are the best way to clean your oven and use these cleansers. Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands and watch out for any splashes. You do not want the cleaner to hit you in your eyes.

How Often Should You Clean Your Oven

If you have the time, you should clean your oven on a regular basis. That means once every two or three weeks is sufficient. This will help keep the grease down and make each subsequent cleaning time a lot easier.

But you be the judge. If you do not use your oven that often, you can wait a few more weeks to clean each time.

Tips to Keep Your Oven Grease-Free

1. If you have a busy schedule, make oven cleaning a regular chore for one of your kids. This will free your time up and teach them some responsibility.

2. Buy an oven liner. These little items should be sold in your local supermarket. They are designed to protect your oven’s interior from getting any grease on it. Just remove the old liner and replace it with a new one when the old one gets too dirty.

3. Use a roasting tray. This will collect some of the greases that jump out or spill over the edge of your roasting pan, etc. It may not catch all the grease, but it will catch some of it making cleaning up a little easier.

4. Do not overfill your baking pans. This is one of the main causes of a dirty and greasy oven. A pan that is too full has to send the food particles somewhere and usually, that is to your oven’s walls, bottom, and ceiling.

Some Final Words

There are other tips and tricks you can use to keep your oven nice and clean. It is a dirty job if you let it go but it doesn’t have to be. Just do regular cleaning to make sure the grease stays away.