How To Clean An Oven With A Natural Oven Cleaner

Most store-bought cleaning products contain harsh chemicals. Oven cleaners are among the worse cleaners when it comes to toxic chemical content. You can reduce your exposure to chemical and adopt an environment-friendly solution by using a natural oven cleaner instead.

If you are wondering how to clean an oven without using any harsh chemicals, you should try using vinegar and baking soda. These are probably ingredients that you already have. Baking soda and vinegar are very inexpensive compared to oven cleaners and will remove buildup grime and grease easily.

Here is what you need to clean your oven:

  • Baking soda.
  • Warm water.
  • White vinegar.
  • A spray bottle.
  • A plastic spatula.
  • Some cloths or sponges.

Create a paste by mixing ½ cup of baking soda with two tablespoons of water. You can use more if you have a large oven.

Coat the inside of your oven with this thick paste. It is safe to use this paste to clean the oven door, but you shouldn’t use it on the oven racks or the heating element.

Baking soda will loosen grime and absorb the grease buildup. This process takes a while so you will have to let the paste sit in the oven.

You might need to let the baking soda paste sit in your oven overnight if there is a lot of grime buildup. If you cleaned your oven recently, the paste might be able to loosen grease and other residues within a few hours.

You can then use the plastic spatula to remove as much of the paste as possible. Most of the grease and grime buildup will be removed with it.

Use a damp cloth or sponge to wipe what is left of the baking soda and grime residues. You can then use the spray bottle to spray white vinegar.

The vinegar will react with the baking soda and foam. This will loosen any grime that wasn’t absorbed by the baking soda and will help you make sure that all the baking soda has been removed from your oven.

You should use a damp sponge or cloth to finish wiping the oven and make sure all the baking soda and vinegar have been removed.

Lemons And Water

The acidity of citrus fruits can help dissolve grease buildups. Lemon juice is safe to use anywhere inside of your oven, and you can use it to clean the racks and other accessories.

Press two lemons to obtain juice and mix it with some warm water. You can get good results with a mix that is one part water for one part lemon juice, but don’t hesitate to add more lemon juice if you are tackling some old grime buildups.

You should preheat your oven and wait a few minutes to let it cool off. Removing grease buildup will be easier if the inside of the oven isn’t cold. Make sure you can safely touch the inside of your oven before you start cleaning.

Use a spray bottle to coat the inside of your oven with the lemon juice and water mixture. Wait a few minutes for the natural acidity of the lemon juice to start working.

You can use a microfiber sponge to scrub and get rid of grime buildups. Add more lemon juice as needed.

The great thing about using lemon juice to clean your oven is that you don’t have to worry about any chemical residues and it will make your oven smell fresh. If you have some leftover lemon juice, use it to clean other appliances or to wipe your kitchen counter.

The downside of this method is that it might not work for old grime buildups.

Apple Cider Vinegar

There are different natural cleaners to explore if you are wondering how to clean an oven without using any chemicals. Apple cider vinegar is one of the most affordable and effective natural cleaners you can find.

You should dilute apple cider vinegar in water to reduce its natural acidity. You can either use a spray bottle to coat the inside of your oven with this mixture or dip a cloth or sponge in the apple cider vinegar and water mixture and start scrubbing.

Let the apple cider vinegar mixture sit in your oven for a while if there are tough buildups. This will give the vinegar some time to break down the grease. You should be able to wipe the inside of your oven and eliminate grease buildups after waiting for two or three hours.

Homemade Cleaner

You can create a homemade cleaner with a few basic ingredients you probably already have. Here is what you will need:

  • ¼ cup dish soap.
  • ½ cup baking soda.
  • ¼ cup hydrogen peroxide.
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar.
  • Lemon juice.

Some of these ingredients contain chemicals, but there are safer than store-bought oven cleaners. This homemade cleaner doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals and should remove any grime buildups in your oven.

Once you have mixed all these ingredients, coat the inside of the oven with the mixture and let it sit for a few hours. Use a cloth to wipe a small quantity of the cleaner and see if the grime residues are removed. If not, let the mixture sit longer.

You should use a sponge to scrub and remove the mixture once it has dried. The grease residues should come right off. Use your oven’s self-cleaning cycle to eliminate any residues.

Coarse Salt

Kosher salt or kitchen salt can help you scrub the inside of your oven to remove grease. You can also sprinkle salt inside of your oven to absorb fresh grease buildups.

If there are tough buildups inside of your oven, create a paste with salt and warm water and let it sit to loosen the grime. Add a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar to this paste to get better results.

Using salt to scrub the inside of your oven will remove most residues and is safer than using chemicals. However, you need to use coarse salt to loosen grease.

Use a microfiber sponge to scrub the inside of the oven once you have coated it with salt. You can finish wiping the oven with a damp cloth.

The downside of this method is that you have to scrub the inside of your oven to clean it, but the advantage of using salt is that you can safely clean the heating element of the oven.

You can use salt to clean your oven racks. Sprinkle coarse salt over the racks and let them sit in warm water for a while. The salt should absorb any grease buildups and you can use a sponge to scrub the racks if you need to.

Using salt to clean your oven door isn’t ideal. Coarse salt could scratch the door of your oven, so it is best to keep the salt away from the door and use another natural cleaner for the door, such as vinegar or lemon juice.

Essential Oils

You can disinfect the inside of your oven with different essential oils. You can use orange, lemon, lavender, peppermint, or rosemary essential oils among others.

All you have to do is add a few drops of any of these essential oils to a bowl of warm water. This mixture can be applied to the inside of your oven to disinfect it. This method will make your oven smell great.

Essential oils won’t loosen grease buildups. This is a method you can use to finish cleaning your oven after you have used vinegar, lemon juice, or another natural cleaner to get rid of buildups.

You can use this mixture to disinfect other surfaces in your home, such as the inside of your fridge or your kitchen counter.

Clean Your Oven Regularly

These natural cleaners can remove grease and grime buildup, but they might not be as efficient as chemical cleaners. This is why you should use a harsher cleaner such as baking soda and vinegar once in a while or rely on the self-cleaning cycle of your oven to remove grease buildups.

The key is to clean your oven regularly. Cleaning this appliance will be more difficult if you wait and let grease and other residues build up.

If you haven’t cleaned your oven in a while, you will need to let the natural cleaner of your choice sit in the oven for a while so that it can break down old residues and buildups.

Try cleaning your oven at least once a month. This will prevent grease from forming a thick layer that is difficult to break down with a natural cleaner.

You should use the self-cleaning cycle of your oven anytime you make something messy. The self-cleaning cycle of your oven will use heat to remove any residues that have been accumulating inside of your oven.

You can get rid of chemical cleaners now that you know how to clean an oven with natural cleaners. Try these different methods to see what works best and think about using natural cleaners for other appliances to reduce exposure to chemicals.