I’m still slowly doing some spring cleaning around the house – long neglected areas that really need a deep cleaning. One of the handful of things I wanted to accomplish this Spring was a deep clean of our oven. It desperately needed it! This is my step by step process of how to clean your oven naturally without chemicals.
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I have to first start this post by apologizing to anyone who has used our oven in the past several years. When I finally saw the true state of our oven, I was embarrassed by how long my “slob vision” kept me from seeing how desperately it needed cleaning.
In the 10 years that we have lived in this house, I think we’ve only done a deep cleaning once or twice. The first time we used the typical oven cleaner with lots of chemicals and warnings about not getting the stuff on your skin – scary! We haven’t used it again since. The chemicals and the fumes were not worth a quick clean of the oven.
Research on How to Clean Your Oven Naturally
So after looking through Pinterest and reading some blog posts about how other folks were cleaning their ovens, I decided to go with the simple but reliable choice of baking soda, a scrubber, and a small piece of steel wool.
Some people were using a Magic Eraser or a Pumie Scouring Stick to clean their oven doors (which I had never heard of but am planning on trying on our toilets!), but I wanted to try the straightforward and natural way. I figured if it didn’t work, I could always try one of these other methods.
Our Oven Before
What I used:
- Baking Soda
- Water (to mix with the baking soda to form a paste – similar in consistency to toothpaste)
- Scouring sponge
- Steel wool
Four Steps to Clean Your Oven Naturally
- Form the baking soda past and apply all over the surface of the oven. Our oven is gas, but if you have an electric oven, just make sure not to get any on the coils.
- Leave it for several hours. I left mine overnight.
3. Use a wet sponge and scrub! Rinse out sponge, repeat. I had to put to quite a bit of elbow grease into scrubbing, especially the far wall and the top of the oven.
4. For the stubborn spots that wouldn’t come off, I used the steel wool and it broke up the bits so I could use the sponge and get it off completely.
How to clean your oven naturally in 4 steps. #cleaningtip #springcleaning Click To TweetOur Oven After
I’m not sure if I did this or not, but our oven light stopped working! So we’re lighting our After photo with a large light!
I really want to try and get at the glass in between the inner and outer door, but it didn’t unscrew easily, so I stopped. I have stripped way too many screws!
Total time…
The whole project from start to finish (including the oven racks) probably took about an hour. It wasn’t easy – there was a whole lot of scrubbing going on, but it was so worth it. Now that the layer of grime is gone, it will be so much easier to clean the next time!
Besides our children and our own health, here is another reason we don’t want chemicals in our house:
Simba, constantly curious!
Have you done any deep cleaning lately? How do you clean your oven?
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I am about to move this week so I have to deep clean this oven before I do! This was perfect! Thank you so happy to find your blog at the hop. You have a new fan!
Thank you for the sweet comment Suzie! I hope it works well for you! Good luck with your move.
I desperately need to clean my oven, but the thought of using harsh chemicals in the space where I cook my food sounds scary, not to mention hazardous! Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
You’re welcome Brittany!! I hope it works well for you – be careful not to knock your oven light!
Our ovens are only a year old, so they haven’t had time to build up grime, but I really need to deep clean them before things get bad. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! Don’t wait too long! I wish we hadn’t.
My oven is ready for a deep cleaning. I had not thought about trying baking soda. It’s such a great cleaning product for so many things.
It truly is Rachel! It’s my go to for daily and deep cleaning.
Baking soda is such a great tool. Probably much better than aerosol can chemicals! Thanks for linking up with Funtastic Friday.
Oh – so much better Victoria! Thanks for hosting a great party!
I so love baking soda! Glad your oven is shiny now 🙂
Me too Merit! Baking soda is my go to cleaning product and it never disappoints.
I was just telling my hubby that I really needed to deep clean my oven….yah for baking soda. So much better than harsh chemicals!! I can’t wait to try this!
Double yay for baking soda! hope this works well for you – let me know how it turns out!
Not to mention how CHEAP baking soda is! I discovered the baking soda magic for cooked on grime about a year ago and bought a massive bag of baking soda from the wholesale store for a few dollars and have only gotten about halfway through it in a year! I also mix a bit of white vinegar (gallon jug purchased at super cheap grocery store) in with it to activate it and then leave whatever I’m cleaning overnight and you don’t even need that much elbow grease after that.
Works on all sorts of things besides ovens too! I’ve done our metal Revere tea kettle a couple times (gets pretty grimy sitting on the stove all the time) and a glass lasagna pan. A friend had brought lasagna to my house and left the pan with the leftovers in it for me to enjoy. When the amazing lasagna was all eaten a couple days later I did the baking soda and vinegar soak on it overnight and when I returned the pan to her she could hardly believe it was hers!
That’s great Liz. Yes, I love how cheap it is too. I’ll need to go buy a big bag! We tend to use baking soda for cleaning everything. I’m keeping that cleaning tip in the lasagna pan in mind for the future. Thanks!
Great Tips! Thank you for sharing at the Sunday Fitness & Food Link-Up 🙂
Just FYI: Those ‘magic erasers’ are made of melamine, a toxic material. I wouldn’t use them. Just perhaps clean the oven more regularly, just as you would a bathtub or toilet!
Thank you Carol, that was my gut feeling. I agree that cleaning more often will solve the need to bring out the heavy (chemical ridden) hitters!