if you've ever experienced the pain of a burnt pan I bring good news!
If you've ever experienced the pain of a burnt frying pan, I bring good news! You can put away your rubber gloves and rest your weary arms. I have found a solution that is chemical-free, halves scrubbing time and let's you keep your pan. Cheer!
What You Need
Materials
1 cup of vinegar
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 cup of water (give or take depending on the size of your pan)
A burnt stainless steel pan that was left empty and unattended on a heated hot plate. oops!.
A scourer, because I can't find any way to avoid it entirely
Instructions
1. Fill the bottom of the pan with a layer of water.
2. Add the vinegar.
3. Bring the pan to the boil. It should be looking a bit cleaner already.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and add the baking soda. Expect fizz!
5. Empty the pan and scour as normal, if necessary add an extra bit of dry baking soda.
6. If there are any super stubborn marks that don't come off with scouring, make a paste of baking soda and a couple of drops of water. Leave the paste on the marks for a while and return to clean as normal.
7. Tad-ah! Now you can put your feet up and enjoy the many hours you saved yourself standing over the sink.
Additional Notes:
I'm almost ashamed to say, this is not my first time burning a frying pan (hopefully it is my last) and you can get them clean with just baking soda, water and a scourer if you're super committed. But this is much, much easier. I've also been told that this works for really well baked on food and grime especially milk.
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Comments (14)
I wonder if something similar to this would clean my cookie sheets? They've got a funky residue around the edges from overspray when we use a non-stick product on them...
I think I need to forward this to my husband, who is known for burning things into the bottom of the frying pan.
@ChristinaWeedon I did the same with my cookie sheets, but only after letting them soak on the counter with, of all things, a dryer sheet in hot water. It helped loosen the grime a bit. Then I went after the rest with baking soda and vinegar. It didn't get all the gunk off, but it help a lot.
Vinegar and baking soda can be used to clean just about anything, as long as you remember *not* to combine them. That fizz in step 4 is the vinegar and baking soda reacting to make water and CO2, two compounds not known for their super cleaning powers. You may remember this little experiment from elementary school science class "volacanos." So, by all means heat your vinegar in the pan , but then empty it out before adding the baking soda. By adding the baking soda to the vinegar, though, you are just wasting both.
@greenward: Yeah, I always wondered about that. So many DIY cleaner recipes call for mixing things like borax (alkaline) and vinegar (acid). Doesn't that just neutralize everything?
One day I would really like to see a good chemistry-based set of green cleaning tips.
I think a lot people think the fizz means it's "working" :)
@Chronosynclastic: You are right about the neutralizing effect. I use creme' of tartar as a cleaner for my copper cook wear and it works great as a paste in cleaning off metal baking dishes. It seems to work better than baking soda. It does cost more but it cleans better and I use less of it than baking soda.
This is amazing. Thank you.
I tried this today...after a distracted morning at the stove where I burnt both bacon and potatoes. So I had two frying pans to clean. I only had apple cider vinegar and only a little of that so I used the boiling method on the worst pan. Using the advice from other comments, dumped the boiling mixture before adding the baking soda. The pan now looks cleaner on the inside than it does on the outside! I just used hot water and baking soda on the second pan and was also amazed by how easy it was to clean. I think baking soda is the key here. I'll be trying it on everything I have to clean from now on :) but I'll also be more careful when cooking breakfast haha
No chemicals used? The active ingredient in vinegar is acetic acid, and baking soda is sodium hydrogen carbonate. Inexpensive, relatively harmless, well working chemicals. They'll clean just about anything.
i really needed this! my husband keeps burning stuff into the pans and leaving me to clean the mess. I was beginning to think I'd never get all of
them clean again!
I always just use water and baking soda, no vinegar. Just put some baking soda (sort of a lot)(like 1/2 cup or so) and some water in the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for a while. Then, turn it off and leave to cool. The stuff comes off like a miracle, with no scrubbing.
I just use baking soda. Add water to the pot/pan, add a good amount of baking soda and bring to a boil and let simmer for a while. Be careful, it easily boils over and you'll have a big mess on your hands. Let cool until you can stick your hands in it without burning yourself and scrub with the hard part of a sponge. You won't need to scrub much. It's less work than the instructions above. Unless the food is seriously burnt, it comes right off during the simmering part.
Sorry, I hadn't read all the comments. Dulcibella had already said how it's done much more easily.
Thank you I have plenty of pans to try this on