The Weird but Effective way for How to Clean Oven Racks
In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of how to clean oven racks efficiently and effectively. If your oven racks have seen better days, wait until you learn this weird but effective oven rack cleaning method. With a few simple steps and some elbow grease, you can have those oven racks looking sparkling clean in no time.
Once I learned this easy method for cleaning your oven racks, I was hooked! And our oven racks have never looked better. This is not a QUICK cleaning method. You need to give the racks time to soak. You have to use some scrubbing power at the end. I had to clean some sections over and over again. But my oven racks are spotless now!
I didn’t have to use those toxic commercial oven cleaners either—no Easy-Off Oven Cleaner for this gal. This is a no ammonia method, too. Frankly, that method scares me a little. We have a gas oven, and I don’t know enough about it to feel safe. Ok, so here’s what you do need.
Things You’ll Need for this Cleaning Method
- Degreasing Dish Soap
- Dryer Sheets
- Old Towel – see expert tip
- Optional: Aluminum Foil or a scrubber pad
Expert Tip: Lay an old towel down in your tub for your oven racks to rest on. This way you don’t have to worry about potential scratches to your tub.
How to Clean Oven Racks
I’ve done this method over and over again – it works! I even made a quick video about this.
A step by step tutorial for how to clean oven racks.
Total Time 6 hours
Remove oven Racks
Carefully remove all the oven racks from your oven.
Prepare Oven Rack Bath
Fill your bathtub with HOT water and squirt some dish soap in there to make it soapy. Now throw a whole bunch of dryer sheets in there too.
Place Oven Racks in Bath to Soak
Carefully place your oven racks in the bathtub to soak. You might want to lay an old towel down first so your oven racks don’t scratch the tub. Now just sit back and wait. I let my oven racks soak for 6 hours. The dryer sheets help the grease and grime separate from the racks. The dish soap also cuts the grease. You can check on them periodically and test a spot to see how that grime is coming off.
Scrub Oven Racks Clean
After they have soaked, you should see that a lot of that gunk came off already! Scrub your oven racks with the wet dryer sheets – how that grease disappears is magical. If needed, you can ball up a piece of aluminum foil or use steel wool to scrub them even more. Once your oven racks are clean, give them a good rinse down with dish soap and hot water and dry them with a clean towel.
Place Clean Oven Racks back in Oven
Your oven racks are clean! Place them carefully back in your oven and marvel at your cleaning efforts.
Video Tutorial
Final Result!
Here’s a close-up before and after. Amazing! Can you believe the difference? These are like brand-new oven racks.
Cleaning the Tub Afterward
If you are wondering if this leaves your tub a mess, it depends on how dirty your oven racks are. In my opinion, if I have to spend 5-10 minutes wiping down the tub afterward for nice and clean oven racks, I’ll do it. You can rinse all the debris down the drain and throw out the dryer sheets. And once you clean them, you probably won’t have to repeat this chore for a while.
You no longer have to endure those dirty oven racks. I was amazed at how well it worked; it’s a hands-off project for the most part. Let the dryer sheets and bathtub do most of the work! I love not having to worry about nasty fumes, either.
PS: I also tried this on our grill tools and skewers; it worked like a charm! I followed it up with a good scrub with soap and hot water.
Good luck with your cleaning!
