The Weird but Effective way for How to Clean Oven Racks
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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.
My Favorite DIY Tools and Supplies:
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!
Wow it really works!!! However, I cleaned my gas grill’s pieces. However I did not use my bathtub instead I used large plastic storage bins and did it on my deck.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
So happy it worked for you! And great idea to use plastic tubs 🙂
It really works! I can’t thank you enough for the tip!
Thank you for the tip! Works extremely well and so easy to do!
yay! I’m so happy to hear that!
Hi Karen, neat post. Why do you avoid the chemical spray oven cleaners like Easy Off Heavy Duty? I may have to use that version next week for a big commercial grill cleaning job with the full protective gear.
Thanks
Hey there! In general, I try to avoid using chemical sprays in my home. The Environmental Working Group gave Easy Off Heavy Duty a grade of “F” for safety, but I’m not sure about the fume free version. Here is the link to it : https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/1064-EASYOFFHeavyDutyOvenCleanerFreshScent
I’ve also read complaints of people using Easy Off Oven Cleaner and permanently discoloring their oven. I just don’t want to take the risk! The method I use works well enough for me and it’s a bonus that I can use cheap ingredients to clean it up. My husband uses Citrusafe Grill Cleaner Spray (https://www.citrusafe.com/) to clean the grill and it works for us! You might want to check it out. Thanks for reading! 🙂
I also made the baking soda paste and got drips on the inside of my oven window. I did take my door apart, to a point, about 8 screws. I was then able to fashion a paper towel around a handle and clean the window. If I would have gone one step further, I could have really gotten at the glass. It looks better, but not perfect. I will try again another day. I wanted to make sure that I could get everything back together.
I hear you! I am still too scared to do it. But those drip marks are killing me. Ugh!
Hi I have double oven! Yes I hate those run marks between the glass too! Mine is a kitchen aid! On each door they’re are two screws on the top on each side I just take them out! Careful to hold the doors together as they are spring loaded! Then viola!!! You can clean the glass onthe INSIDE!! It looks amazing when your done! Nothing worse than clean inside and streaks on glass on the inside!!!
Wow Iacie! I still haven’t tried it but I’m perhaps one of these days I’ll give it a go. It looks horrible. My oven is clean and my oven racks – but that darn glass! My dad is very handy and coming to visit us here in Seattle soon – maybe I’ll have a little project waiting for him! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this on my oven racks! They have just seemingly suddenly gotten really really bad. I have been doing Keto for over a year now, so I’m guessing all that oven baked bacon took it’s toll!
I did learn from another pin about using just a paste of baking soda and a little warm water to clean my oven door. I also wipe it down now with a dry paper towel when I see it’s gotten a little greasy. It helps to stay ahead of it!
I have always used a sheet of heavy duty foil (shiny side down) in my oven to cut back on how much oven cleaning I actually have to do.
One thing I did not see you mention was removing the oven door. All oven doors have a [strong] spring hinge system that allows you to remove the door from the oven to clean it. The first time I did that at my mother’s house, she about fainted, just sure I had broken her oven! LOL But seriously, it really does make it far easier to get to the back of the oven (and the top). Hope this helps!!
Thank you, Carole! I have never tried taking the door off of my oven, but I sure want to! It’s very tempting. Definitely give your oven racks a bath. It makes the cleaning process so much easier and you can walk away and do other things while they are soaking. Let me know how it turns out for you! 🙂