First, sprinkle baking soda all over the affected area, then use a sponge to scour the inside of the pan. Once you've removed as much of the mess as you can, add a small amount of vinegar: the mixture should foam up immediately. Scrub thoroughly, then rinse and repeat until the stain is fully dissolved.
Take some diluted white vinegar and scrub with a non-abrasive sponge. Then after thoroughly working the vinegar into your cookware, you just need to rinse and dry. The acidity of the vinegar will work to break down the oxidized rainbow layer to keep your stainless steel pots looking their silvery best.
To clean burnt stainless steel cookware, try soaking it in a mixture of hot water and baking soda. Scrub with a non-abrasive sponge or brush. If stubborn stains persist, you can also use a mixture of vinegar and water or a specialized stainless steel cleaner. Avoid abrasive materials that could scratch the surface.
Cooking on high heat unnecessarily
But blasting your stainless steel cookware on high heat is a surefire way to invite food to stick, discolor your pans and potentially warp them.
If harder stains or rust remains, sprinkle baking soda or another non-abrasive scrub cleaner on a soft, damp cleaning cloth, mixed with liquid soap. Clean problem areas gently, going with the grain of the stainless steel. Spray the surface with vinegar-water mixture or glass cleaner and wipe again. Pat dry.
Stainless steel can be repaired if damaged or scratched without having to strip the entire project. All of our coatings are self-annealing and will blend to themselves resulting in a smooth finish. Useful sacrificial coating for easy removal of graffiti, allowing for low effort and low cost removal and re-coating.
Spray on Acorn CRES (phosphoric acid) liberally and let sit for 10 minutes over the affected area. Scour the surface with the pad until it is free of rust or visible oxidation. Make sure to follow the direction of any grain lines on the metal surface.
Simply boil water and a few tablespoons of white vinegar together in your stainless steel pan—just enough to cover the mess in question—then dump it out and wash with soapy water.
While a professional polish may be necessary for tougher jobs, you can get your stainless steel looking great with something you have right in your pantry: olive oil! From your stainless pots and pans to the door of your refrigerator, a few drops of oil will get the job done.
Drop a few drops of water into the pan. If those droplets start dancing merrily, the pan is perfectly at temperature. If the drops slowly evaporate, then your stainless steel pan is still too cold. If the drops disappear immediately, then the pan is too hot.
If it's the first time food is burnt on the pan, it should be fine. Otherwise, it's not ideal to continue cooking or eating food from a burnt pan that hasn't been cleaned. Try to clean a burnt pan as soon as possible after it's burnt so that the chemicals don't transfer to your food.
DO use a non-abrasive cleaner. Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser, Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser, and Bar Keepers Friend MORE Spray+Foam are perfect for regularly cleaning stainless steel sinks and cookware. Each of these products is non-abrasive and won't harm the chrome oxide barrier when used properly.
While resistant to the effects of saltwater, environmental fallout, and UV damage, stainless steel will eventually succumb and start to oxidize. The material will start to look hazy, maybe even slightly brown from a light dusting or rust.
Removing heat-tint from stainless steel fabrications can be achieved using a variety of methods including brush-on gels and pastes, immersion acid or spray pickling and the electrolytic method.
As long as the cookware has not been overheated, this rainbow-like discoloration should be easy to remove. To remove, use Bar Keepers Friend® cleanser and a soft, nonabrasive sponge. Be sure to rinse thoroughly as cleansers can leave a powdery residue. Lemon juice will remove the 'rainbow' effect as well.
If you're going to cook over high heat, use oil with a high smoke point, such as grapeseed or sunflower. If you're only cooking over medium heat, olive oil works too. Avoid cooking sprays, which can polymerize onto the pan's surface and become difficult to remove.
Vinegar and olive oil are two must-haves in any kitchen.
They're ideal for cleaning stainless steel surfaces too! Here's how to use them: Wipe down the surface to remove any dust and grime. Spray a small amount of vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar) onto the surface.
When you overheat stainless steel, it doesn't release chromium, it actually promotes the formation of more chromium oxide, which is the whole purpose of the chromium in stainless steel. Chromium oxide is a clear layer that coats the top of the stainless steel surface and prevents the iron from rusting.
Salt: to fix your stainless steel pan whose bottom has burned, you can also use salt, a product that is always present in your kitchen! Pour fine salt on the bottom of the burnt pan and let it work for at least one hour. Then clean the pan, the stains and residues will have gone.
A damp microfiber with a small amount of polish rubbed in a circular motion is generally the best method to restore stainless steel with a mirror finish. This will remove oxidation from steel, polish fine scratches out and bring back the finish.
Use Baking Soda
Turn on the heat and bring the water to a boil. If you have a very stubborn stain on your pan, like burnt food, you can add a few tablespoons of white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar to the water before it boils. Let the water boil for about 10 minutes.