The Bottom Line. Next time you're faced with a pot or pan covered in baked-on food, don't immediately reach for the scrub brush. Instead, try soaking with dishwasher detergent for an easy and effective way to remove the food without any elbow grease.
50/50 solution of vinegar and water, and a squirt of dish soap will cut grease in most cases.
An abrasive cleaner is the best choice for removing baked-on food, as it effectively scrubs surfaces. Other options like delimers, detergents, or degreasers are less effective for this purpose. Therefore, an abrasive cleaner would provide the necessary scrubbing action needed for tough, baked-on food residues.
You'll need baking soda, water, and white vinegar, and a scouring pad and scraper, such as a wooden spatula. One method uses a fresh lemon, cut in half. Baking soda is your go-to for cleaning a burnt pot or pan because it has mild abrasive properties and its alkaline pH can help neutralize acidic burnt foods.
Goo Gone Kitchen Degreaser was our favorite product for cleaning burned-on food off of pans. With just one spritz of this easy-to-use spray (plus a Scotch-Brite sponge and a normal amount of elbow grease), we were able to clean the dirtiest pans in about 40 seconds.
A mixture of dish soap, kosher salt, and baking soda can help remove dried grease. You may also want to use a mildly abrasive sponge (rather than a rag) to help lift off the grime.
Our top picks, such as the Goo Gone Oven and Grill Cleaner, ZEP Heavy-Duty Oven and Grill Cleaner, and the Carbona Oven Cleaner Spray, are great for heavy-duty cleanups. These spray-on solutions cling to stains and grease and practically melt them away.
Baking soda is non-toxic, inexpensive, easy-to-use, and remarkably effective on cleaning oven grease. Baking soda is alkaline, and oven grease made of food particles is typically acidic. Baking soda neutralizes acids and breaks down the grease, allowing you to wipe it up without a lot of elbow grease.
Final answer: An Abrasive cleaner is ideal for removing baked-on food in pots and pans thanks to its mixture of surfactants and abrasive powders. Alkaline cleaners can also effectively dissolve tough residues but must be used with care due to their caustic nature.
Many oven cleaners use non-caustic inside the oven and caustic in their dip tank, which they use outside the home. However, using caustic chemicals can make oven racks go rusty, damage backplates, self-clean liners and aluminium. It is therefore best to avoid caustic altogether, both inside and outside of the home.
Cooking Oil
As you may have guessed, oil can also help to dislodge the baked-on crud that could be flipped or razored off the surface. Oil can soften crud so it can be scrubbed away and decrease the bond between crud masses and the stove surface.
Goo Gone Kitchen Degreaser is a foaming cleaner that excels on both vertical and horizontal surfaces. It's formulated for tackling tough grease and grime in the kitchen. It works by coating and lifting greasy messes, and it's safe to use on pots and pans as well as countertops, microwaves, stovetops and more.
You can make your own mix of equal parts of baking soda and water, or opt for a commercial cleaning product such as a degreaser spray. For stubborn stains, you can also use a mixture of vinegar and baking soda to create a paste and apply it to the affected area.
The acidity of vinegar also helps break down baked-on grease and debris. To remove baked-on grime, mix two parts baking soda to one part water. The mixture should form a spreadable paste that you can spread over the interior of the oven.
Solvalene, the highest strength industrial degreaser, can conquer countless tough cleaning assignments. This industrial strength cleaner and degreaser is able to quickly penetrate and emulsify like no other cleaner and degreaser can.