I haven’t cleaned my oven since I moved into my home. Yes, fair enough: I’ve not lived here for years, and I do use my air fryer a lot, which takes some of the heat (see what I did there?) off my oven. But, it admittedly is gross. It could do with a deep clean, but truthfully, I don’t really have the time. So, I wanted to find a way to make this the easiest chore on my spring cleaning list.
I asked AI how to clean my oven easily, and it told me to use one ingredient, which truly shocked me. Citric acid was the cure to a dirty oven, and luckily for me, I already had a bag of the stuff under my sink.
Overall, this oven cleaning hack took around 1 hour and 30 minutes. It takes a lot of time to prepare, as you’ll need to switch your oven on and then wait for it to cool down again. But, it is a game-changer if your oven needs a light clean — and it could even be used in an air fryer.
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The prep
(Image credit: Future/Annie Collyer)
The magic happens in the preparation when it comes to this oven cleaning hack. You’re going to need three things: some citric acid, an oven-safe vessel, and some water.
Simply add two tablespoons of your citric acid to this oven-safe container and mix it with water.
Heat your oven to 450°F or 230°C for 30-60 minutes. I initially set my timer for 60 minutes because of how dirty my oven was. It’s also worth keeping an eye on it as you’re waiting for the water to boil and steam to fill the oven, essentially.
The water was boiling way before my timer showed 30 minutes remaining, so I decided to turn the oven off at 45 minutes in.
(Image credit: Future/Annie Collyer)
When you’re happy, you can turn the oven off but keep the door shut. Allow it to completely cool with the door closed, as this will help those burned-on foods peel away from the interior of the oven with ease.
The result
(Image credit: Future/Annie Collyer)
Here comes the messy part. You’re going to need paper towels — and a lot of them. Carefully remove the oven-safe container and set it aside, as you might need it again later.
Grab some paper towels and start wiping down your oven. It’d be a good idea to remove any wire racks and place them in your sink for cleaning.
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(Image credit: Future/Annie Collyer)
On the first wipe of the bottom of my oven, which was essentially covered in burnt-on food flakes, I was super impressed. It took just minutes to wipe away all of the burnt remains, and these came away from my oven with ease.
Once I got to the point where there were no more visible burnt chunks of food, I decided to go in with more solution. I kept the oven-safe tray and added more citric acid to it to form a thicker scrubbing paste.
I went in with this paste, focusing on the bottom of my oven and those sticky stains. Unfortunately, it didn’t manage to budge those really burnt-on stains that need some elbow grease and a specialised de-greasing formula.
The bottom line
(Image credit: Future/Annie Collyer)
I’d definitely use this method to clean my oven again. However, I do think that my oven was perhaps a bit too dirty to begin with. This non-toxic oven cleaning hack is better for general oven cleaning, not for when it has been left for over a year.
So, I plan to get my oven professionally cleaned and then afterwards, to keep up with the monthly or bi-monthly mess, I’ll use some trusty citric acid.
I also plan on using this to clean my air fryer, as it’s non-toxic and great for lighter jobs.
It’s worth noting that this cleaning hack didn’t work on my oven glass, no matter how much I scrubbed it!
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