My ovens were due for a good cleaning, we hosted Christmas dinner here and things got a bit messy. If your like me you hate this chore… I mean put off, detest, will scrub anything else to avoid getting to this chore kind of avoid. That was until a few days ago. I’m going to show you how to naturally clean your oven without harsh chemicals or expensive products. You only need one common kitchen item and some water. It’s easy, it works overnight and best of all there’s no scrubbing involved!
Yeah right you say.
I’ve always hated the smell and mess of the entire process. The self clean feature on the oven works just fine, but the entire family complains about the smell. Chemical cleaners are out because we’ve moved to being a green family. I found a quick and easy method to naturally clean your oven. With no bad smell.
This was my oven.
Clean Your Oven Without Chemicals
I use affiliate links to help you find the supplies I used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
All you’ll need is a box of baking soda and a spray bottle with water. Start by misting your oven thoroughly with water. Next, sprinkle the baking soda all over the bottom of your oven and the door. Take little handfuls and pat it to the walls if needed. Layer the baking soda on thicker wherever you have heavier baked on spill. Mist with water until it’s a paste but not runny.
Close the door and let the baking soda do its magic.
Recheck and spritz more water from time to time on the worst spots. Let it sit overnight. In the morning wipe everything down. I was amazed at how clean the oven was after wiping it down. I had no idea I could clean my oven naturally without chemicals. There were a few spots that I had to treat again but they cleaned right up after the second treatment.
Look how clean the glass came out. So…I guess this means no more excuses. You can naturally clean your oven without chemicals or making the entire house smelly.
Is that crazy easy and clean or what?
Ready to naturally clean your oven too?
Want more green home care solutions? You may enjoy my posts on Chemical Free Organic Pest Control (click here) posts.
I’m also sharing all my best house cleaning hacks and a free house cleaning checklist in my post The Best House Cleaning Checklist and Cleaning Hacks
Looking for more good green living information? Try these books, Do One Thing Green
, The Naturally Clean Home 150 Super Easy Herbal Formulas For Green Cleaning Both are filled with great information.
Christina in SW FL says
Oh Wendi, the timing on this post is positively wonderful! 🙂 I just moved into a new rental house which was functionally renovated but not finessed. I’ll use this to “finesse” the oven. I really lean hard on my buddy baking soda so this is great news. 🙂 I’ll put it in tonight before I go to bed and plan on cleaning out the yuck tomorrow. 🙂 Thanks so much.
Wendi says
Hi Christina! Oh my gosh , thanks so much for your note! I really hesitated on sending out the oven cleaning post. The picture is old and I was a newer blogger when I wrote it. Sometimes you’ll have to treat a stubborn spot twice but the method works well. Like you, I use baking soda for lots of things, especially cleaning. It’s great for stainless steel sinks too. Congrats on your new place. It’s a shame it didn’t come finessed and ready 100% for you! How fun though, you get a new place to decorate:) Enjoy!
Christina in SW FL says
Wendi, the baking soda works SO well, thank you!
Yes, this little place is a great stepping stone place. Lots of construction dust, much unfinished this and that… yet I have all my things out of storage so it is a transitional wonderland.
You always have great posts that are uniquely relevant to my interests and projects.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Wendi says
Christina…. thank you so very much! Glad the baking soda worked for you. Once you’ve tried it, there’s no reason to go back to smelly chemicals 🙂 Oh my gosh… your place sounds lovely and at just the right stage too with lots of opportunity to decorate! Have fun with it. Also… I’m thrilled you shared my posts are relevant! It’s a tough act to choose the right content that is informative and useful. Thanks!!
Nancy says
I love this post! I really don’t like cleaning with toxic product! I read horrible stuff about them! Thanks! I will try your way!
Wendi says
Thank you. It works great, you’ll love how well this method cleans:)
Betty819 says
I’m going to try your method but what about cleaning the oven racks? I know about putting them in a large plastic bag, putting them outside and pourint household ammonia in the bag, and leaving them outside for a day but it’s wintertime now..what does one do with the left over dirty household ammonia? It’s still going to be inside the plastic trash bag. Won’t it kill the grass if you pour it on there? Put it inside another large trashbag and put it on top of the trash can to be picked up with regular trash? I’ve heard if you use plastic trash bags to pour the ammonia all inside the bags and the crows won’t pick it apart. We are not supposed to use black plastic bags to put out trash out here but some people do it anyhow because they don’t want to have to put the trash can out and bring it back in.
Wendi says
Betty, I would try this method to also clean the oven racks. If it doesn’t work as well as you need it too I’ve heard that using fabric softener sheets works well to clean the racks. Line your tub with 4 used sheets and a little water. Let your racks sit overnight. Thanks for stopping by & good luck!
Linda Weeks says
Yes, thank you for this post… my oven has been waiting for months to be cleaned, and I’ve been trying to ignore it. I will try this method asap, what do I have to lose? Love baking soda!
I mean, for cleaning and stuff, it doesn’t taste too good.
Wendi says
Oh your poor oven… I was in the same state until I tried this method too 🙂 Ya gotta love baking soda it really is miracle stuff – and cleans so well. I’m not so crazy about the taste either. Thanks for your visit and good luck on the oven!
Joanna says
I have baked on grease in my oven, the really hard stuff. I tried some oven pride from the supermarket but the solution would not move it at all. I am going to give your baking soda idea a try as you have made it seem pretty good and not too difficult to do. If this fails I am just going to call out that Expert Oven Cleaning who put a leaflet through my door the other week…
Thanks for the guide. I will let you know how I get on 🙂
Wendi says
Joanna ~ You may have to treat a spot or two more than once if your oven has really heavy baked on grease. Mine cleaned right up. For us, since we are green it was the best method we’ve found. Best of luck to you on your oven! Thank you for stopping by today.
Joanna says
Thank you for your response Wendi! I will try treating those parts again.
Wendi says
Good luck!
Laura @ Thrifty Homemaking says
That looks so easy! I guess I no longer have an excuse not to clean my oven 😉
Thanks for sharing! I pinned for later and am now following on pinterest and twitter!
Wendi says
Why thank you Laura! Funny I thought the same as well… no excuse not to keep the oven clean since it’s so easy now. Here’s to having a clean oven & finding more time for something else! Thank you kindly for stopping by!
Carmen Bowen says
Thanks for this tip! Are there any special precautions for the gas oven? We have only been in our house 7 months, and this is is the first time I have ever had a gas oven to clean. Do I need to put something in the holes in bottom of oven to prevent baking soda & water from going down there? Like I said, just a little paranoid with gas cooking still a little new to me-:) Thanks so much for any insight!
Wendi says
Good questions Carmen! I also have a gas oven and was careful not to pour the baking soda down into the open areas. But, some did get down in mine and its been OK. If you remember from science class.. baking soda is used to put out kitchen fires. Covering your holes may not be a bad idea. You may want to read a bit more on that before you do it though. I do love a gas oven though! Once you get used to it you’ll LOVE it! Thanks for sharing your questions!
Angela @ Angela Says says
This is awesome that this method worked for you, I’ve seen it as hit and miss. I add a bit of dish soap to the baking soda and it just eats the grime and all you do is wipe it up.
Wendi says
Angela, Thanks for the tip! I’ll keep that in mind if I get some stubborn spots. I’m so relieved to have found a good alternative to harsh and stinky chemicals. Thanks for sharing and stopping by! Have a great weekend!
Diane | An Extraordinary Day says
Wendi this is fabulous! My oven is a mess since the holidays and I’ve been dreading cleaning it. I’ve gotten sick from the fumes of commercial oven cleaner with a respiratory thing that took weeks to recover, so I don’t want that again. I’ll give your method a try. My fingers are crossed that I won’t need to make repeated applications since the oven is in use nearly every day.
If this works…I’ll bake you a cake!!!
[hugs]
~Diane
p.s. Please pop over to my Project Inspire{d} link party and share this terrific tip at anextraordinaryday.net
Wendi says
Hi Diane! Yum!!! A cake! I’ll take a cake..LOL It really did work well. I’ve become sensitive to chemicals also so I’m constantly testing out new green methods! I treated one heavily caked on area twice, but I’ve had to do that also with chemical oven cleaners. I’ll head over to the wonderful link up you have for Project Inspire with this too. Thank you for stopping by today!
Diane | An Extraordinary Day says
Hey Wendi….thanks so much for popping over and linking up. I can’t wait to get my oven clean without fumes!! 🙂
Wendi says
You’re welcome! I’d like to say have fun with cleaning your oven but that’s a bit silly.. so pour a little glass of wine and then have fun with the oven cleaning!
Kelly of Simply Kelly Designs says
These are amazing results. I am going to try this on my oven. Thank you Wendi!
Wendi says
Kelly, It really is amazing. Even as I was sprinkling the baking soda into the oven I was thinking yeah, right.. let see how this will work. Ha! I love it and love that it’s natural and so inexpensive. Have a great day & thank you for stopping by!
Rebecca @ Love at First Book says
You’re kidding. That’s so easy. . . and soooooo much better than the chemicals. . . those are horrible!!! And have to be sooooo bad for you to breathe in, too.
Thanks for linking up to the Spread the Love Linky Party – this was also pinned & tweeted!
Wendi says
It really IS that easy! Shocked me too. I’m sure our grandparents know all about this oven cleaning method. I think people feel that if they purchase something it must be better. And your right on the fumes, they can’t be harmless. Thanks for stopping by!
Suzy says
Thanks for sharing! I have searched & searched for something like this because we cut out toxic cleaning products when I was pregnant (my son is now 18 months), so despite frequent wipedowns, my oven window is still looking rough! I found a couple of posts that claimed to clean ovens without the icky oven cleaner… but they used ammonia instead! Lol Not exactly what I was looking for. Can’t wait to try this!
Wendi says
Suzy, I had the same experiences when I was looking for alternatives as we’ve gone green. Substituting one chemical for another defeats the purpose! Hats off to you for being diligent when you were pregnant and still after. Being green is so much easier, healthy and costs way less. I wish I’d learned more earlier. Thanks for your visit and kind comment.
LuAnn Braley says
That is so cool, Wendi. Especially since one or more of my meds has made me extremely sensitive to pungent smells. Shared to G+, Pinterest and Tumblr.
Wendi says
Thank you for sharing! Like you I’m sensitive to smells. Once I smell something I think I can smell it for the rest of the day. I love anything green and really love it when it works so well. Thank you for stopping by!