Oven cleaning with Auri Kananen: try the cleaning guru’s plastic wrap trick to melt away burnt-on grease
Oven cleaning can feel frustrating. Cleaning influencer Auri Kananen shares tips for quick oven cleaning, removing stubborn grime with a simple plastic wrap trick, and choosing the right cleaning tools.
Oven cleaning with Auri Kananen’s methods
A quick oven cleaning is easily done with just water, a steel scouring pad, and a cleaning scraper. These heavy-duty tools remove even burnt-on grime.
Auri Kananen encourages the use of steel tools:
“Stubborn grime calls for tough tools. People often worry that a steel scouring pad or cleaning scraper will scratch the oven’s surfaces. However, that’s simply not true. The biggest mistake you can make when cleaning is using a soft sponge, because it won’t remove grime from the oven!”
You can also clean oven racks and baking trays with a steel scouring pad, scrubbing pad, or cleaning scraper without scratching them.
Cleaning the oven with baking soda and lemon
For an easy way to freshen your oven, Kananen offers an eco-friendly tip:
“Place a cup filled with lemon or baking soda in the oven. Then turn the oven on so the ingredients can vaporize. This trick won’t work for extremely dirty ovens, but it’s great for a quick refresh!”
How often should you clean your oven?
You can do a quick oven cleaning about once a month. It’s wise to check your oven every now and then right after use. Fresh stains and splatters haven’t had time to set, so they come off easily. Regular checks help reduce the need for deep cleaning.
Don’t worry if it’s been a while, because you can still clean a dirty oven with Kananen’s plastic wrap trick.
Clean a heavily soiled oven with the help of plastic wrap
Kananen has a handy tip for removing stubborn grime from your oven:
- Spray oven cleaner on the surfaces of your oven.
- Cover the necessary surfaces with plastic wrap: walls, doors, racks, and baking trays.
- Let the cleaner work overnight so burnt-on grease can soften under the plastic wrap.
- Remove the plastic wrap.
- Finally, clean the oven as you normally would with a steel scouring pad, cleaning scraper, and water.
Without plastic wrap, the oven cleaner dries too quickly and doesn’t have enough time to work.
“Another common mistake is turning the oven on with the cleaner still inside. This way the cleaner will just burn onto the oven’s surfaces instead of actually cleaning them,” Kananen explains.
Tip!
You can best clean small gaps and crevices by detaching parts of the oven. In a convection oven, you can usually remove the back rack with a screwdriver, and the oven door can often be taken off too. The detaching mechanism varies by oven model—some doors detach by unscrewing, clicking the bottom loose, or pressing buttons at the top. You can typically find instructions for your specific oven model easily online.
Why does my oven smell bad?
If your oven smells unpleasant, it’s likely due to dirt. The odor should vanish once the oven is clean. If it still lingers after cleaning, check the oven again. Dirt can often hide in places you don’t immediately notice. For instance, there may be grease on the oven ceiling that you didn’t spot before.
Burnt-on grime calls for a strong cleaning product
Kananen recommends using cleaners specially formulated for ovens. They’re not magic, though—especially for heavily soiled spots, you need to let them sit long enough to work.
What about using tall oil soap for oven cleaning? Kananen says it’s too mild for burnt-on grime, so it doesn’t really boost cleaning power. However, you can use it with water as a lubricant for steel tools.
If you want a more eco-friendly alternative to strong oven cleaners, the best strategy is to keep your oven tidy by scrubbing it regularly with water and a steel scouring pad.
Avoid acidic products, toilet cleaners, and chlorine when cleaning your oven. You also shouldn’t use oven cleaner on aluminum. A reaction occurs between aluminum and the cleaner, leaving marks in the oven. If your oven is aluminum, use only water and a steel scouring pad. And don’t replace plastic wrap with aluminum foil when covering the oven cleaner.
Wipe away the cleaning product thoroughly
After scrubbing, wipe away the oven cleaner several times with a damp cloth. Use fresh cloths—don’t dip the same one back into the water bucket repeatedly. Often, you’ll need multiple rounds of wiping to remove all of the cleaner. Kananen often turns the oven on after cleaning so the last residues of the product evaporate and burn off.
“Sometimes people send me photos showing white residue or wipe marks in the oven after cleaning. That just means there’s still cleaner left that needs to be wiped away,” Kananen says.
