How to Clean an Oven With Lemon (5 Steps) + More!

Cleaning the oven can be easy or difficult depending on how dirty the oven is and for how long it has remained that way.

It is no longer news that lemon is an excellent cleaning agent because of its acidic property, which makes it dissolve stains easily.

Not only does lemon refresh the look of your oven, but it also kills bacteria and deodorizes foul smells.

METHOD 1: Cleaning With Lemons

YOU’LL NEED

1- Lemon
2- Water
3- Baking dish
4- Towel
5- Spatula
6- Scouring Pad

STEPS

STEP1: PREPARE THE LEMON AND WATER MIXTURE

Squeeze 1 or 2 lemons into a baking dish after cutting each in half. Along with the lemon peels, pour a large amount of water into the baking dish.

STEP 2: HEAT THE MIXTURE

Place the baking dish with the lemon water and the peels in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes at 250° Fahrenheit, depending on how ugly the oven is.

This is to use the steam produced by the heating system to combat dirt and dissolve fats in the oven, making the cleaning process easier.

STEP 3: REMOVE THE DISH AND SCRUB THE OVEN

Remove the baking dish from the oven after being heated for 30 minutes or more and let it cool before you begin cleaning. When the oven is cold enough to handle, use a scouring pad to scrub away the grime and dirt in the oven.

Repeat this procedure until the oven appears to be clean.

NOTE: A scouring pad may be ineffective against bigger chunks of dirt in the oven in some situations, so a spatula should be used instead.

STEP 4: RINSE THE OVEN WITH THE MIXTURE OR LEMON

After scrubbing the oven with the scouring pad, clean it with the lemon and water solution in the baking dish.

You can also chop fresh lemons and rub them against the oven’s insides to deodorize and disinfect the oven—this procedure aids in removing any lingering foul odors from the oven.

STEP 5: DRY CLEAN WITH A TOWEL

Finally, when the oven is clean and sparkling after rinsing with the lemon water, use a clean towel to dry the oven.

Here is a quick recap of the process:

1- Cut lemons into halves and squeeze them into a baking dish.

2- Add water to the lemons in the baking dish.

3- Put the mixture in the oven and heat it at a high temperature for about 30 minutes.

4- Allow the oven to cool down before scrubbing away the dirt with a scouring pad.

5- Use the mixture of lemon and water to rinse the oven and dry it with a clean towel.

METHOD 2: Cleaning With Lemon Juice & Baking Soda

Baking soda and lemon, when used separately, are good cleaning and deodorizing agents for the oven. The cleaning process is made smoother and quicker by combining the two.

Because of its alkaline nature, baking soda dissolves oil-based stains easily.

Also, lemon contains citric acid, which not only makes it a good cleaning agent but also a natural bleaching agent.

YOU’LL NEED

1- Lemon
2- Water
3- Baking Soda
4- Sponge/Rag
5- Damp cloth

STEPS

1- Prepare a mixture of baking soda, water, and lemon into a paste-like form.

2- Apply the mixture to the dirty parts of the oven and leave it there for around 12 hours. In most cases, leaving it overnight should suffice.

3- After that, thoroughly scrub the dirtier areas of the insides with a sponge or a rag. Repeat this procedure until the oven is free from detectable stains.

4- Use a clean damp cloth to wipe off the paste from the oven after the oven is clean.

Oven Maintenance Tips

These are some ways to ensure that the oven does not get too dirty before you eventually have the time to clean it up properly.

1- Constantly monitor what you are cooking

Monitoring the progress of the food in the oven allows you to know the right time to get your food out of the oven to prevent it from burning and staining the oven.

2- Make use of roasting bags

To avoid spills while using the oven, put foodstuff in roasting bags instead of putting them directly in the oven.

3- Heat water in the oven as soon as you finish using the oven

If the oven gets dirty after use, you should boil water in it at a high temperature for more than 10 minutes.

The steam from the boiling water neutralizes the dirt in the oven. This will help to make the cleaning process easier whenever you are ready to clean the oven.

4- Regularly clean the Oven

Leaving your oven dirty for too long is not the wisest thing to do because the bits of food that are left behind, can begin to rot and contribute to a foul smell and growth of harmful bacteria in the oven.

How to Clean the Oven Glass?

Food remnants, oil spills, or splatters can stain your oven glass on the inside or outside. Therefore, when cleaning an oven glass, you have to pay attention to both sides of the glass. In most cases, the interior part of the glass is usually dirtier than the exterior part.

Method 1 (By removing the glass)

YOU’LL NEED

1- Vacuum
2- Baking Soda
3- Water
4- Non-abrasive fabric like cotton/linen
5- Rag
6- Razor

STEPS

Follow these steps:

1- To gain access to all parts of the glass, remove it from the oven. To avoid damaging the glass while trying to remove it, check the oven’s user manual for instructions on how to remove the glass.

2- Vacuum the layers between the glass and oven door to get rid of tiny crumbs.

3- Using baking soda and water, make a paste-like solution.

4- Apply the mixture to the glass with a non-abrasive fabric like cotton or linen, and leave it for a few minutes.

5- Wipe the paste off the glass with a wet rag until it is clean.

6- Finally, dry the glass to make it lustrous.

7- In case grime is still stuck to the glass, you can use a razor to scrape it away, but be careful when doing this so that you do not scratch the glass.

The purpose of detaching the glass from the oven is to clean the area between the oven door and the glass. However, if you do not want to remove the glass, use the below method instead.

Method 2 (Without removing the glass)

YOU’LL NEED

1- Vacuum
2- Baking Soda
3- Water
4- Wired hanger
5- Glass wipes/washcloth
6- Tape/Rubber band

STEPS

1- First, clean the two sides of the glass with the water and baking soda mix.

2- Get a wired hanger and glass wipes or washcloth

3- Proceed to wrap the glass wipes or washcloth around the hanger.

4- Use a tape or rubber band to secure the glass wipes or washcloth on the end of the hanger.

5- Insert the hanger (covered with wipes) in the space between the glass and the door.

6- Push the hanger up and down and sideways to clean out the dirt.

7- Repeat the process until the layer between the glass and the oven door is clean.

Why use a Lemon in the Oven for Smell?

Lemon is a natural deodorizer and, the steam from the heated mixture can help remove the foul smell. Rinsing it with a lemon-water mixture would make it even better. It is natural and it is fresh.

Conclusion

Since lemon is usually readily available in our homes, you should always take the time to use it to clean the oven regularly by following the above steps.

Cleaning your oven is essential because it helps to keep the oven in good condition at all times.

Additionally, a clean oven is uninhabitable for rodents and other pests in the home, and it also prevents the build-up of grime and the growth of harmful microorganisms.

Cheers!