How to Clean Your Oven {with Essential Oil}

Before I knew better, I tried to use a store-bought spray to clean my oven.  It said it was supposed to be fume free.

But it definitely wasn’t.

Just a few minutes after spraying this Easy Off “fume free” oven cleaner, my throat felt sore and scratchy, it was a little hard to breathe, my eyes started watering, and multiple air purifiers in my home kicked into max red-alert level.

It definitely wasn’t fume free.

So I researched and experimented in coming up with my own natural oven cleaner.  And what I’ve thankfully discovered is that there’s no need to use harsh chemicals to clean your oven.  You can get your oven sparkling clean using just baking soda, essential oils, and vinegar.

It’s surprising how well these common household ingredients can cut through oven grease, baked on food, and spills.  But they really do.

It’s natural, fume-free, non-toxic, and it gets my oven sparkling clean.

Want more ways to use essential oils to clean your home?  See my posts on how to clean your washing machine {with essential oils}, how to clean your dishwasher, and using essential oils to clean glass stovetops.

Which Essential Oils Are Best for Cleaning Ovens?

Citrus oils, pine, and tea tree essential oils are the best powerful cleaners for the tough job of cleaning grease and crusty, baked-on food from ovens.

1. orange
2. lemon
3. grapefruit
4. lime
5. bergamot
6. pine
7. tea tree (aka melaleuca)

Do you doubt that a homemade cleaner can really get your oven clean?

It can and it does.

Just check out these before and after photos from my oven door.

It’s embarrassing, but on the right is what my oven door looked like before cleaning.  It was pretty much black from grease and burnt-on food spills and splatters.

And on the left is what my oven door looked like after cleaning with baking soda, vinegar, lemon essential oil, pine essential oil, and a little elbow grease.

I don’t know if you can tell but the after oven door is spotless.  It’s completely clean.  You can see right through to my black and white granite kitchen floor.  It’s so clean, you can even see the reflection of my kitchen cabinets at the top of the photo.  Amazing!

* Get a free printable of recipe & instructions here *

Here’s how you do it…

Step 1:  clean inside of oven

• Empty everything out of the oven.  Remove racks, pizza stones, and anything else you might have in there.

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• Soak oven racks in hot soapy water while you clean the interior of oven in next steps.

tip:  You can make your own homemade dish soap {with essential oils}.  Find my recipe here.

• Next, make the cleaning paste.  You’ll use this to clean the inside oven walls and oven door.
  • Add 1 ½ cups baking soda, 10 drops lemon essential oil, and  5 drops pine essential oil to bowl
  • Add enough hot water to form a paste that’s a spreadable consistency. Start with ½ cup hot water, then add more if needed.
  • Mix well

tip:  If mixture is too wet, add more baking soda.  If it’s too thick, add more water.  Adjust ingredients until you have a thick paste.

tip:  Depending on how dirty your oven is, you might need more cleaning paste than this.  Don’t worry, it’s easy to make more if you need it.

• Use paint brush or sponge to spread the cleaning paste all over the interior of the oven – covering the walls, the bottom, and the corners of the oven.  And don’t forgot the oven door; give the door a good coat of the cleaner, too.

tip:  To speed up the process, you can scoop cleaning paste onto sides and bottom of oven and then use paintbrush to spread the paste out.

tip:  stir cleaning paste as you apply it because as time goes on the baking soda will sink to the bottom and the water will rise to the top of the cleaning solution.  Give it a stir from time to time so the the cleaning paste stays a uniform consistency throughout.

tip:  Stay clear of the heating elements; you do not want to put the cleaning paste on the heating elements.  You can lift up the heating element to get it out of the way as you spread cleaning paste on the bottom of the oven.  If you accidentally get the cleaning mixture on the heating element, simply wipe it off with a wet rag.  You don’t want the cleaner to dry on the heating element.

• Let it sit for about 1 hour.  You can close your oven door for this.  I just had mine open to show you what it looked it.

• Dip sponge in hot water, then ring sponge out
• Use sponge to gently scrub paste in circular motion, rinsing sponge in hot water as you go.
• Wipe out as much of paste as you can.

• If needed, use plastic scraper to loosen tougher bits.
• If burnt-on food is really tough to clean off, you can use a razor blade to scrape food off.

• Put a little white vinegar in a spray bottle and spritz it everywhere you still have a little paste remaining. The vinegar will react with the baking soda, creating a foam and softening the residue.
• Wipe down with sponge dipped in hot water.
• Repeat until baking soda residue is gone.

• Do a final wipe down with sponge and hot water

tip:  If you have any stubborn gunk or burnt-on food on oven door, try using my homemade degreaser spray.  Then scrub again with baking soda.

• Look at how clean my oven got!  I love what a little baking soda, vinegar, and essential oils can do.  It’s an amazing transformation from super dirty & disgusting to clean & sparkling.

• Scrub oven racks that have been soaking in hot soapy water, then rinse, dry and return racks to oven.

Step 2:  clean stovetop and front of oven

• For regular daily cleaning of stovetop, I use my DIY citrus kitchen degreaser (recipe here).  Just spritz it on and wipe.  Super easy way to clean up after dinner.
• For a deep clean if stovetop has been neglected for a little too long, I do this stovetop deep clean.
• Use this DIY stainless steel polish to clean the oven control panel, door front, and broiler pan.  It cleans, shine, and protects the finish.

Where to get supplies

baking soda – I go through so much baking soda that I buy it in big bags at Costco.  You can also find baking soda at grocery store, Walmart, and Target.

vinegar – Just like with baking soda, I get huge bottles of vinegar at Costco.  It’s an amazing deal.  But if you don’t need that much, you can also find white vinegar at the grocery store in much smaller bottles.

cleaning gloves – I got these cleaning gloves at Target.

sponge – I got a huge pack of these sponges at Costco.  It’s helpful that they have the scrubbing side to help break up burnt on oven messes.

spray bottle – any spray bottle will work.  It doesn’t need to be any specific size.  Feel free to reuse an old spray bottle, or you can even convert a small glass vinegar bottle (like the one in the photo above) into a spray bottle.  The vinegar bottle has a standard size neck that will fit most sprayers from standard store-bought cleaners.

click here for a free printable to “how to clean oven {with essential oil}” instructions

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