How to Make Natural Oven Cleaner

Co-authored by Chris Willatt

Last Updated: February 7, 2023

Commercial oven cleaners often use a lot of chemicals. For a variety of reasons, you may be uncomfortable saturating your oven with chemical cleaners before cooking or baking. There are many natural cleaners you can make and use on your oven. Using household ingredients, mix together a great cleaner. Then, scrub your oven down until it's clean.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Making a Cleaner with Baking Soda and Vinegar

1
Gather your supplies. Before you begin mixing baking soda and vinegar, make sure you have all your supplies. In addition to the supplies you need to make the cleaner itself, you need some tools.
- For tools, you will need a paintbrush to apply the paste, as well as a sponge. You will also need a medium glass bowl to mix your ingredients and a spoon.
- You will also need baking soda, white vinegar, lavender essential oil, and organic liquid dish soap.
2
Mix your ingredients. Put 1/2 cup soap, 1 and 1/2 cup of baking soda, 2 to 4 drops of lavender essential oil, and 1/4 cup of organic white vinegar in your mixing bowl. Use your spoon to mix the ingredients together until you form a thick paste.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Chris Willatt
House Cleaning Professional
Expert Interview. 1 July 2019.}

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3
Add water as needed to form a paste. Your ingredients may not mix together in a uniform fashion. Add small splashes of water as necessary. There is no set amount of water to add. Simply add enough that the ingredients blend together to form a thick, even paste you can apply to your oven.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Borax and Vinegar

1
Get your supplies together. Before you begin to make your borax and vinegar paste, make sure you have all your supplies. You will need some items for mixing your paste, as well as all the ingredients.^{[2]
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- You will need a spray bottle. Buy an empty spray bottle from the grocery store and use this to mix your ingredients.
- You will also need borax, vinegar, dish soap, and boiling water.
2
Combine your ingredients in a spray bottle. Add 1 tablespoon of Borax, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/8 cup of dish soap, and 1 cup of boiling water to your spray bottle. Shake the bottle vigorously until all the ingredients are evenly combined. You may have to shake the bottle for a few minutes until the ingredients are mixed.^{[3]
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3
Use this cleaner with a little baking soda. Before applying this cleaner, you should sprinkle a little baking soda inside your oven. A thin sprinkling of baking soda will make the cleaner more effective. It will also remove any unwanted smells from the oven in addition to cleaning it.^{[4]
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4
Make sure to use a very thick layer of this cleaner. This cleaner will not work in small amounts. This cleaner is most effective if you use it in a very thick layer on your oven. Spray on almost the entire bottle to your oven, targeting areas that are very dirty in particular.^{[5]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Cleaning Your Oven with a Homemade Cleaner

1
Remove big chunks from the bottom of your oven. Before you start applying your cleaner, you want to clean out the bottom of your oven. Chunks of food may have fallen onto the oven's floor over the years. These should be removed prior to cleaning your oven.^{[6]
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- Use a rag or a paper towel to gently sweep crumbs and chunks of food from the bottom of the oven.
- Make sure most big chunks of food are grime and food are removed before applying your cleaner.
2
Let your cleaner sit for a couple of hours. Stains in ovens tend to stick on easily. You need to give the cleaner a chance to really sink into the oven's floor before cleaning. After spraying down your oven in your cleaner, let the cleaner sit on for at least two hours.^{[7]
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- For very dirty ovens, it may be a good idea to let the cleaner stay on overnight.^{[8]
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3
Wipe down or scrub your oven until it's clean. The tools you use depend on how messy your oven is. You may be able to get by with a normal rag or paper towel with a less messy oven. Very messy ovens, however, you may need a rougher sponge. Keep wiping or scrubbing down your oven until dirt and grime is removed.^{[9]
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- If your oven is very dirty, you may need to repeat the entire process twice.
4
Remove any excess grime. Once you've cleaned out most of your oven, take a clean rag or paper towel. Give the oven one more quick wipe down. This will help remove any excess grime or dislodged crumbs.^{[10]
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- Give your oven one last misting with your cleaner prior to wiping it down.