Cleaning Oven Racks: Restoring Your Oven’s Food-Safety

The oven is one of the hardest-working kitchen appliances. While the oven itself can be cleaned easily (see our detailed tutorial for an effective and completely natural oven cleaning method), cleaning the large oven racks might pose a challenge. They are too big for the sink, so how can you clean them?

This tutorial will show you a simple way to clean oven racks.

Begin by removing your oven racks from the oven and carrying them to the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom.

Place towels in your bathtub so that they run up the wall.

Close the drain and run the hottest water into the bathtub.

Carefully place your oven racks in the bathtub. They should be centered, even if they have to slant.

The crucial part of this step is that the oven racks don’t touch the bathtub walls. Place towels between the oven racks and the bathtub to prevent metal scratches.

Fill the bathtub until the oven racks are completely submerged. With very hot water, my oven racks are cleaning themselves.

Measure about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of dishwashing detergent. This tutorial used 1/2 cup (or 1-1/2 scoops of a 1/3 measuring cup).

Pour detergent into your hot water-filled bathtub. The detergent can be powder or liquid; it will dissolve either way.

If the temperature is high, swirl the detergent with your fingers.

Walk away for four hours. I was amazed at how dirty the water was at this point.

Of course, you could do other things, but it seems a shame to waste this chance to clean an empty oven. Doesn’t it? Especially one desperately in need of cleaning.

Wipe away crumbs and consider whether you truly want to clean the entire oven.

Realize that you need to follow detailed instructions. These instructions involve making a simple paste of baking soda and water and spreading it on your oven and oven door.

Close the oven for 4-12 hours.

Spray vinegar and wipe away.

Marvel at your now clean oven window. Try to remember the last time you could see through it…or if you knew you were supposed to be able to. Nope?

Join the club.

The oven looks great. Cleaner than before.

Transparent oven windows are truly amazing.

Your oven is clean, and now it’s time to go back to the oven racks in the bathtub.

Because the racks have been soaking for hours, scrub the gunk off the wires using a gently abrasive scouring pad, sponge, or rag. Methodically wipe each wire and the outer frame.

The wiping at this point shouldn’t be hard, because everything has been soaking and is ready to be removed. All that grime is basically waiting to jump off the oven rack. Just look at the difference!

When the oven racks are wiped, rinse them with water (the shower comes in handy) and set aside. Remove the towels to the laundry, then empty the tub.

Carry the clean oven racks to the clean oven.

Insert all clean things together.

Stand back and appreciate your work. It almost makes you want to bake something, right? But then it might dirty your oven.

Maybe tomorrow.

We hope you take great satisfaction in cleaning your oven racks and achieving a beautiful oven with relative ease.