This Overnight Oven Cleaning Trick Does The Hard Work For You
I have a confession to make about my kitchen. I will happily wipe down the counters every single day but I completely avoid cleaning inside my oven. Scrubbing baked on grease requires so much physical energy and usually leaves my arms aching. I used to rely on those harsh chemical sprays that make the whole house smell terrible, but after they started giving me a headache I went looking for alternatives. And I finally found a brilliant overnight trick that honestly does all the heavy lifting while you sleep.
What You Need
You only need two very basic things for this trick to work beautifully. You need a pot of boiling water and a small oven safe bowl filled with plain ammonia. You want to make sure your kitchen has a little bit of airflow since ammonia has a very strong scent. Open a nearby window or turn on your stove exhaust fan before you start. It is a very cheap solution that works great in place of expensive specialty cleaners.
Warm Up The Oven
The very first step is to get your oven just a little bit warm. You do not want it hot enough to actually cook anything. Just turn your oven on to its lowest setting for about fifteen minutes. Usually that is around two hundred degrees. Once it feels nice and toasty inside, turn the oven completely off. This gentle heat is the secret to helping the fumes travel around the closed, inside space to break down the grime in your oven.
Boil Some Water
While you do the above step and your oven is gently warming up, you need to boil a medium pot of water on the stove. You want a good rolling boil so it creates plenty of hot steam. Once the water is boiling carefully move the entire pot to the very bottom rack of your warmed oven. That rising steam provides the necessary moisture to soften all those rock hard food splatters that have been stuck to the walls for months.
The Secret Ingredient
Now carefully pour about one cup of liquid ammonia into a heat safe glass or ceramic baking dish. Place this dish on the top rack of your oven right above the steaming pot of water. The warm steam from below will heat the ammonia and carry its powerful fumes all throughout the inside of the oven Make sure you shut the oven door tightly right away to trap all of that magical cleaning power inside.
Letting It Work Overnight
This is honestly my absolute favorite part of the entire process. You just walk away and go to sleep. You need to leave the oven completely closed for at least eight hours. While you are resting the trapped ammonia fumes are actively reacting with the baked on grease. The gas literally breaks the chemical bonds of the stubborn carbon deposits. It melts the worst messes into a soft paste without a single ounce of scrubbing. Just make sure to leave out a little not to your family so that they don’t turn the oven on or try to use it while it’s being cleaned.
Wipe It Down
When you wake up the next morning, open the oven door and let it air out for a few minutes. Carefully remove the bowl of ammonia and the pot of water. Grab a damp sponge or a soft wet rag and simply wipe the inside walls. You will be absolutely amazed to see the thick brown grease just slide right off the metal. It wipes away as easily as spilled milk on a kitchen counter.
Dealing With The Stubborn Spots
Usually the wet rag is all you need for a perfectly clean oven. But sometimes there is a really old burnt sugar stain or mystery splotch that needs a tiny bit more help. You can add a few drops of blue dish soap to your damp sponge for those tricky areas. If you really need some extra friction, sprinkle a little baking soda on the spot. It acts as a gentle abrasive that will not scratch the delicate enamel finish.
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It feels so incredibly satisfying to start the day with a sparkling clean oven without having to exhaust your arms scrubbing. We put so much pressure on ourselves to do chores the hard way. Finding simple methods that work with science instead of elbow grease makes managing a home so much more pleasant. I hope this simple overnight trick saves you as much time and energy as it has saved me.
Bliss Donahue-Power
