How to Clean Burnt Stove Top
Cleaning Your Burnt Stove Top
To clean your burnt stove top, remove the stove grates on your gas stove or heating coils on your electric stove. Then, wipe away the loose dirt and grime before making baking soda paste to coat over your stove top. Use three parts baking soda and one part water. To polish your stove and gather excess dirt, wipe it with a towel dipped in vinegar.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably boiled food over while cooking and watch helplessly as it covers your stove. Or perhaps you drop some food on your stove while cooking, and it bakes into the stove top over time.
You continue to cook – and once everything is done, you’ve forgotten about your stove.
It’s the next morning and you walk into your kitchen – you know immediately what went wrong. Now that food or liquid has had time to set on your stove top!
At that moment, it may seem impossible to clean. You don’t want to waste time and try methods that just aren’t working.
Let’s show you exactly how to clean your burnt stove top in just 20 minutes.
What You Need
These ingredients are all needed only if you will take every step in this process to remove the burnt food from your stove. Depending on the stubbornness of your stove stains, you may not need every item below.
Where applicable, we've linked out to Amazon so you can easily buy these products to start your cleaning project.
- Plastic bags
- Sponge
- A couple of towels (microfiber recommended)
- Dish soap
- Scrub brush (optional)
- Stove top scraper
- Degreaser (optional)
- Vinegar (enough to make baking soda paste and dip in one of your towels)
- Baking soda
1. Remove stove grates (gas stoves) or heating coils (electric stoves).
This will allow you to access the entire stove top and begin your deep clean. There’s not a single way to remove the heating coils on your electric stove; it varies depending on the stove type. Check the instruction manual or contact the appliance company if you’re not sure how to remove these.
You can soak your stove grates in a warm water and soap solution in the sink. For electric stoves, unplug your stove, wait for your heating coils to cool, and then wipe them off with a damp cloth (not wet) and a small amount of soap. For tough stains, you can sprinkle the coil with baking soda, let it sit for 15-20 minutes, and then spray the coil with vinegar.
- Cover the burners or any holes in your stove with a plastic bag so your cleaner doesn’t seep inside your stove.
- Wipe off the loose food with a towel and a small amount of soap.
Before getting to the tough grease, make it easier on yourself by removing as much dirt and grime as possible. Isolate the tough stains and then you can focus your effort on the problem areas of your stove top.
2. Use the abrasive side of a sponge or a scrub brush along with a small amount of soap to remove the baked-on food or burn marks.
3. If the brush isn’t enough, make baking soda paste and coat it on your stove top.
Baking soda paste is combined with water to make a thick mixture that resembles toothpaste. Use three parts baking soda and one part water. You can let the paste set for 20 minutes – or even overnight for the ‘impossible’ stains.
4. Spray the stove top with vinegar and watch as it fizzles, softening the tough stains.
This should deal with most of your tough stains – it should only take a minute or two for the baking soda and vinegar to break down the difficult scorch marks.
5. Wipe with a microfiber cloth.
6. Still tough grease? Try a stove top scraper.
‘So, I’ve tried all the methods here. But the marks won’t go away!’
No worries! One last method you can try is using a stove scraper. Try this Cerama Bryte stove scraper from Amazon – or you can also purchase the package that includes their cleaning solution as well.
Your last resort is to use a butter knife or razor blade to scrape the baked-on food off your stove top. This may scrape your stove top, so it is never ideal. But, if you are careful, it can be effective.
7. Dip a kitchen towel in vinegar and wipe off the stove top.
The vinegar will remove any dirt that you missed throughout this cleaning process – and give your stove top a nice shine.
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How to Prevent Burnt Food on Your Stove Top
Consistency is the name of the game if you’re trying to prevent having to clean burnt food off your stove top. And who isn’t? Clean your stove every week to save the most time. Or, even take a couple of minutes every day, pull out your glass cleaner, and wipe your stove top.
Best Degreasers to Clean Burnt Stove Top
If you keep up with your stove maintenance, you’ll probably only need to use a household cleaner or degreaser for a thorough clean. These two cleaners from Amazon are great options: Easy Off Degreaser and Goof Off. After cleaning your stove top with these degreasers, wipe the stove off with a damp towel.
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