How to Clean an Electric Stove
Use baking soda paste made with three parts baking soda and one part warm water to clean an electric stove. We’ll outline the five-step process in detail to show you exactly how to clean an electric stove.
Electric stoves can be a little tricky to clean if you’re not aware of the most effective strategies. Many of them have coil burners, and these days more and more are made with glass stove tops, which require a little more care during the cleaning process to prevent scratching.
But, in fact, cleaning your electric stove is much simpler than you might think if you follow the following steps You can use household ingredients and make your stove shine again in just a few minutes.
Here’s the best way to get rid of grease, stains and charred remains on your electric stove:
- Remove the coils and drip pans. If your stove does not have coils, skip to step 2.
- Apply a baking soda paste to the stove top.
- Let it sit for a few minutes.
- Scrub area with a sponge to break down tough stains.
- Wipe the area with a towel.
- Wipe down the outside of the stove with glass cleaner or soap and water.
Now we’ll go into detail about the ingredients and the process to make your stove look good as new.
What You Need
- Baking soda
- Towel
- Glass cleaner (optional)
Step-By-Step Guide - How to Clean an Electric Stove
1. Remove stove coils and drip pans. If your electric stove does not have coils, skip to step 2.
For electric stoves with coils, remove them before cleaning. Set them aside for now. If your coils are dirty too, check out our full step-by-step instructions on how to clean your stove coils here.
Once you have checked out that article and had a chance to clean your stove coils, move on to step 2.
Don’t worry; keep reading and we’ll discuss how to clean your stove drip pans later in the article.
2. Apply a baking soda paste to the stove top.
You can make baking soda paste using three parts baking soda and one part water. For best results, make the paste with warm water. This will break down the grease on your stove more quickly.
Baking soda is available on Amazon here.
3. Let it sit for a few minutes.
The baking soda needs between two to five minutes of time to sit and break down the food residue on your stove.
4. Wipe the area with a towel.
After a few minutes, wipe the area with a towel. Avoid scrubbing the stove vigorously, because you don’t want the baking soda to scratch the stove’s surface.
5. Wipe down the outside of the stove with glass cleaner or soap and water.
You can find glass cleaner from Amazon here.
How do you get burn marks off an electric stove?
To remove burn marks from your electric stove, use a baking soda and vinegar paste. This paste will be a little stronger than baking soda and water. Make it by combining 2 parts vinegar and 1 part baking soda.
Since vinegar is acidic, it will react with the more basic baking soda and fizzle as it softens up the burn marks on your stove.
You want to avoid scrubbing the cook top directly just so you can be sure to avoid any scratches.
If you have trouble wiping away the burn marks after you have let the paste rest for a few minutes, you can repeat the process until your cook top is clean.
If you don’t have vinegar on hand, purchase some from Amazon at this link.
How do I keep my electric stove clean?
Depending on how often you cook, clean your electric stove top every one to two weeks. After a lot of cooking, or if you just cooked for a large group, clean the cook top on the same day. Also, if you spill anything on the stove or burn any food on the stove, clean it as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to remove the stains.
How do you degrease an electric stove?
Use a combination of baking soda, warm water, and dish soap to degrease an electric stove.
- Warm up the stove for about a minute.
- Pour water on the stove.
- Apply baking soda.
- Let the baking soda sit for a few seconds.
- Wipe the baking soda around with a washcloth.
- Apply dish soap to a scrubby sponge and gently scrub the affected area.
- Wipe away the residue with a towel.
Here’s a video to show you how to clean a glass stove top.
You can also consider purchasing a kitchen degreaser. We reviewed eight of the best degreasers on the market in detail; check out that article here.
How do you clean an electric stove top with vinegar?
Vinegar is a great household cleaner to keep your stove top in good condition. It’s best for surface-level cleaning and it will leave your stove top with a nice shine.
- Combine the vinegar with water in a 2:1 ratio (⅔ vinegar and ⅓ water, for example) before applying it to your cook top.
- Dip a towel into this solution or spray the stove top directly.
- Wipe the cook top clean.
What is the best cleaner for glass top stoves?
A DIY vinegar and water cleaner is one of the best household cleaners for glass top stoves.
If you prefer to purchase your stove top cleaner, we recommend the Krud Kutter or Goo Gone multipurpose cleaners; both are available on Amazon.
How to Clean Electric Stove Drip Pans
- Remove your stove coils and the drip pans from the burners.
- Throw any loose food residue on the drip pan into the trash.
- Fill the sink or a medium-sized bowl with warm water and dish soap – enough to submerge the drip pan fully.
- Let the drip pans soak in the water for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove the drip pans from your container or sink and wipe them off with a dry towel.
That’s it! It’s that easy to clean your stove drip pans. If your drip pans still struggle to come clean, let them soak in the water for another 15 minutes. If the water is quite dirty, you should replace it.
You can also take a scrubby sponge and scrub off the grease from your drip pans. After soaking for a while in the sink, a little elbow grease will go a long way.
Thanks for stopping by our step-by-step guide on cleaning your electric cook top.
Are you ready to go on a cleaning spree? If so, check out more of our ‘how to clean’ resources below.
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How to Clean the Inside of a Stove