I Asked 3 Food Experts To Name the Best Dish Soap—They All Said the Same Brand

Let's get to the bottom of this soapy dilemma.

When it comes to kitchen essentials, dish soap might not be the most glamorous item in your pantry, but it's undoubtedly one of the most indispensable. It's a tireless workhorse that makes pots sparkle and dishes gleam and often offers other benefits, too.

With so many brands vying for attention on supermarket shelves, each promising to be "the best," how do you know which one truly lives up to its claims? To get to the bottom of this soapy dilemma, I contacted three food writers who spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen and know a thing or two about what works (and what doesn't).

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The Food Writers I Asked

• Megan Scott: Senior Editor of News and Features at Simply Recipes and co-author of the 2019 edition of Joy of Cooking

• Micheline Maynard: Contributing writer for Food & Wine and the editor of the CulinaryWoman newsletter on Substack

• Molly Adams: Food writer, recipe developer, and regular contributor to Simply Recipes and AllRecipes

The Best Dish Soap, According to Food Writers

The people's choice is the magic blue liquid. Dawn, in all its forms, is a clear winner.

It's all about performance, says Molly, a seasoned recipe developer and mom who discovered Dawn during the height of the pandemic when her usual brand was out of stock. "To my surprise, it cut through grease and grime way better than anything else I'd ever used," she recalls.

Molly was initially drawn to the powerful sprayer of the Dawn Powerwash, specifically. But it was Dawn's ability to tackle stubborn stains on everything from greasy pans to her newborn's clothes that impressed her. "It worked like magic on stubborn stains on clothes," she emphasized. Its versatility made it a must-have in her home.

Micheline's praise for Dawn goes beyond the kitchen, too. "Dawn is my choice for two purposes. It does a great job of cleaning especially greasy pans, like turkey roasters and barbecue containers. It’s also good for unclogging stuck toilets," she says, surprising me, adding, "I always keep a bottle in the bathroom." Dawn's grease-fighting properties make it a reliable choice in her household, and she appreciates that the scents are mild enough not to trigger her sensitivity to fragrances.

"I've gone through a couple of phases where I switched to a 'natural' detergent or a cheaper one, and every time, I've regretted it," Megan admits. Her relationship with Dawn mirrors that of many loyal users, including mine.

Now, Dawn's effectiveness is unmatched for Megan, particularly when it comes to cutting through grease. "As a person who cooks a lot for work and...fun, one thing I don't mess around with is my dishwashing tools," she joked. She loves that it's super concentrated, so a little goes a long way. "One bottle of Dawn lasts a long time even for me, a person who is constantly doing dishes," she remarked.

She buys her bottle in bulk, saying the "Costco-sized bottle (of Dawn Platinum) lasts almost all year, and it's nice to only have to buy a product once a year." In this economy, that sounds like a serious deal to me! And it's an impressive feat for someone who spends as much time in the kitchen as she does.

For what it's worth, I'm also a Dawn-lover and relate to most of the comments above. (Though I've not tried it on a clogged toilet, I'll add it to my list.)

Outside the kitchen, it has a superpower for cleaning many other things. I use it in this 2-ingredient cleaning spray, in combination with Magic Erasers (also a fave) for getting out tough, cooked-on stains, and paired with baking soda and water to get my white sneakers white again—it's truly brilliant.

I don't have a garbage disposal, but I would also try the Dawn method mentioned in this story if I did. That blue stuff works wonders! From its ability to tackle the greasiest dishes to its long-lasting formula that saves both time and money inside the kitchen (and out), Dawn is a product worth paying attention to.

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Read the original article on Simply Recipes.