The Easiest Ways to Degrease Your Toaster Oven, According to Cleaning Pros

Some of the hardest kitchen tasks are cleaning your cooking appliances, as grease, crumbs, and grime quickly build up and bake on to them. And this can happen all too quickly in a toaster oven, where the interior surfaces are nice and close to the leftover pizza or chicken breast you're cooking to perfection there. (That grease is no joke!)

But when you're trying to degrease your toaster oven, you need to avoid using harsh chemicals or excess moisture that could damage your oven interior or even impact the food you're cooking in there—yet still use something strong enough to cut through the grime without forcing you to use a lot of elbow grease to make it happen. Here's how experts recommend you cut through the toaster oven mess, with minimal effort on your part.

Related: 5 Things You Shouldn't Cook in a Toaster Oven

Strategies to Help You Clean Your Toaster Oven Safely

Your toaster oven needs a little gentle TLC when you're cleaning to help avoid damaging your machine. Make sure you avoid using products or techniques that could destroy your toaster oven or create a fire hazard.

Skip the harsh cleansers and abrasive scrubbers

Using harsh products can leach chemicals into your food or damage the oven lining, says Alicia Sokolowski, founder of ApsenClean. "Since you can’t fully rinse the inside of a toaster oven the way you can with a pot or pan, strong chemical cleaners can leave behind residue—which makes heavy-duty products a food-safety concern when used inside the appliance. Many toaster ovens have thin enamel or a nonstick coating that scratches easily, so using abrasive tools and gritty cleaners is risky."

The worst part? If you do a deep scrub of your toaster oven once, you may be setting yourself up for heavy scrubs forever. "Once the coating is damaged, grease sticks more easily, making future cleaning harder," Sokolowski says.

Avoid excess moisture

Your toaster oven is an electrical appliance that isn't meant for dealing with a lot of liquid—so you'll want to only use slightly damp cloths to avoid damaging the heating elements or electrical components, Sokolowski says.

Remove the racks and trays—and watch out for the heating elements

Racks and trays should be cleaned in the sink, as they can be soaked, rinsed, and dried, unlike the rest of the oven. (And they also tend to be the dirtiest parts of your toaster oven.)

The heating elements need to be carefully cleaned, too. "Exposed elements shouldn’t be scrubbed or covered with liquids or cleaning pastes—and that limits how thoroughly you can clean certain areas," Sokolowski says.

Spray cleaners onto a cloth or sponge, not the oven itself

That helps avoid overdoing it, and adding too much moisture to your toaster oven.

Best Methods for Degreasing Your Toaster Oven

Lucky you: You probably have everything you need right in your kitchen to get rid of the grease in your toaster oven. There are three different cleaning pro recommended methods that can be effective at cleaning your toaster oven interior.

Tips

The best time to clean your toaster oven is when it's just been used and is still slightly warm—as warm grease wipes away more easily.

Baking Soda Paste

Baking soda is a cleaning staple, and a highly recommended way to scrub away grease. "It's very safe and only mildly abrasive—and it’s very effective on baked-on grease," Sokolowski says.

To use it, dampen baking soda with enough water to form a thick paste, and apply it to the walls and door of the oven, avoiding the heating elements. Let the paste sit—overnight on the toughest grease—then wipe away with a damp cloth or vinegar solution. "It works much better after a long dwell time," Sokolowski says.

Cleaning With Vinegar

Vinegar can also cut through grease and help deodorize your toaster oven, too. To use it, wipe the interior surfaces with diluted vinegar—this works best on a turned-off, but slightly warm oven.

Using Dish Soap

If vinegar and baking soda don't tackle the grease, dish soap may be another food-safe option, though Sokolowski suggests proceeding with caution. "Using strong detergents like Dawn can leave a subtle chemical residue, which may affect food safety or flavor. Instead, opt for a mild, natural dish soap that is free of dyes and fragrances. Natural dish soap effectively cuts grease without leaving a chemical film." You'll want to use a damp cloth to fully remove residue after it's finished.

How Often to Clean Your Toaster Oven

The short answer? It depends on how often you use your toaster oven. You'll want to do a thorough cleaning of the toaster oven monthly for standard use, but if you use it daily or cook a lot of greasy foods, you may need to deep clean every two weeks. To help prevent a big mess, though, it's best to wipe down the interior—especially the crumb tray—every time you use it, so grease can't build up and become a bigger mess.

Read the original article on Real Simple