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It’s that time of the year when we welcome friends and family into our homes and entertain for the holidays. Entertaining and holiday preparations also include lots of cooking and baking and by default messy ovens. Spills, splatters, and stuck on messes.

If your oven has seen better days, I have a super simple and effective homemade cleaning recipe for you to use to get your oven sparkling clean. It’s fume-free, uses ingredients you already have, and best of all, it really works.

Gather these tools and ingredients:

HOMEMADE PASTE OVEN CLEANER

  • ½ cup water
  • enough baking soda to make a paste – about 1/4  to ½ cup
  • 1 tablespoon castile soap or whatever dish soap you have on hand

First things first, remove the racks from your oven. You can use this paste to clean the oven racks but it would be better applied in a clean utility sink so you can scrub and rinse properly.

Mix up the paste oven cleaner (it will expand a bit as the baking soda combines with the soap and the water).

Using a Scotch-Brite® Scrub Dots Heavy Duty scrub sponge, spread the paste oven cleaner all over your oven to coat, taking care to avoid any holes or cracks. Let the mixture sit for 15-30 minutes.

Using a clean scrub sponge, wipe clean and rinse thoroughly with warm water. Repeat the wiping and rinsing with the scrub sponge (barely damp) until the oven is completely clean and residue free. I love how these scrub sponges rinse clean even when I’m cleaning the oven.

Once you have completely rinsed the oven, dry and polish with the Scotch-Brite® Scrub Dots dish cloth.

If your oven is extremely dirty, you can wipe with the sponge once and reapply the paste. Spray straight white vinegar over the solution and let it sit for 15-30 minutes and rinse and dry as described in the directions.

If you’re tired of getting a headache when you clean your oven from the fumes in your oven cleaner, you’ll love this safe solution.