The Easiest Place To Clean Grimy Oven Racks Isn't Anywhere In The Kitchen

The oven is the ultimate kitchen tool. From making baked chicken wings that are just as good as fried to using it to shave off time when making homemade soup, its efficiency and versatility make it a valuable part of any home chef's cooking arsenal. That is, until it comes time to clean it, and especially the oven racks. These are larger than pots, pans, and plates, which makes them harder to to handle in a standard kitchen sink. You can only hope to avoid creating a huge mess while trying to scrub them clean. So what can you do? Move to the bathroom. If you have a bathtub, it provides the perfect place to wash your grimy oven racks with ease.

Most bathtubs are large enough to accommodate oven racks and fully submerge them in water, ensuring that the cleaning solution reaches every corner. The standard bathtub measures about 51 inches long, 28 inches wide, and 18 inches high, which should be sufficient to hold a 33-by-19-inch rack that fits into a 30-inch home oven. Once you've confirmed that your oven racks will fit in the bathtub, you can soak them effectively. If you wash dishes, you know how much of a difference soaking makes when it comes to scrubbing — you'll hardly have to do any work! Thanks to its spacious size, a bathtub can not only hold large items but also reduce cleaning effort while you wait.

Begin by placing old towels at the bottom of your bathtub to provide soft padding and prevent the oven racks from scratching its surface. Next, place the oven racks in the tub and run hot water until they are fully submerged. The hot water will soften the grime, loosening its grip on the steel. Then, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid and 1 cup of baking soda or half a cup of dish detergent to the water, and leave the racks to soak for four hours to overnight. After soaking, the stains should be easy to remove with a sponge or soft brush.

If you still notice some remaining stains, soak the racks in hot water again for a couple of hours. Alternatively, you can also add a bit of salt to your brush — one of 13 ways to use salt in your kitchen — and scrub away. Once you've removed the grime, rinse the oven racks in clean, warm water and dry them with a cloth before returning them to the oven. If you don't have a bathtub, a storage bin or box will work. Find a suitable location, such as a shower or the backyard, and fill the container with boiling water. Soak the racks as you would in a bathtub, then wash, rinse, and dry them before returning your sparkling clean oven racks to the kitchen.