Before moving to our new home a few weeks ago, I went on a cleaning spree. I wanted everything to be as shiny and new as possible for the new house. One of the things I tackled was our stainless steel pots and pans. Over the years, they have taken a major beating! Some of the bottoms had gotten so discolored--they were black. Yuck! A few months ago, I discovered that oven cleaner can also be used to clean stainless steel pots and pans. It literally works like magic...with little effort on your part!
Here are a few of my pots and pans before:
Here they are after:
Impressive, huh?! They are like NEW!
OK, so here's what you do. Gather all of your stainless steel pots and pans. Go to a well ventilated area and liberally spray the pots and pans with oven cleaner.
Place the pots and pans into a garbage bag and close tight. Make sure not to put more than one or two pots and pans in each bag. Leave the bag with the pots/pans outside overnight. The next day, open the bag and remove the pots and pans--placing them on top of some newspaper or old towels to protect the surface you're working on. Wipe away the gunk on your pots and pans with a cloth or use a brillo pad for the more stubborn spots.
Rinse pots and pans using water and then clean as usual.
Remember: Make sure to use rubber gloves and to work in a well ventilated area! Oven cleaner can be very harsh.
Also, as you can see from some of the pictures above, I also cleaned an oven broiler pan and a non stick cookie sheet using the oven cleaner method. The broiler pan came out sparkling clean, but the process did NOT work on the cookie sheet. It messed up the non stick finish so please do not try this on anything with a non stick finish. Only use this on stainless steel items!
July 6, 2010 9:53 PM
I've been hearing so much about this. I do want to try it!
July 6, 2010 10:00 PM
Great tip I use Bar Keepers friend but I have a cookie tray that is just so gross I stopped using it,I need to try your technique.
July 6, 2010 10:45 PM
I so need to do this!
Did you have to use black trash bags?
I only ask because in our neighborhood they only will take white or clear garbage bags for trash pick up. I'll need to buy some black ones if this is what's needed.
July 7, 2010 12:43 AM
This is amazing, can't believe the difference!
July 7, 2010 8:43 AM
Thank you so much for this post!!
I have been struggling to get my fairly new pots back to their original shine...I will be doing this tonight. :)
July 10, 2010 4:53 PM
Wow that's a great idea! I had this post saved in my email and I just had time to read your post today! I'm glad did! I will totally use that on my broiler pan!! That thing is a pain to clean!!
Thanks for sharing!!
July 12, 2010 12:20 AM
WOW!! What a great idea. I'll have to remember this.
July 31, 2010 9:37 PM
That's a great tip! I had never heard about using oven cleaner on your stainless steel pots and pans!
August 12, 2010 5:29 PM
Love the idea but be careful! I used oven cleaner on my $100 Caphalon fry pan and got it clean, but the pan was never the same as all foods stick to it now. The pan had a warranty, so upon reading it I saw that is specifically warned (in large print) NOT to use oven cleaner or any abrasive cleansers. SO BE CAREFUL!
November 14, 2010 2:55 PM
I bought some stainless steel cleaner from Pampered Chef, works amazingly!!!
February 7, 2012 10:16 AM
you are kidding me!! I never even considered this. I am going to clean my yucky pots today!! thank you for this.
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