There are a lot of methods to clean oven drip pans. Which ones work? I have finally found a favorite method that is easy and requires only a little effort.
Don’t judge. My oven drip pans were nasty. I cook all the time and consider myself I pretty good cook, but as you can see, I’m a pretty messy cook. I frequently have stuff bubbling over, splashing all over the place, and dropping out of my pots and pan pans. The smoke alarm is a common way to call my family to the dinner table.
Yes, I should wipe down my drip pans every time I finish cooking, but I don’t. Do you?
Anyway, because I always get my drip pans incredibly messy I’m always on the hunt for the easiest and best way to clean them. Over the years, I have tried A LOT of methods. Most give just “eh” results and require a lot of time and effort. I have finally found my favorite method though!! But first… a few methods that aren’t so great.
Here are my thoughts on a few common methods to clean oven drip pans:
Soak and Scrub
This is the usual first method people try to clean their oven drip pans. Basically, soak them in soapy water for a while then scrub with a steel sponge. If your pans are only a little dirty, this method works great. However, mine are usually too dirty for this to really work and I don’t have the time or patience to spend scrubbing for hours.
Vinegar and Baking Soda Soak
I had high hopes for this method. You take your drip pans, coat them in baking soda, then put them into a ziplock bag with vinegar. Let them sit a few hours or days, and then you are supposedly supposed to just wipe them clean.
Yea, not so much. I followed the directions exactly and ended up with only slightly cleaner drip pans. I also wasted 4 big ziplock bags, baking soda and vinegar…plus at least an hour of my time.
Norwex Cleaning Paste
I love my Norwex Cleaning Paste. It performs miracles on the inside of my stove. (See pic below) However, it did not give me perfect looking drip pans. Again, my drip pans are REALLY dirty. Cleaning paste worked the best but still required a lot of time and effort for only decent results.
Check out my post –> Is Norwex Worth the Money?
Other methods:
A quick google search will give you enough drip pan cleaning methods to keep you busy for months. I’ve seen where you should use Bar Keepers Friend, combine dish soap and baking soda or try rubbing them with ketchup. Bob Vila says you should soak them in ammonia. All of these still sound like a lot of work, and I’m also not a fan of using harsh chemicals for cleaning things in my home.
My New Favorite Method…
A few days ago, I was ready to tackle the drip pans again. I had planned to test out a few more cleaning methods. But I ran into a problem…
I started with a quick scrub to get the big pieces of junk off. For a moment I thought I was doing awesome and could even see one area getting “shiny”. However, I soon realized the “shiny” area was actually a hole, and I was scrubbing the bottom of my sink 🙂
It was clearly time for new drip pans.
That’s when I made an amazing discovery. DRIP PANS ARE REALLY CHEAP! For $10 I could get 4 new oven drip pans delivered in 2 days specifically made to fit my stove model. (Note- these now cost closer to $30, but there are plenty more to choose from on Amazon or a local store)
It took me about 5 minutes to order new oven drip pans, then about 2 minutes to throw the old ones away and put on the new ones when they arrived. Seriously…under 10 minutes for only $10.
I typically encourage you to save money whenever possible. But I consider time valuable too. Is saving an hour or more of your time worth $10?? To me, it sometimes is!
If your drip pans are only a little dirty, definitely try one of the methods above. But if they are beyond cleaning…just buy new ones.
P.S.- Sorry to disappoint you if you were looking for a magic way to clean your oven drip pans yourself.
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