The Easiest Way to Clean a Burnt Pot or Pan

by Shawna Bailey

I hate doing the dishes...like, REALLY hate it. But there's one thing that makes doing the dishes truly unbearable and that's when food gets burnt to the bottom of a pan. Instead of fighting and scraping the pan til it's spotless, here's my favorite method for cleaning stainless steel pots and pans. All it takes is a few cut up lemons and water. The acid in the lemon and the boiling water get off all the really tough gunk, plus the lemons get rid of any burnt smell and replace it with a sweet citrus scent.

the easiest way to clean a burnt pot or pan, cleaning tips

Here's a pot that has been burnt to heck. You don't even want to know what I was trying to cook! Let's just say that I needed a super powered cleaner, and a fresh scent would definitely help.

I cut my lemons so that I had enough pieces to cover the bottom of the pan.

I added water and brought it to a boil. After a bit of boiling I tossed out the lemons and then all I had to do was scrub it lightly with a brush, and all the leftover grime fell away.

It's hard to believe, but that really is the same pot! This is one magic trick I will definitely be doing again.

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2 questions

Lydia on Dec 17, 2018

How to clean the outside of the pan??

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Ranka Čordaš on Aug 25, 2020

Yes I also want to clean outside pan

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Tina on Dec 01, 2018

Help. I have a baking sheet, cookie sheet, whatever you call them, which at one point had a nonstick coating. It still does, I guess, but has baked on grease on it that I cannot get off without scrubbing off the nonstick coating. I've tried Dawn with boilingwater,letting a dryer sheet soak in it overnight, Barkeeper's Friend and none of those has made a dent in the baked on stuff. Short of using a highly abrasive cleanser or those magic eraser scrubbers (which remove the nonstick coating) I am fresh out of ideas. Any would be welcome.

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- SusanM on Dec 03, 2018
  
  My problem is similar to yours. I have a large baking pan in bad shape. I wonder if we could start out the same as Shawna recommends then add boiling water & "bake" it in the oven for a short time.
  
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- Peggy Miller on Dec 07, 2018
  
  If you put a cup of ammonia in a garbage bag (not scented or the stretchy ones) and then put you pan in the bag and let it sit 24 hrs when you take it out the next day all the greas will fall right off. Then wash it to get rid of the a
  
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- K. stay on May 05, 2019
  
  There was a documentary on Netflix that said Teflon was unsafe to use. It had been traced to cancer. I switched to stainless steel. The other day I was sautéing mushrooms and forgot about them. The house needed airing out for hours. I thought someone had told me to pore a cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of salt and let it boil with a lid on. Turn off the heat and let it sit till cool enough to touch and the crud comes right off.
  
  1
RAS on Mar 17, 2019

The active ingredient i d-limonene, the orange smell in organic cleaners and others like GooBeGone. It is all natural and so powerful that mechanics often soak engine parts in it to remove carbon deposits--the ultimate burnt on mess.

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