Oven cleaning tips: How to clean your oven

At HG, we understand how difficult and inconvenient it can be to keep your oven clean. This is why we have a few products which make this job a lot easier.

Our HG oven, grill and barbecue cleaner can remove stubborn food and grease stains from your oven, as well as your grill and BBQ. It’s also useful for cleaning baking trays and stainless-steel hobs. This oven cleaning spray is easy to use, saving you lots of time and effort.

As well as our oven cleaning spray, you can also try our HG oven and grill revamp kit. This product helps to make everything from your oven, grill, baking trays, BBQ grills and griddles  look brand new. This strong soaking gel is applied with a special brush to remove even the toughest food and grease stains. The unique gel uses a formula designed for soaking on vertical surfaces, without drying out. This ensures even the toughest food and grease stains on oven walls or grills can be removed.

One of the simpler ways to keeping your oven clean is stopping it from getting dirty in the first place. Taking a proactive approach to a clean oven can save you lots of time and effort in the long run. Below are a few ways you can help keep your oven clean:

Use an oven dish
Rather than placing food directly onto the grill rack, using an oven dish will help to prevent grease, oil and liquid splashing from the food onto the inside parts of the oven. This also means you don’t need to clean the grill rack after cooking.

Use baking paper or tinfoil 
When cooking, placing baking paper or tinfoil on top of the grill rack or baking tray can help to keep them clean. As the food doesn’t come into contact with the oven, you can simply throw away the baking paper or tinfoil afterwards.

Folding tinfoil over the food can also prevent oil and grease from splashing onto other parts of the oven. You can also use an oven cleaner bag to prevent grease from building up.

Clean food and grease right away
No matter how hard you try to stop grease from splashing around your oven, sometimes it can’t be helped. If this is the case, you should try and clean any food remnants or grease quickly. When the oven cools down, the food or grease will dry and stick onto the oven, making it harder to wipe away.

There are a few different parts of your oven, which may need to be cleaned a little differently for the best results. Read below for our easy oven cleaning tips.

How to clean your oven glass 

1. Pull down your oven door, and pour boiling water over the glass.
2. Spray the surface with HG, leave the liquid to work for 3 to 5 minutes and then clean with a wet sponge.
3. After all the grease has been removed, clean the glass oven door once more with hot water.
4. Repeat the treatment if needed for extremely dirty oven doors.

How to clean your oven door

1. Spray the rest of the over door like the sides and handle with HG, leaving it to settle for 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Then wipe this clean with a wet sponge.
3. After removing most of the grease, use hot water to rinse clean.
4. Repeat the treatment if needed for extremely dirty oven doors.

How to clean your oven racks

1. When cleaning your oven racks, heat your oven to a lukewarm temperature. 
2. Spray the oven racks with HG oven cleaner and leave for 3 to 5 minutes, then wipe using a wet sponge. 
3. After all the grease has been removed, clean the oven or grill once more with hot water. 

You may need to repeat these steps for especially tough stains when cleaning your oven shelves.

Cleaning your oven walls and floor

1. Firstly, heat your oven slightly.
2. Spray the walls and floor with the product and leave it to settle for 3-5 minutes, then wipe clean with a wet sponge. 
3. Once the grease has been removed, clean your oven walls and floor surfaces again using hot water.
4. You may need to repeat steps 2 and 3 for stubborn stains.

Besides HG's best oven cleaner for baked on grease, there are other household products you can use to clean your oven door, for cleaning oven shelves or your barbecue.

Slice a lemon
Place a sliced lemon in an oven dish, then put this inside an oven preheated at 200ºC. Leave it for 10 minutes whilst the heat evaporates the lemon juice which softens the grease in the oven. This makes it easier to remove when cleaning your oven.

Clean your oven with baking soda
Another household essential effective at cleaning your oven is baking soda. Put some soda on a damp cloth and wipe the inside of the oven. Then leave the baking soda to absorb for a while. You can then easily wipe it clean using a damp cloth or sponge.

You can also place a baking sheet onto the grill racks and sprinkle this with baking soda, leaving it to absorb. Then pour some boiling water onto the sheet and wait for 5 minutes. You can then easily clean the oven shelves with a damp cloth.

Wet Newspapers
Wet newspapers are also useful for cleaning your oven or BBQ grill rack. Place the wet newspapers onto the rack and leave it for a day. Once you remove it, you can easily clean the rack with a cloth or brush, so it looks brand new.

Bowl of ammonia
As mentioned, keeping on top of cleaning your oven is time consuming. A quick and useful tip is to leave a bowl of ammonia inside your oven overnight. However, be sure to leave a few windows open to ventilate your kitchen.

In the morning, you can throw the ammonia away. It will have softened the tough food and grease stains, making them much easier to wipe away.

There you have it. There are many ways you can keep your oven clean, whether this is stopping it from getting dirty in the first place, using the right products, or even using some basic household essentials. We hope these tips will help you to keep your oven as clean as ever.

If you have any other helpful tips we’ve missed out, feel free to let us know. You can also see our guide to How to clean a kitchen, including helpful tips and products, like HG grease away.