Skip to main content

You Won’t Believe these 5 Ways To Clean Burnt Pots and Pans

We've all had to say goodbye to an unfortunately burnt-beyond-repair pot. However, not all crispy pans are a lost cause. So before you cast out that crusty iron pan or that over-browned brownie sheet we've got some tips that might keep them around a few more rounds. 

Related Videos

Difficulty

Moderate

With just a few everyday household products, you will be surprised at what a little bit of nature ( and a lot of elbow grease) can do. Here's how to bring those burnt pots back to life. These methods aren't that hard to do but they do take a little patience and some elbow grease. Fortunately, the reward is extremely satisfying!

Vinegar and baking soda for cleaning.

The Vinegar and Baking Soda Method

One of the oldest tricks in the book is the mixture of vinegar and baking soda. You aren't combining them, however. This time, you're allowing them to work their magic separately to pull up dirt and grease and restore the shine. Follow these steps.

  1. Mix equal parts of water and distilled white vinegar. Pour a small layer into the bottom of the pan.
  2. Place the pan on your stovetop and heat it to a boil.
  3. Allow it to boil for a few minutes, and then pour the mixture out.
  4. Spread a thin layer of baking soda into the pot and gently scrub using a soft bristle brush.
  5. Rinse the pan out to remove any remaining residue.

Most people know the combination of vinegar and baking soda creates a chemical reaction, but you can also use them separately to restore surfaces.

Natural rock salt.

The Salt and Dish Detergent Method

Mixing the lightly abrasive texture of salt with gentle dish detergent can also draw up baked-on grease and grime. Here's how you handle it.

  1. Sprinkle the bottom of your pan or pot with a thin layer of salt. A combination of coarse and fine ground salt works best.
  2. Take a small amount of water and a drop or two of dish detergent and gently scrub the pan with a soft bristle brush.
  3. Rinse and repeat until your pan is clean. Rinse one final time to remove any last residue.

The salt is abrasive but gently so and dissolves before doing any real damage. You may need to repeat this one a few times if the pan is particularly burnt.

The Dryer Sheet Method

For a no-scrub method, a dryer sheet may be able to lift up stains and restore shine. This is what to do.

  1. Fill the pan with hot water and gentle dish soap.
  2. Take a dryer sheet and submerge it into the water.
  3. Allow the sheet to sit in the pan for at least an hour or preferably until the water cools.
  4. For extra cleaning power, start with boiling water. Add the dryer sheet first, so you don't come in contact with the water.
  5. Once the water cools, remove the water and dryer sheet. Gently wipe out the pan to restore the surface and shine.

The softeners in dryer sheets can help lift up stubborn stains, but you need the patience to let the pan soak. It's best for mishaps that have just happened or lightly soiled pans.

The Dishwasher Tablet Method

The dryer sheet method may work on lightly grimy pans, but with really burnt-on grease, you may need something more.

  1. Put on a pair of gloves for cleaning.
  2. Unwrap the dishwasher tablet and rub it all over the bottom of your pot.
  3. As burnt areas begin to come up, rinse them from the pan.
  4. Continue rubbing the tablet over scorched areas and rinsing until it's completely clean.

This is an easier way, but it can get expensive to use a single dish tablet for each pan. It's best to clean pans before they scorch, but the method is excellent as a last resort to save your favorite cookware.

The Boiled Lemon Method

Something you may have lying around is leftover lemon peels and squeezed lemons. You can also quarter a lemon for this method.

Fill a pot or pan with water and two or three lemons' worth of quarters, peels, or squeezed lemons. Allow the water to come to a boil. Boil for five to ten minutes or until food starts to float to the surface. Discard the lemons and water and gently scrub the remaining grime or grease off the pan surface. Rinse the pan out to remove any lingering lemon or residue.

The acidity in lemons plus the boiling action helps pull up food particles and give you a better chance of scrubbing the pot clean without scratching the surface.

Washing the bottom of a dirty pot.
Wash a dirty pot

How Do I Get the Black Marks off My Pots and Pans?

You've gotten the stuck-on food and grease off the pan, but scorch marks remain. How do you take your cleaning to the next level? This is what you need:

  • Baking soda
  • Warm water
  • Gentle dish soap (classic-blue Dawn works best)
  • Lemon essential oil
  • Small bowl
  • Aluminum foil
  1. Mix 1/2 cup baking soda, a half-cup of warm water, a tablespoon of dish soap, and a few drops of essential oil in the bowl and mix.
  2. Allow the mixture to soak in your pan or pot for up to 30 minutes.
  3. Scrunch up a sheet of aluminum foil and use it to scour the pan gently. Use a delicate hand here and watch for scratch marks.
  4. When the surface is clean enough for you, rinse the pan out to remove the mixture and any lingering residue.
  5. You can repeat this on the bottom of the pan as well.
  6. Cleaning Burnt Stainless Steel Pots

Cooking experiments can take their toll on your pots and pans. If you don't know how to clean burnt rice, that soup you scalded, or the unfortunate experiment with frying, these methods can help you restore your pots and pans.

Be sure you pay attention to how hard you're scrubbing. You want the grime to come off, but you don't want to ruin your pan's surface at the same time. Use these simple household products to make cleaning burnt stainless steel pots and other types of cookware easier.

Patience and prevention may be the best method

It may sound intuitive but the best way to keep pots and pans free from being burnt is to pay closer attention to what you're cooking. This starts before the pan hits the stove.

Anytime sugar is present in cooking there's always a chance that it can burn and leave an awful mess. Sure, there are some common culprits like bacon (before you've properly had your coffee) or barbecue sauce which seem to always leave burned marks. But some foods like vegetables often get overlooked and can burn quickly when unsupervised. So if your ingredients have burned in the past, adapting your cooking method will make for easier cleanup.

Turn the heat down some, and have a little patience when cooking sugary foods. Consider stirring foods more frequently that may be likely to burn. And if you feel something starting to stick, lower the heat until you can get it to release from the pan.

Editors' Recommendations

How to cook: 10 cooking skills everyone should have mastered by 30
Stay sharp (and well-fed) with these crucial cooking tips
how to chop onions the right way chopping 2

Not everyone is cut out to be the next Wolfgang Puck or Julia Child. We don't all have the desire to spend hours in the kitchen, elbow deep in bacon fat or frosting, whipping up the newest culinary TikTok trend. But hey, we all have to eat. While Uber Eats and DoorDash are life-saving options some days, learning a few basic kitchen techniques is a pretty important life skill.
So even if you won't be making an appearance on any new cooking shows, these are a few skills that, if mastered, should get you by just fine.

1. How to hold a knife

Read more
5 Thanksgiving turkey alternatives if poultry isn’t your thing
If you feel like mixing it up this year at Thanksgiving dinner, ditch the bird for one of these dishes
thanksgiving turkey alternatives fancy dinner table setting

If turkey doesn't get you gobbling, you're not alone. There are plenty of reasons not to eat this enormous celebratory bird every time the festive season rolls around. Maybe you have a smaller gathering on Thanksgiving and such a huge main course doesn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps you do a big turkey dinner on Christmas and are looking to mix it up this year. Or it could be that this year in particular, turkeys may be hard to track down, be it in the forest or the grocery store. Due to this season's turkey shortage, holiday tables everywhere may look a little different, but that's just fine by us.
Whatever your reason for skipping the tryptophan crash this Thanksgiving, we've got you covered. You can still enjoy a beautiful feast without the bird with these outside-the-box Thanksgiving dinner ideas.

Prime rib

Read more
Here’s how to unclog your garbage disposal in 6 easy steps
Your guide to simple garbage disposal repair

Why pay for something you can do yourself? More times than not, unclogging a garbage disposal is something you can knock out on your own. And the best part is you don't have to be incredibly handy to pull off the task.

Read more