How to Clean Your Oven

For many folks, the next step is spraying the interior of the oven with a commercial oven cleaner. For this method, follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the can for best results.

If you prefer not to use a commercial oven cleaner, you can opt for ammonia, Shiraz says. Pour two cups of ammonia in a bowl and use a sponge to scrub the areas that have baked-on debris. Let it sit for 30 minutes, then wipe out the oven with water. “Make sure the ammonia is rinsed out thoroughly,” Shiraz says, “otherwise your oven will smell like ammonia the next time you use it.”

Stegner recommends sprinkling baking soda over the interior surface, then spraying liberally with the solution she described earlier, to create a paste. “I’ve tried everything,” she says. “I used commercial oven cleaner 20 years ago but stopped doing that — there are so many poisons in oven cleaners it’s crazy. When you have that many cautions on something, it’s not something I want in my oven. Now I use the baking soda.”