There is nothing glamorous or pretty about this post, but who doesn’t love a sparking clean oven?! I cook a lot, and my oven was starting to look gross. After using the self cleaning option on the oven one afternoon, that problem had been solved. However, the oven racks also had a dirty build up on them. I searched online for the best way to clean the oven racks, and I found several different options. The one that seemed the easiest utilized dish soap, dryer sheets, and the bathtub! Here’s how to clean over racks in the bathtub.
I used our large master bath tub for this project, as I had three racks to clean. I first lined the tub with old towels so I wouldn’t scratch the surface. You can see here how badly this needed done!
How to Clean Oven Racks in the Bathtub
First, I filled the tub with hot water until the racks were covered. Next, I added 1/2 cup of dish soap and 6 dryer sheets right to the water.
You let this sit overnight, or for several hours during the day (I threw these in around 9am, and cleaned them around 5pm). When you pull out the racks, they will still look dirty. No worries! The gunk has been loosened so much so that is literally comes off as soon as you touch it.
I grabbed the dryer sheets that had been soaking for hours and started wiping down the racks. This takes no time at all because it wipes right off. Here you can see the before and after.
After all the gunk had been wiped off, I rinsed the racks under hot water and dried them thoroughly. It was amazing to me how gross those things were!!
I cleaned my bathtub right away, and there were no scratches and no issues with staining, etc. Take my word for it, my oven looks like new again. If you didn’t want to use your bathtub, you could certainly throw these in a kiddie pool or any sort of plastic tub.
Check out some of my other cleaning posts below!
Cleaning a Top Loading Washing Machine
Cleaning a Stainless Steel Sink
Homemade All Purpose Cleaner
Thanks for the tutorial. It really works!!! I tried it today and I'm so amazed. Who would have thought this concoction would work, but it does. Super cool!
Seriously weird method, but it DOES work! Thanks for checking back in!
This really works great. The oven racks came so clean they look like new. Thanks for sharing this awesome cleaning method. I can't wait to share with family and friends.
I tried this last week on my racks. The racks were not that bad, mostly soft grease but thought I would give this a try. Did exactly as tutorial said. I was very disappointed, not much came off and ended up having to scrub with steel wool pad a great deal. Then had to deal with scrubbing the tub as well. Will not do this again.
Sorry it didn't work for you. As you can see from my photos in the post, it worked great for me!
Dryer sheets? As in tumble dryer sheets?
Yes, dryer sheets you would put in with your laundry in your dryer!
Do you think this would work with liquid fabric softener too?
My bathtub stopper is missing and the rubber stopper I have would not hold the seal for 8 hours. I put the racks and ingredients in a large plastic garbage bag, tied it securely, and then left it outside on my driveway. Eight hours later I opened the bag and it was like magic, how clean the racks were. One of my friends had the same problem and she used her dog's plastic swim tub outside and had a similar result. (Of course, she cleaned the tub thoroughly afterwards for her dog.