A toaster oven has no doubt made life easier. It provides you with multiple functions such as baking, toasting, and even roasting various food items without requiring the gas oven.
You can cook delicious bacon for your breakfast, make chicken for dinner, and reheat your leftover food from last night in just minutes’ time.
The quickness with which it performs all such functions, exactly the same amount of tiring it is to wash and clean your toaster oven.
Even though it is small, you need to take extra care about certain parts as all the parts might not be safe with soap and water, and also some places might be hard to reach due to the small size.
But nonetheless, cleaning a toaster oven is very important as with time the dust which gets accumulated will contaminate your food which obviously is dangerous to our bodies.
Also, after a certain point, the oven will start stinking with the smell of the food the longer it is kept without cleaning and it could even disgust you out to use the same.
This is the reason why we believe that everyone should know how to clean the toaster oven; both interior and exterior so that it remains neat and in the best condition.
Cleaning an oven might sound very tiring to some, but trust me, it is not! To start off, you can clean it weekly, and then gradually clean it after every usage.
Before you clean the appliance, make sure to thoroughly read your user manual in order to know how to proceed with cleaning it and whether it is water resistant or not.
The user manual might not always provide you with detailed steps as to how to clean, which is why we have curated this article.
Precautions Before You Start
Contents
Before you start cleaning the appliance, please make sure to unplug the device and ensure that it is cool enough.
Cleaning it while it is cool but plugged in can be very dangerous as the water and electricity can react together and become live.
Materials Needed To Clean A Toaster Oven
The hassle-free thing about cleaning a toaster oven is that the supplies can be easily found lying around your house. You will need –
- Toothbrushes, as they can reach the smallest of the places
- Baking soda
- Dish soap
- Vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Water
- Sponge, to clean the trays and racks
- Wipes
- Dry clothes to wipe the parts dry
- Coffee filters
Preparing The Cleaning Solution
Make your cleaning solution in the following way to clean your toaster oven-
- Combine vinegar with warm water with a little bit of dish soap
- Mix it with your hands and you will see bubbles forming
- Make a generous amount of this mixture as you will need it for both the interior and the exterior part
- Use a sponge to apply it all over but at the same time be careful to not let any liquid on the heating elements
How To Clean The Inside Of The Toaster Oven
Cleaning the insides of the toaster oven could be done by-
- Fill the area where you plan on to clean the toaster oven
- Place the trays and racks and keep them soaked in the water in order to get them rid of the dust accumulated
- Take the trays and racks out and clean them with a sponge. Use normal tap water to rinse them thoroughly
- Before cleaning the inside, use a small brush or a cleaning cloth, preferably a toothbrush to clean the crumbs that might have accumulated over so many days
To clean the insides of the toaster oven follow the steps below –
- Make the cleaning solution again if you wish as the previous one might be dirty now with the cleaning of the trays and racks.
- Use a cloth and soak it fully in the water and wipe the interiors with it.
- You can also use a toothbrush, soak it in the cleaning solution and clean the parts with it where the cloth is too wide to reach.
- While you are cleaning the toaster oven, make sure that the heating elements don’t come in contact with the cleaning solution.
How To Clean Toaster Oven Racks And Trays
Cleaning the toaster oven racks and trays is comparatively very easy. It can be done in the following easy steps-
- You can easily take the trays and racks out, and dust all the crumbs that might have accumulated.
- Fill a tub full of water. Add a bit of vinegar and dish soap to that water tub.
- Put the trays and racks into the tub and let them soak.
- Some say soaking them overnight really helps a lot in removing the stains. In the morning, use plain water to rinse them off and wipe them dry with a cotton towel.
- If you feel that there are stains remaining on the racks, use a sponge to get rid of them.
How To Remove Tougher Grease Spots
There might be plenty of spots on the base of the oven which are nothing but tough grease spots and burnt patches.
To get rid of them, the following simple procedure could be followed-
- Use baking soda and water and turn them into a paste
- Make a moderately thick paste, and using a toothbrush spread it nicely over the spots
- Let the mixture sit for quite some time and then use a sponge to clean it
- The spot could get lighter, even though it won’t be completely gone.
- You can repeat this process occasionally in order to get rid of the spots permanently
Here is another method that you can try-
- Baking soda and vinegar are excellent stain removers
- Sprinkle some baking soda over the spot and put vinegar over it
- Use the vinegar from a spray bottle and not directly
- Keep it for some time. Scrub it nicely with any sponge, preferably one with sharp bristles that could make spots lighter than before
Oven cleaners that are available in the markets are also very effective in removing tough grease and burnt spots as they could contain effective ingredients that could remove stains without much effort.
How To Clean A Toaster Oven Glass Door
There are plenty of glass cleaners available in the markets nowadays, but nothing comes near to a cleaning solution made entirely at home, such as-
Use a homemade glass cleaner for cleaning up the glass. Homemade glass cleaners are not only inexpensive but are also safe for the environment.
With more and more concerns about the environment, more and more people are shifting towards homemade cleaners.
In case you don’t know how to make a homemade cleaner for yourself, don’t worry as it is nothing more than a cakewalk. You might need-
- Rubbing alcohol
- Vinegar
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Lemon juice
- Cornstarch
- Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil in order for the cleaner to smell good
- Mix all of this together
- Put it in a spray can
These easy steps could help curate a homemade oven cleaner that could help you in cleaning your oven and give it a new shine by adding some coffee filters to the cleaning and shining process.
Our End Result
After the rigorous cleaning session is over, you will see your toaster oven shining as if it is newly bought from the market.
It also feels good to see your oven shine like it is new; feels like an achievement, to be honest! There is a saying that a clean house is a nice house.
Conclusion
Cleaning the toaster oven is a very healthy process that needs a little bit of practice to get the hang of it.
In the beginning, you might feel lazy thinking it is a very tiresome process, but after 2-3 times, you realize how simple it is.
To have a more healthy and hygienic experience with cooking, cleaning your oven after every single use is a must.
Check your oven after you’re done cooking each time to see if the food has dropped. Wait for the appliance to cool and clean it up once cool.
This habit once developed could go a long way toward healthy cooking. Even if you are habituated to this habit, it is still necessary to clean it thoroughly depending on the frequency of use.
Other than that, it just feels so good to always cook in a clean and tidy oven.
There may be times when you don’t feel like cooking only because the oven is dirty from the previous day’s cooking.
This article aims to provide you with all the basic knowledge that you need to know if it is your first time cleaning a toaster oven.
Always remember that this process is just a matter of time. The more you do it, the clean your oven will look.
Also, the longer you let things soak, the easier it will be for you to clean them.