Welcome to Pinterest Tested! Ever wonder if that miracle cleaner is really miraculous? Or what about that homemade facial cleanser or delicious-looking recipe? This is the place to find out! I am testing Pins that catch my eye to see if they really live up to the claims made on Pinterest. It’s like the Mythbusters of Domesticity!
This weeks’ Pin shows some amazing before and after shots of how to get that orange/brown gunk off baking sheets.
THE TEST: Can I remove build-up from my baking sheet by soaking it in hydrogen peroxide and baking soda?
Here’s what my pan looked like before and after the solution:
Yeah. Not much change, huh?!
You know what worked way better? An SOS pad and a whole lot of elbow grease:
***Update: I just noticed that I put the “before” and “after” labels BACKWARDS on this picture! Obviously the nice shiny side is the “after”… sorry about that!The SOS pad does scratch the surface a bit, but my pan already had scratches from years of cutting brownies and homemade pizza, so I figured what’s a few more?
THE RESULT: Bummer. The gunk did NOT magically loosen up using the cleaning solution. I don’t think it helped remove the build-up at all. If you want clean pans, you’re going to have to scrub till your arm cramps to get that orangey crud off.
Comments & Reviews
Try it again with baking soda and vinegar.
Nope vinegar and baking soda will not do the trick especially for gunk that's baked on for a long period of time. Instead try regular old fabric softener like you use for clothes and hot water. Let sit until the water goes cool and scrub off. I passed this on to my mom (she used a couple of dryer sheets in the hot water as she didn't have liquid said it worked awesome) she passed it on to the ladies at church everyone is happy and amazed with it. It works really well for gunky stuff like when you do BBQ pork in the oven and get that baked on mess.
Give it a try I bet you will be happy with it.
Rose
Hi There, you fill the sink with very hot water, a cupful of washing detergent( for clothes), and a cupful soda crystals, and immerse your baking tins,leave to soak til water is cool enough to put your hand in then just scrub with a soft scourer.this should certainly remove the burnt on gunk!Rosie.
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works VERY well on cleaning nasty baked on grease from pans. I never would have thought to use it on dishes until my mom showed me! It still requires elbow grease, but not as much as with Brillo (which I LOVE) or SOS pads. Also, Barkeeper's Friend.
I just use a Magic eraser- on metal baking pans and glass ones too. Works great!
I tried this mix to get stains off my porcelain sink. Let it sit overnight and it seems to be much cleaner..
I tried this one too and got the same result. Ugh
I've had some luck with baking soda and boiling water. (I lived in an apartment with a gas stove – the little pans underneath the burners were murder until I boiled them for a while.)
Barkeepers Friend (comes in a container like comet) works great on anything stainless…
🙂
Barkeepers Friend is the miracle stuff. I couldn't stop cleaning stainless steel! It also cleaned the bottom of all my pots and got that gunk off the can opener.
What about soaking in straight ammonia? I know it cuts grease and old wax very well. (straight, not diluted-and I know-STRONG FUMES) I was trying to remember what has worked in past besides the above mentioned things. I love your blog! I am so glad young women are finding out about vinegar. (I think)-HA.(The price is probably going to go UP now) I have always thought it was sad that so many were paying many $ for LESS effective products!!! Sorry I am talking about vinegar here. That was the first post I read and followed to this one. Thanks for your time. Oh-and I hate cleaning bathtubs TOO. (Company is a GREAT motivator 😉 Mary from Oklahoma
Use Sudsy Ammonia. I cleans the drip pans and porcelain grates on gas stoves, but it has to be the sudsy kind. I tried pure ammonia and it did nothing.
The main problem with using straight ammonia on something you cook food on: do you really want to clean with poison? Along with the neurotoxins, possibility of skin burns, tracheal damage (not to mention the environmental impacts!)…if you don't rinse it off completely, you will be ingesting ammonia along with your food. May be best to stick to vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda.
Thanks everyone for your awesome comments! I have several new ideas to test…and several pans that still need a good cleaning, so it's perfect!
And sorry to be unclear…ETA stands for Edited To Add, meaning I added a note to a post after it's original publishing.
I have great success soaking them in water with some ammonia. I will often buy used bake ware (glass or metal) at thrift stores that are all gunked up, after soaking them the gunk scrubs off… My tea kettle was nearly brown from gunk, but is now beautiful stainless steal!!
I know the idea here is to use things that are "friendly" to self and the earth…however, with something like this or bbq grills, I take a Hefty bag, spray the sheets and/or grills, pop them in the bag and let sit for at least an hour. Sometimes more…then all you have to do is rinse and there is very little elbow grease with an SOS pad involved…
I use tomato sauce to get the caked on, greasy gunk off of my skillets and cookie sheets. Just smear on a bit and let sit for 30 minutes and it wipes right off.
Would you like to perhaps try vinegar and salt? I use a vinegar and salt mixture to remove rust from wrought iron items that I find at thrift stores that I want to use for decorating. It also removes tarnish from copper and brass. If it works on cookie sheets, let me know!
We put one or two of our cookie sheets with the baked on stuff in the oven when we use the cleaning cycle on the oven and then run them thru the dishwasher. they come out great!
I've used baking soda and a small amount of water… making it paste like on Glass bakeware and the brown crud came off. I left it on overnight. mostly because I'm lazy! I haven't tried it on my metal baking pans.
I have been using a product called "Simple Green" I leave it on to soak on my broiler pan and after about 5-10 minutes of letting it sit the grease and dried on brown practically wipes right off.
A magic eraser will take it right off!
Dryer sheets will take off everything. Put pan or casserole dish in sink and fill with hot water, add a dryer sheet and leave for a few minutes and everything will come right off
I have used oven cleaner in the past for some really stuck on gunk. It has worked great!
Thanks for the tub test. I am going to go and try it on a rental. Always cut your brownies with a plastic knife. It works great – doesn't drag the brownies and they end up very square without crumbs and the plastic knife doesn't scratch your pans. The secret to these aluminum jelly roll pans is to clean the cooking spray off every time you use them. My pans get plenty of use and they look almost new but they are years old. A copper scrubber works well on all pans but they will scratch the aluminum and it does require elbow grease