But if you spend a great deal of your time in the kitchen, chances are you’ve burned a pot or two. There will be days when you look at the burn mark and wonder if you should just chuck the pot.
If you happen to be in this position again (or you are in this position right now), there are some things you can try to save the pot before cutting your losses. The good news is that with some effort cleaning your pots and pans at home can restore them to their best quality.
A lot of times all you need is readily available kitchen products such as, dish soap, water, or white vinegar or baking soda, scouring pad, lemons, etc. Some of the easiest pot cleaning methods are shared in this article; we recommend that you start with the gentlest and only scrape away at the nubbin if all else fails.
When you clean your pan or pot, it is important to apply a method which won’t kill it. Whichever material your pot is made of will determine this. Take for example that you would damage nonstick cookware if you use a harsh scouring pad.
1. Using Hot Water
When you burn your cookware, give it a try soaking it in hot water for the burnt food off. Stainless steel pots enamel pans should be washed using this method.
To get started, put your pot onto the stove, at medium heat. Put some water into the pot once it’s hot at the base to and let it simmer a few minutes.
This water should be enough to deglaze it sufficiently for you to scrape the foods away with a wooden spoon or spatula. We recommend adding a tablespoon of baking soda or dishwasher soap to the vinegar, and go faster while dissolving any leftover cooking oils for even better results.
2. Using Baking Soda and White Vinegar
So, your food burns, and you don't want to spend eternity soaking and scrubbing it off? Using baking soda and vinegar is one of the best ways of cleaning a burnt pan, and it works in minutes. What you will need for the operation is
- A cup of white vinegar
- A gentle scouring pad
- Your burnt pot
- Two tablespoons of baking soda
- A cup of water
To clean the pot or pan:
- Place it on the stove and pour a cup or so of water over the burnt area until it’s covered.
- Add the vinegar and turn on the heat, when the water boils.
- When it boils, please please turn off the heat, add the baking soda and give it time to frizz. Enough of this mixture of ingredients should soften the food bits for gentle scrubbing.
If you are still left with burnt patches, you can make a paste with baking powder and water to help scrub the foods off. This method is perfectly suited to rusted stainless steel and cast iron pans and pots.
3. Overnight Soak
If there’s only a thin layer of burnt foods at the bottom of your pot or your pan, this method of removing baked on foods is ideal for nonstick cookware.
Pour hot water until it covers the bottom of the pan, to soak. You can even use with a fair amount of soap for even better results. Leave the nonstick pot overnight and in the morning you can scrape the food bits off.
4. Using Oil for Cast Iron Pots
When you've scorched your cast iron pan, you can use oil to scrub away the food debris.
Put your burnt pot on the stove and throw in cooking oil all over the burnt layer! Turn that stove on low to medium heat and allow it to sit until the oil starts to bubble. As soon as the oil dries all the debris, a wooden spoon can be used to scrape it all off. After the pot cools, though, you can scrape the oil and food debris off with a paper towel and wash gently with soap and water.
5. Using a soaked dryer sheet
Another handy solution when you want to clean your nonstick pans or aluminum pots. If you have lightly burnt pots, the dryer sheets hack will work with a little soaking.
To use this method, add water to your pot and submerge a dryer sheet to the bottom of your pot. Leave the water and a dryer sheet for several hours so the moisture will soften the food particles for easy cleaning.
6. Using a dishwasher tablet
One of the easiest ways you can use to clean a burnt pan is by using dishwasher tablets.
They are powdery, and there are enough scouring powers you need to clean your cookware.
To use place the pan on a heat source, and wet it with a little bit of water. Take out of the heat and gently soak the debris with your favorite tablets. What we like about these tablets is that they are great at removing burnt oils on your pots, so when you get the debris off all you have to do is rinse and dry your cookware.
7. Using coarse salt
Salt and lemons or dish detergent will also do the trick if you need an easy way to remove scorch marks in your pot or pan.
Best of all: grab a burned pot and a heavy hand as far as coarse Kosher salt goes. Lemon slice, cut and use to rub the salt all around your pot. After cleaning the burns, rinse your pot using soap and water.
8. Using a ball of aluminum foil
When you’ve tried all of those things and nothing seems to help, if it is time to cut the lose on elbow grease and get out your aluminum foil. Here are the supplies you need;
- A ball of aluminum foil
- Baking soda or dish soap
- Gloves
- Water
- A really burnt pot
Before you get started, you should know that this method takes time ( up to 10 minutes) and energy and will leave you elbow deep in it. And don’t forget to wear gloves for protection of your nails and skin.
Put the burnt pan or pot somewhere it can soak for a couple of minutes, until some of the debris starts to lose its strength and soften. Next, add in a whole lot of baking soda until you’ve made a thick paste. Scrub the pot all around with a ball of aluminum foil until the stains are gone. Just make sure your pot may need to be rinsed out a few times before you can see which parts need a little more cleaning.
