How to Clean and Replace Your Oven Racks

Cleaning your oven racks, which can accumulate grease and grime over time, is crucial to minimizing fire risks and enhancing your oven’s smell and appearance. This guide will navigate you through the three best cleaning methods for your oven racks, which include using soap and water, a spray cleaner, and a combination of baking soda and vinegar. These methods are proven and effective, but you can choose whichever is most convenient for you. We'll also address common questions about oven racks, to help you better understand this cleaning process, and to help you get your racks shiny again!

Why and How Often You Need to Clean Your Oven Racks

Oven racks are removable metal shelves installed within your oven that support food items, containers, and trays, so they have a supporting platform to cook and bake on. Your oven racks will eventually get covered with grime and grease, and either need to be cleaned, or replaced. Neglecting to clean your oven racks will result in food residue buildup that can increase a fire risk, and create hard-to-remove odors. That is why we recommend cleaning your oven racks with this guide at least once or twice a year, or more frequently, based on your oven usage. This will help maintain their condition, prevent replacement, and enhance your comfort.

Best Ways to Clean Oven Racks

Cleaning your oven racks is easy and can be done quickly and effectively, whether they're only slightly grimy, or heavily greased. The best methods for cleaning oven racks are either in a bathtub or large container, or outside in a large plastic bag. These options minimize mess and hassle compared to using a sink, but a sink can also be used if a tub or outdoor cleaning option doesn't suit your set-up. Regardless of whichever cleaning process suits you better, we have the guides to assist you.

How to Clean Oven Racks in a Bathtub

The most common recommendation from experts is cleaning oven racks in the bathtub, as it allows for ample space and water to thoroughly clean them, without all the mess. But if you do not have access to a bathtub, a large container can serve as an effective alternative for cleaning your oven racks. We have a list of all the supplies you’ll need, along with instructions to explain how to make sure they're effectively cleaned.

Everything You Need:

• Bathtub or Large Container
• Warm Water
• Dish Soap/Detergent or Dishwasher Tablet
• Towels
• Non-Abrasive Sponge or Brush

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. If you're using a bathtub, spread towels at the bottom of the tub to ensure it doesn't get scratched by the racks.
2. Place your oven racks inside the bathtub or large container.
3. Fill the bathtub or large container with warm water and pour dish soap/detergent or place a dishwasher tablet in the water.
4. Agitate the water to ensure the soap or tablet dissolves properly.
5. Leave the racks to sit in the soap and water for a few hours, or overnight if possible.
6. Once the racks have soaked for that extended period of time, drain the water from the tub or container.
7. Rinse the racks with warm, clean water, and scrub them with a sponge or brush.

How to Clean Oven Racks in Plastic Bags

Using a large plastic bag to clean your oven racks offers a convenient and efficient way to clean your oven racks. By using plastic bags and a spray aerosol cleaner, you save water, avoid a messy cleanup, and still get clean oven racks. The plastic bags are used to help seal the cleaner to the oven racks and ensure it stays wet for a longer period, which improves its cleaning power and prevents it from dripping off. We’ll provide you with a comprehensive list of the supplies you’ll need, and step-by-step instructions to make it as easy and hassle-free as possible.

Everything You Need:

• Trash Bag(s)
• Non-Abrasive Sponge or Soft-Bristle Brush
• Latex/Rubber Gloves
• Spray/Aerosol Cleaning Product of Choice (Easy-Off, for example)
• Clean Water
• Dish Soap

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Make sure you are outside your home, and in a well-ventilated area.
2. Put the oven racks in their own respective bag.
3. Spray each rack liberally with a specialized oven cleaning product of your choice.
4. Ensure each rack is completely covered, and then close the bags and allow them to sit for 30 minutes to an hour, flipping them over halfway through.
5. After the hour is up, remove the oven racks and scrub them with a non-abrasive sponge or brush, and then wash the grease and gunk off with clean, soapy, warm water.

How to Use Baking Soda and Vinegar to Clean Oven Racks

If you want to clean your oven racks using all-natural ingredients and without the harsh chemicals and fumes of some spray cleaners, you can use the more natural solution of baking soda and vinegar to help break it down. Using a baking soda and vinegar combination together can act as a mild abrasive and acid, which makes cleaning tough grime and grease stains with a sponge or brush easier. Below, we'll detail everything you need, and all the required steps to get the rest of the mess off.

Everything You Need:

• Bathtub or Large Container
• Baking Soda
• Vinegar
• Bowl
• Paint Brush (or something similar)
• Non-Abrasive Sponge or Brush
• Warm Water
• Spray Bottle (Optional)
• Towels (Optional)

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. If you're using your bathtub, ensure you place towels down before you put your oven racks down.
2. Place your oven racks in a large container or bathtub.
3. Create a paste with equal parts baking soda and water (a half cup of each will work) in a bowl.
4. Use a brush to coat the racks with the paste, and allow it to sit for 30-45 minutes.
5. After that time, create a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water, and spray or slowly pour it over the racks.
6. Allow the racks to sit for another 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, rinse the racks with clean water, and then scrub them with a soft brush or non-abrasive sponge and warm, soapy water.
8. Rinse the racks a final time, and allow them to dry.

How to Keep Your Oven Racks Clean

Now that your oven racks are clean, it's about keeping them clean for the long term. To help you do that, we'll delve into three main strategies that are easy to follow and will help you maintain the cleanliness of your oven racks. These tips range from daily cooking practices, to tasks you can do a few times a year, all aimed at significantly improving your kitchen and home’s comfort.

Cook with Tin Foil or Baking Trays

It's important that whenever you're cooking or baking anything in your oven, you use a baking tray, baking sheet, or tin foil to avoid spillovers. These can also be used on the rack underneath your food container or tray, to prevent any drips or spills.

Clean Oven Rack Spills Immediately

Whether it's a spill or residue build-ups in your oven, making sure to clean any food messes as they happen, will go a long way to keeping your oven racks, and oven in general, clean!

Regular Light Cleaning

Regularly cleaning your oven racks every few months will keep you from having to do any deep cleans. It truly does make a difference in your home, and keeps your oven from looking grimy and producing stubborn smells that linger.

Frequently Asked Questions for Cleaning Your Oven Racks

Learning how to effectively clean your oven racks may provoke some questions that other people have asked before, so we've put together this list of a few frequently asked questions to answer any that you may have.

Can You Clean Oven Racks in the Dishwasher?

While cleaning your oven racks in your dishwasher is completely possible, and some oven racks are designated as dishwasher-safe, we recommend you clean them manually. Washing oven racks in your dishwasher exposes them to high heat, and when combined with detergents, can cause discoloration of your racks. This is why we instead recommend cleaning them with household ingredients like dish soap and tablets, baking soda, vinegar, or spray cleaners.

Can You Use Self-Cleaning to Clean Oven Racks?

The self-cleaning option within ovens is not recommended as a method to clean your oven racks. Continuously cleaning your oven racks with the self-clean option will lead to food spills, grease, and grime getting caked onto the racks, and even further discoloration and damage to the racks. Not to mention, this discoloration can lead to the rack's factory finish wearing off, and the racks becoming harder to slide in and out of your oven.

Can You Clean Oven Racks with Dishwasher Tablets?

You can use dishwasher tablets as a soap alternative in the cleaning process of oven racks, but as mentioned above, cleaning your oven racks in a dishwasher isn't recommended. To clean with dishwasher tablets, follow the methods listed above, and make sure to agitate them so they fully dissolve in your large container or bathtub, before they soak for a few hours.

Do Dryer Sheets Clean Oven Racks?

Dryer sheets do not clean oven racks, and their use in cleaning oven racks is entirely useless.

How to Clean Oven Racks Quickly

The quickest way to clean your ovens racks is with a baking soda paste and vinegar spray. In less than an hour and a half, you can have cleaned most, if not all, grime and food splatters on your oven racks, depending on how heavy the buildups are.

When Should You Replace Your Oven Racks?

Knowing when it's time to replace your oven racks can be harder than you'd think, but we've got all of the reasons you'd need to consider, if you're on the fence.

• Oven Racks Can't Support Food Items: The main purpose of oven racks is to support your food items and containers, and if they are sagging and can't do that anymore, it's time to replace them.
• Oven Racks Don't Fit Properly in Your Oven: Aside from being a pain to slide and out of your oven, an oven rack that's warped or bent, and not fitting properly anymore can also cause damage to your oven's inside walls.
• Can't Clean Oven Racks: If you've tried cleaning your oven racks before, and the grease and grime buildup simply will not come off, it's probably time to wipe the slate clean and replace them.

And now that you have some beautiful, sparkling oven racks, and the knowledge to clean them again in the future, you can get back to cooking and baking, without the lingering smells and food splatters all over them! If you enjoyed reading this article, you can find appliance error code and other home improvement articles just like this one on our PartSelect blog!