3 Red Flags That Show Your Oven Needs A Deep Cleaning

Ovens get a lot of love in home kitchens, opening and closing multiple times a day for baking, broiling, roasting, braising, stewing, air frying, and even dehydrating all kinds of tasty foods. Quick wipe-downs in between all that activity may seem sufficient to keep things running smoothly — until you realize something isn't quite right. When that happens, it's possible your oven needs a deep cleaning. 

To get some more intel on that, we reached out to expert Alexis Rochester, investigative chemist and owner of Chemistry Cachet, who reveals three red flags that could indicate a deep cleaning is in order: smoke, food not cooking evenly, or a burnt smell when you turn on the oven. "This can be troubling because it can impact indoor air quality," she says, "and it might be a sign of something more serious like a mechanical issue. This is why keeping your oven clean is important!"

Deep cleaning can be a tough task, especially if too much time passes. "The hardest part of deep cleaning the oven is burnt-on food that doesn't get cleaned, continues to get reheated, then reburns on the oven surface," explains Rochester. "It makes it almost impossible to clean the longer it lingers."  She suggests deep cleaning your oven every three to six months, depending on how often you use it. As Rochester puts it, "The more you cook, the more often it will need to be deep cleaned." 

When tough love is in order, and the time for deep cleaning your oven arrives, a few tips can make the process a bit easier. Rochester shares that for extra stubborn residues, "I like to use a solution of cream of tartar with a little water to make a paste. This works to scrub the door and inside the oven." She adds, "Another popular scrub is The Pink Stuff Miracle Paste, which can also work to get off the toughest burnt particles." 

You can learn about other options in our look at deep-cleaning products that bring crusty ovens back to life. We also have a pretty handy tip for removing baked-on oven residue with one cheap tool. Spoiler alert: It's a pumice stone. But it needs to be used a certain way to avoid scratching your oven.

As a final piece of advice, Rochester reiterates how helpful it is to keep your oven clean on a consistent basis, noting that many different methods exist, even very simple ones. "Using a solution of water and dish soap regularly can help keep the oven clean," she notes. "I like to wipe out the oven weekly or after each use." For more ways to keep up with this chore, we have 11 cleaning tips for keeping your oven spotless, which include tricks like treating spots with a baking soda paste, steam cleaning with vinegar, catching drips as they occur, and lots more.