Make Stained Bakeware Sparkle Like New With A Laundry Staple

When the thrill of cooking a new amazing meal dies down, you're left with arguably the worst part of the entire process — washing the dishes. Scrubbing grease and burnt food off of baking dishes is an arduous task, but leaving them to soak in soapy water for hours takes up too much space in your sink. Instead of relying on patience and elbow grease, try pantry staples like baking soda and vinegar to make dirty sheet pans look brand new. Or, you could experiment with our new favorite cleaning tool, dryer sheets.

It sounds odd, but dryer sheets are incredible at removing stains from certain types of bakeware. The conditioners and surfactants in dryer sheets (aka substances that help soften your clothes) actually help dissolve stains and lift burnt food from bakeware surfaces, too. All you have to do is layer dryer sheets on top of your baking dish, pour hot water over them, and let everything soak for about an hour. Then remove the water and sheets, wipe, rinse, and there you have it: sparkly dishes minus the scrubbing.

Some helpful tips to keep in mind? Use unscented dryer sheets, as fragrances may throw unnecessary chemicals into the mix. Additionally, keep a sponge nearby to wipe residues from bakeware afterward. Make sure to follow that by thoroughly wash dishes with soap and water, and allow bakeware to air dry (or pat dry with a kitchen towel) for best results.

Ultimately, this hack prevents you from losing pots and pans to burned-on food. Dryer sheets can also remove just about any food stain on glass or metal bakeware. You can even effortlessly clean Pyrex dishes and eliminate stubborn stains with this trick. However, you'll want to avoid using dryer sheets on aluminum, nonstick, and cast-iron pans, as the sheets' chemicals could leave unwanted discoloration, strip down nonstick coatings, or even remove seasoning, respectively.

If you already have dryer sheets in your house, cleaning bakeware this way is cheap, effective, and readily accessible. But if you don't have any on hand, we recommend a few other easy cleaning hacks. For instance, spread a solution of baking soda and vinegar (or dish soap and hydrogen peroxide) over your pans, wait 20 minutes, and then scrub until clean. Or, try scouring pans with lemon and salt after soaking them in hot water. The acidity and abrasiveness of these ingredients helps to effortlessly wash away grease and grime.