The Natural Ingredients You Should Be Using To Banish Burnt Residue From Baking Sheets

Whether you use your baking sheets day after day for family dinners or just occasionally to roast veggies from your garden, it's hard to make most anything on a sheet pan without facing burnt-on residue. These messes can be tough to clean thoroughly, but you can make the job easier with the right blend of naturally derived products. Employing a little Castile soap, some citrusy essential oil, baking soda, and warm water, you can get your workhorse baking sheets super clean in no time.

After you've gathered up your liquid Castile soap (Dr. Bronner's is a popular brand that comes in a variety of scents), a bottle of either lemon or orange essential oil, and a package of baking soda, the first step is adding about 3 tablespoons of the soap to your dirty pan. Spread it around so that the pan is covered. Then add 10 to 15 drops of the citrus essential oil across the surface of the pan. Sprinkle baking soda generously over the soap and oil. Lastly, pour warm water over the cleaning ingredients — about 4 cups for a large sheet pan — and allow it to sit for 30 minutes or so.

To finish up, carefully pour the grime-filled liquid into the sink and use a stiff scrubber to clean any remaining stubborn spots. Add a little more Castile soap and baking soda to those areas, if needed. Rinse with hot water, and you're done.

Never thought about using Castile soap to clean your trusty sheet pans? It's a natural product derived from vegetable oils so it's not toxic and eco-friendly in addition to being vegan. It's also known for its ability to cut through the toughest of grease. And, of course, essential oils and baking soda also fall into the all-natural category. All these products are safe to use together to create a powerful cleaning solution that's easy to apply.

If you're wondering exactly how the combination works, the Castile soap particles have one part that attaches to water and another that connects to the grease and dirt in a burnt-on mess making it easier to wash away. In addition to helping you have a nice-smelling home, citrus based essential oils help to loosen up burnt messes as well. Baking soda, of course, serves as a gentle scouring agent and its alkaline pH loosens up burnt-on food, too. Warm water helps spread all these cleaning agents around on your pan so they can melt away grime. If you prefer natural cleaning methods and often have really messy sheet pans to contend with, combining these products to clean metal pans is definitely worth a try.