Mistakes You're Making When Cleaning Your Dutch Oven

Dutch ovens are one of the most versatile cooking tools in the kitchen — great for baking a loaf of bread or a heaping pot of stew. Typically, dutch ovens are made from enamel-coated cast iron, which offers a myriad of benefits like even heating, durability, and some non-stick capabilities. While you've probably heard endless tips on how to care for your cast iron pan, there's not as much readily available information about how to properly maintain these enamel-coated dutch ovens. It's important to know what cleaning techniques can damage your dutch oven because whether you have a high-end Le Creuset or a more affordable model, you want to keep them in good condition so they last a very long time and maintain their many benefits for cooking. 

Two easy mistakes you may be making are not thoroughly washing food and grease from your dutch oven before using it on the stove or in the oven again and using an overly abrasive cleaner to remove the resulting stains. Read on to learn everything you need to know about enameled cast iron cleaning mistakes and what to do instead. 

A lot of us probably have a dutch oven with plenty of dark marks on the inside and outside of the pot. These can sometimes appear when food has been heated too hot while cooking. It's easy to assume these stains are baked into the coating itself, especially when they don't come loose during regular washing. However, there's a very good chance these scorch marks you've come to accept are actually residual food and grease particles. 

Suppose you assume these stains are permanent and pop the dutch oven onto your drying rack; when you go to use the pot on the stove again, you're further setting that food and grease into the coating, which ruins its non-stick quality and makes it easier for additional food and grease to stick to these spots. That's why it's so key to quickly and thoroughly clean these marks right after they appear instead of letting them build up over time. 

Dealing with these stubborn spots doesn't mean you need to use a ton of elbow grease. Instead, try filling the dutch oven with water, putting it on a stove burner, and bringing it to a boil. Some of the gunk may start to float off immediately, but to move it along, use a wooden spoon to gently scrape any remaining debris off. If that still doesn't do the trick, add a few tablespoons of baking soda to the water and allow it to simmer before scraping again. 

Of course, regular cleaning is the best way to keep your dutch oven in tip-top shape, which involves thoroughly removing all food and grease after each use, allowing it to dry out fully before storing it, and so on. But stains do happen even with proper care, and you may be tempted to reach for an abrasive cleaner or tool to eradicate them, and there are lots of endorsements for this method on social media. However, this is a mistake. 

Enameled cast iron dutch ovens are not one of the things you should be cleaning with Bar Keeper's Friend and other abrasive cleaners. Cleaners like Bar Keeper's Friend and Bon Ami, as well as steel wool and scouring pads, will get rid of stains, but they'll also break down that enamel coating that offers so many benefits. This can deteriorate the non-stick layer and, over time, wear it down to reveal the cast iron underneath. 

If baking soda, boiling water, and a wooden spoon don't do the trick, there's still hope. Fill the pot with room temperature water and bleach in a three-to-one ratio and allow the solution to work for up to 24 hours. Lightly stained pots may take just a few hours, but more extensive buildup and staining might need the full 24 hours. You can also agitate the mixture with a wooden spoon as it soaks. Be sure to thoroughly clean the pot afterward to avoid any leftover bleach sticking to your dutch oven.