Clean Your Pots and Pans with Hydrogen Peroxide

Difficulty: Beginner

If you’re anything like me you like to cook or bake. With those hobbies comes cleaning. I don’t love that part about cooking and baking. It’s times like those when I wish that I had a house elf to do the work of cleaning up after a marathon baking session.

Though I don’t like having to clean up after spending a long time cooking or baking I do it, because it’s necessary. It isn’t right for me to leave a big mess for the next person. Honestly, sometimes I leave the mess to take care of later and every time I could kick myself for not cleaning up right away.

No one wants to walk into a messy kitchen hours later or even the next morning. It’s better to get it done right away and move on to the next thing. Most of the time I clean up right away and I do my best to soak, scrub and scour my pots and pans to get them as clean as possible.

Sometimes even the most aggressive scrubbing and scouring can’t get rid of stubborn burnt on food. After many years of cooking and baking with the same pots and pans I noticed that my equipment was looking a little worse for wear.

You know how your baking sheets get that brown residue from grease and cooking spray? The cooking spray that keeps food from sticking, but creates a sticky brown un-washable film on anything it touches. A blessing and a course I suppose.

I was noticing that my pasta pot was getting brown on the outside at the bottom. We use it several times a week. No we don’t eat pasta that many times a week, don’t judge me! We use it for lots of other things like our weekly giant batch of stove top popcorn. The bottom of that pot was looking pretty rough even though it is still in great shape and works well.

I do recall accidentally melting a plastic bread bag to the bottom of the pot one time after I had turned off the burner. That’s what I get for trying to make myself a pb&j while waiting for my spaghetti to cook, just kidding!

Assess the Stains

Take a moment to consider exhibit A. Notice the brown and black stains all over the bottom of the pot and how it even creeps up the sides of the pot, although the stains on the sides are much less alarming. Of course these stains on the outside of my pot don’t at all effect the outcome of any dish prepared inside of the pot.  These stains do, however make me question my calling to be a wife and mother. Shouldn’t a house wife have spotless pots and pans? Isn’t that part of my job description? Remover of all stains. Hardly, I frequently remind my kids to find clothes without stains to put on when going out of the house, haha!

Still, she is going on about stains with no end in sight. Don’t worry my tangent, or is it a rant, is over. My reason for telling you about my stained pots and pans is because I found a way to remove them. Well most of them. That melted bread bag is a force to be reckoned with.

Stain Remover

What pray tell is this magical method for cleaning pots and pans? Combining hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Of course you have to do something with this concoction. Make a paste of the two ingredients and spread it over the stained areas. The baking soda helps hold the hydrogen peroxide in place over the stains. Let the paste sit for about 20-30 minutes.

Then scrub with a sponge, rag or paper towel to remove stains. A copper or metal scrubber can be used for more stubborn stains. This will require a bit of elbow grease, but nothing too strenuous.

If some areas of staining persist reapply more paste and let it sit again before scrubbing it away.

Now consider Exhibit B. Notice the drastic reduction in stains. The bottom of the pot isn’t spotless, but you may recall the presence of melted plastic. That may require a chisel or blow torch, but for my efforts I am quite pleased and when the pot is on the stove no one will even know the bottom doesn’t look perfect.

I may actually coat the entire outside of the pot with the paste, because I am noticing a much shinier finish on the areas where I applied the paste. The whole pot will be shiny if I do that, but that’s a task for another day.

My elbow grease was all dried up after scrubbing this pot and I decided to move on to something else before I realized only half the pot was shiny. Oh well, live and learn.

There you have it. This may not be life changing, but you may just be inspired to tackle some of the stains on your pots and pans. After you’re done they might even look brand new too, unless you have a melted plastic situation on your hands as well. If that’s the case, good luck. If you happen to find a way to remove the plastic let me know, since I haven’t figured this out yet.