Self-cleaning ovens have a specialized feature that uses high heat to remove grime and built up food spills. Although it sounds like a relatively hands-off process, you must properly prepare your oven before using the self-cleaning feature. If not, your baked-on stains will remain and you could damage parts of your oven. Your oven may not be able to handle all stubborn baked-on stains, so you may still have to manually remove those afterwards.
Step 1
Add 4 tablespoons of baking soda into 1/2 cup hot water and mix them until it forms a thick paste. Stir in an extra 2 tablespoons of baking soda if the mixture is too thin. Smooth the paste onto any baked-on stains and let it soak into the stains for at least 15 minutes.
Step 2
Use a scrub brush or pad to forcefully rub the paste until the baked-on particles start to loosen and come off. Soak a sponge in warm water, then wipe it across the areas to get rid of any of the paste that remains so the oven doesn't smoke during the self-cleaning cycle.
Step 3
Slide your oven racks out and remove them from the oven or else they could become discolored during the self-cleaning. Set your oven to the self-cleaning cycle and let it run for the length of time specified for your particular model.
Step 4
Apply additional baking soda paste to the oven racks and scrub away any burnt food stains while the oven is self-cleaning. Rinse them thoroughly and set them aside until the oven is finished cleaning.
Step 5
Wait until your oven is completely cooled down after it is done self-cleaning. Soak a sponge in warm water and use it to remove the loose ash from the heated baked-on stains.
Step 6
Slide the cleaned oven racks back into place. Wait until your oven is thoroughly cooled and dried before using it again.