This Trick for Cleaning a Coffee Grinder Uses a Kitchen Staple You Already Own

While the myriad kitchen appliances that exist today no doubt make life much easier, there's just one problem with them — they're often a pain to clean.

If you own a coffee grinder, there's a viral TikTok video going around that will help with that very issue. It turns out that in order to clean it, all you have to do is pour a little uncooked rice inside, grind it for a bit, and empty it out.

Seriously, it's that simple.

Not only does this technique clean the coffee grinder, but it actually sharpens the blades, according to TikTok user Sidney Raz (@sidneyraz), who posted the video. They also pointed out that it helps alleviate the fear of getting water on the grinder's electrical components.

While Raz simply disposed of the ground rice in the video, commenters suggested repurposing it in different ways.

"Can confirm because I'm Filipino and you can use the ground rice as [a] rice flour ingredient to stock so there is no waste," wrote @ELONgated_MUSKet, while @oliver_richy asked, "What if you used the coffee rice to make coffee rice pudding[?]"

There are also a few words to the wise; several commenters mentioned that this rice cleaning technique should only be used with blade grinders, not with burr grinders. (Blade grinders have a sharp propellor-like device that grounds up coffee beans, while burr grinders smash the beans between a wheel and a hard surface.)

All of that said, the manufacturers of coffee grinders don't typically recommend using rice to clean their devices, so take this hack with a grain of ... er ... rice.