The Cleaning Trick That'll Get Your Gunky Toaster Oven Sparkling In Minutes

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The toaster oven in your kitchen is probably not the most pressing item on your list of things to clean; however, you may want to take a closer look because they can get pretty gross. Luckily, for all the stainless steel on and in your toaster oven, the perfect solution exists: Bar Keepers Friend. Bar Keepers Friend is a great cleaner that works as an abrasive, removing tough stains and working as the solution that brings stainless steel appliances back to life.

To start cleaning your toaster oven, begin by unplugging it. Then, remove and empty the crumb tray, followed by the racks and pans. Place all of these in your sink and soak them in warm water with dish soap for 40 minutes. While the pans soak, you can clean the exterior of the toaster. Apply a small amount of Bar Keepers Friend to a damp microfiber cloth or a damp nonabrasive sponge, and wipe down the exterior surface, always cleaning with the grain of the steel. Avoid allowing the cleaning solution to come in contact with or enter the vents. Next, remove any difficult stains on the remaining stainless steel parts that were soaking with the rough side of a damp sponge and Bar Keepers Friend.

While you might be tempted to use baking soda instead, you should think twice before using baking soda to clean instead of Bar Keepers Friend. In a test from the editors of Wirecutter, Bar Keepers Friend was found to be more effective than baking soda as an abrasive cleaner for stainless steel. For any parts of your toaster oven that aren't stainless steel, do not use Bar Keepers Friend.

For the rest of your toaster oven, you'll want to use a simple mixture of dish soap and water for cleaning. While the interior pieces are soaking, begin by lightly spraying the solution of dish soap and water, which should be a few drops of dish soap and ¼ cup of warm water, along the interior walls and floor of your toaster. Avoid getting the solution in the vents or on the heating elements. Once the solution has been spread, use a nonabrasive sponge to wipe down the interior. For the glass on the door, you can use the same solution and sponge to clean it thoroughly.

For difficult spots on your interior, you can try using either a slurry of baking soda and water  or heating your toaster oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, unplugging it, and waiting for it to cool. Once cool, the tough spots should be loosened, allowing you to clean them with the soap solution and sponge. If the spots are still not coming off, you don't actually need to remove them because, at that point, they are likely mostly cosmetic. If your machine isn't working, and the cleaning is part of a larger restoration, here's how to fix a toaster oven.