Most of us have our cleaning routines down by now. And nowhere is our cleaning routine more important than in our kitchens. We prepare food there, and possibly eat there, as well. You probably take cleaning there seriously. You wipe down your counters, empty your fridge, and do the dishes as regularly as you need to.
But there’s one thing you might be forgetting: your toaster oven. Cleaning a toaster oven is incredibly important. It even goes beyond regular germs. Over time, crumbs accumulate, and if they’re left unattended they can even catch fire
If you want to avoid this catastrophe, you need to know how to clean your toaster oven properly. So here’s a guide on how you should be cleaning a toaster oven.
Know when to act.
So, the first question you might be asking yourself is this: how often should I be cleaning out my toaster oven? Well, it’s suggested that you clean it out about once a month. But if you use it more often, you might need to clean it out more.
Even if you never use your toaster oven, or don’t use it at all for a month, it’s still a pretty good idea to clean it out regularly. Crumbs aren’t the only thing that gets stuck in toasters. Over time, enough dust can gather just from sitting there. If you aren’t careful, this can cause a real problem for your toaster oven.
Besides electrical problems, no one wants dusty toast. So cleaning about once a month at a minimum is a good plan. But there are other things you should keep in mind when cleaning a toaster oven.
For one, make sure no one plans to use it anytime soon if you’re planning on cleaning it. Cleaning takes time. At the same time, make sure you don’t try to clean it directly after using it. Some of the elements may still be hot, and you run the risk of burning yourself.
Also, make sure you’re cleaning it while it is unplugged.
Tap out.
This is the first step. It’s so simple, you might try doing it even more than once a month. All you have to do is hold it upside down over the trash and tap it gently to remove crumbs and foreign matter.
You should still be disinfecting your toaster oven regularly, of course, but this will make your cleaning process easier by removing larger chunks of matter. Do not shake or get too aggressive with your toaster. You don’t want to break it accidentally!
Time to scrub.
Now that you’ve gotten the crumbs out of the way, it’s time to disinfect. For this step, you should be focusing on the crumb tray and the rack. Remove them if possible and place in the sink.
Then, follow these steps:
- Make the paste to scrub your toaster oven. Simply combine two tablespoons of cream of tartar with one tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Put your paste on a regular sponge. Do not use a scrubby sponge, as this could hurt your toaster oven.
- Coat the tray and rack with the paste.
- Apply more paste to the oven’s interior and exterior. Do this one section at a time while rubbing in a zigzag pattern.
- Let the paste sit five minutes before wiping it away with a clean, damp sponge. Rinse the sponge regularly.
- Buff dry with a microfiber cloth.
- Rinse the rack and tray with warm water. Dry and replace.
This will ensure that things get clean as quickly as possible.
Don’t rush!
Once you’re done cleaning, there’s a temptation to get back to using your toaster oven as quickly as possible. But this can be dangerous! It’s hard to dry by hand completely, and the last thing you want to do is to use a wet electrical appliance.
That’s why you need to wait at least five minutes after cleaning a toaster oven before using it again. By doing this, you will ensure that everything dries completely, and you won’t have to worry about anything short circuiting. You could wait even longer, just to be safe.
If your appliance is on the bigger side, there will be a larger surface area that needs to dry. You should take that into account. Cleaning a toaster oven is important, but if you aren’t careful, you can wind up in worse shape than you began! Give it a rest and make sure you stay safe.
Bonus tips.
Cleaning a toaster oven is important. But here are some tips you can use to keep it even cleaner.
- While you aren’t using it, keep your toaster oven covered. This will keep dust from getting inside of it as much.
- Every once in awhile, run your toaster oven on the highest setting while it’s empty and shake out any dislodged crumbs.
- You can also use a dry toothbrush to dislodge crumbs (just make sure that you unplug the toaster oven first).
- Never use steel wool or anything abrasive when cleaning a toaster oven. This will cause food to stick worse. Is cleaning a toaster oven not enough? Toaster ovens do not last forever. They begin breaking down over time, and cleaning simply isn’t enough to make it work like it used to.Luckily, we can help!In our reviews, we discuss all the features of the toaster oven and even compare it with other, similar ovens so that you can see which one works out best for you!
- When it’s time to replace your toaster oven, check out our reviews.
- Toaster Oven Geek tries to give you the best, most comprehensive toaster oven reviews. We give the pros and cons of every oven so that you can make a decision for yourself what you want.
- Eventually, the toaster oven will need to be replaced. And when that happens, you’ll want to get the best toaster oven available.
- Cleaning a toaster oven will make it last longer, but sometimes that isn’t enough.
- With these tips we hope to have helped you can get the most out of your toaster oven.
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