Have you ever burnt something in your stainless steel pans? We recently switched from non-stick to stainless steel pans and the first time my husband used them for dinner, he burnt the pan – BAD. Now, I couldn’t really get tooooo angry because he was cooking dinner and that’s a pretty awesome thing. However, above is what the pan looked like after it had soaked for over 24 hours. Yikes! I started to question why I had chosen stainless steel for my new cookware.
By the way, here’s the pans I bought. I love them! That is, when they’re not burnt. 🙂
I’m happy to say that I did finally clean the pan but it took a little elbow grease. It’s not as easy as most share online. It took multiple steps and lots of patience. But what’s a girl to do? I have to have pans to cook in.
What you’ll need to clean your burnt stainless steel pan:
baking soda
Vinegar
water
Brillo pad (not pictured)
The first technique I tried was the boiling method. You put one cup of white vinegar and one cup of water in a pan. Bring it to a boil. The bubbles go to town on the burn, so I had hope that it would really work.
After letting it boil for awhile, I added two tablespoons of baking soda, let the water cool and then started to scrub.
And this is what it looked like. Bummer, right? It’s better but it was still bad.
The second technique I tried was a baking soda paste. I added two tablespoons of baking soda and little water to make a paste. I then went to town scrubbing it.
And while it was better, there was still some stubborn burnt on crust.
At this point, I was pretty frustrated. These “easy” methods were not doing the trick, but I wasn’t willing to give up. I decided to let the pan soak – and soak it did for another 24 hours.
I finally buckled and bought some Brillo pads and started to make some traction. After scrubbing and scrubbing and letting my husband take a turn since he was the reason the pan was burnt after all, we were able to get the pan clean!
Ta da! It’s not perfect but it’s much, much better. The moral of the story is buy a Brillo pad and see what it can do before you waste a few days with the other methods.
Have you ever burnt your pans really badly? What method did you try?
Comments & Reviews
Amy Thole says
Thank you this helped so much!
Leah says
To make your life easier, just spray with oven cleaner and leave in the sink an hour or so.
The burned stuff will come away while just rinsing the pan.
Might have to use an SOS pad just on very few spots and very lightly.
Lynette says
Thanks for the tips, Leah!
Gracie says
I’ve found that the best way to clean a burnt pan is to boil some wine and lemon for about 3 minutes inside the pan… the acids get to work breaking down the burnt bits. I tried the baking soda and vinegar thing but it did next to nothing. Acidic treatments are best. I used this on stainless steel and it worked great – haven’t tried it on teflon coated pans.
Sasha says
I’m sorry but no, no, no! 🙂 Brillo pad and elbow grease are not needed! Brillo pads leave swirly scratch marks…ehhh! Easy Off Oven Cleaner completely cleans & shines SS, without any damage! I use it on ALL my CLEAR glass bakeware and STAINLESS STEEL! On my All Clad SS & Calphalon SS, even the vintage original glass bakeware that came with my 1959 Westinghouse roaster, and on cast iron when I strip it down to restore it! Everything gleams in my kitchen. NOTE: Do NOT use on non-stick, aluminum, color enamel glassware…it will dull it! Method so tried & true!
Bonus tips: (I’ll have to charge you next time! :-))
1. Heavenly, Sparkly Shined SS Cookware = Plain rubbing alcohol…cuts through grease and grime also. REMEMBER to rinse completely and dry. Don’t use near open flames, duh!!
2. Rainbow discoloration on SS pots and pans after cooking = RealLemon lemon juice. Just pour in cleaned SS pan, swirl, wipe, rinse and dry! All new and shiny!
This IS better than any other methods, as far as ease and results of beauty.
Lynette says
Thanks for the tips Sasha! I will have to try that next time.
Peggy says
My proven method: Chef’s have a technique called deglazing the pan in which they add some liquid to an empty pan (wine, stock, water), let it boil and then scape up the flavored bits. I find that technique that also works to clean the pan. Add water to the pan (very hot water if the pan is hot — cold water on a hot pan will warp the pan). Bring the water to a boil. Remove from the heat, and then immediately scrape the bottom of the pan with a flat, metal spatula. This usually gets up almost all of the burnt on mess. In other words, don’t wait for the water to cool.
Eunice Shaw says
Burned pan is my biggest nightmare. When I was younger I used to toss the burned pans because I don’t know how to clean them and I didn’t feel like scrubbing. Now I am not like this anymore and I am more responsible towards my pans. I am happy to find this post! I am sure in the cleaning powers of baking soda as I use it as a cleaner at home very often. I will definitely try your tip! Thanks for sharing!
wendy britt says
Use hydrogen peroide u will not have to scrub
Lynette says
Thanks Wendy! I’ll try that next time!
Michelle says
Must be a “guy thing.” 🙂 Nathan has a tendency to burn my stainless steel pans, too, with a fair amount of regularity. I think it’s from setting the temp too high instead of cooking low and slow. I’ll be trying Kaye’s recommendation above next time. 🙂
Kaye Flanagan says
1/4 cup powdered dishwasher detergent–add hot water to pan and stir to dissolve detergent. Let sit overnight. In the morning the burned pan will be easy to scrub clean. This also works great on ceramic pans that I used for scalloped potatoes, cheesy casseroles, etc.
Lindy says
Bar Keepers Friend is my go-to.