The Single Best Fashion To Clean a (Badly) Burnt Pot

Whether you've but sautéed onions too long, or charred your whole dinner, you can salve your pot.

Dec 24, 2019

And so yous're making dinner, and suddenly you realize bits of your ingredients have stuck to the pot or pan, and before you can scrape them up, they've started to burn. Information technology happens to the best of u.s.. When food is placed on hot pots, typically stainless steel or enameled cast fe, a chemical bail forms between the two which makes the food stick.

At first, this tin can be a good affair—caramelized bits of meat and vegetables stuck to the bottom of a pan are called addicted (that's French for "substance" or "base"). If you add a chip of wine, stock, or water to the pan at this point, you'll deglaze information technology, which means the addicted will unstick itself from the bottom of the pot and comprise into your dish.

However, if yous allow it become too far, the fond will burn, leaving y'all with a nasty mess. While your dinner may be gone, don't worry, your pot, skillet, or Dutch oven is salvageable. So how exercise you clean a burnt pot efficiently? Try these steps.

Try this kickoff: The boiling water method

The following method works best immediately after you've burnt the food.

1. Scrape out the food bits

scrape out burnt food
Kiersten Hickman/Eat This, Not That!

Scrape out all the burnt nutrient you tin. Immediately after removing all the nutrient, fill the pot about 1-inch deep with h2o.

2. Boil the h2o

boil water in burnt pot
Kiersten Hickman/Swallow This, Not That!

Place on the stove, turn the burner to loftier, and bring the water to a boil. Let boil for 5 or so minutes.

3. Scrape the lesser

use a spatula to scrape burnt bits
Kiersten Hickman/Swallow This, Non That!

Use a spatula (a fish spatula works really well, but a plastic or silicone one works too) or a wooden spoon to gently scrape up the burnt bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue to boil (adding more water if needed) and scrape until all the burnt bits are lifted.

4. Wash the pot

hand holding a clean pot against a grey background
Kiersten Hickman/Consume This, Not That!

Once the pot is clean of all burnt particles, wash it as you usually would.

For truly bad cases: The blistering soda and vinegar method

If you've waited several hours to practise the dishes, or your pot is in specially rough shape, the boiling water technique alone might not be sufficient. In that case, move on to this method with vinegar and blistering soda.

5. Sprinkle with baking soda

sprinkle pot with baking soda
Kiersten Hickman/Swallow This, Not That!

Sprinkle an even layer of baking soda all over the burnt area.

half-dozen. Add together vinegar and hot water

add vinegar to baking soda in the pot
Kiersten Hickman/Consume This, Non That!

Add vinegar to the baking soda—it will fizzle similar a kids' science experiment. This is skilful! Add together some hot water and allow sit for a few hours earlier scrubbing the pot clean.

7. Boil again if needed

boil vinegar and water
Kiersten Hickman/Consume This, Not That!

For the most stubborn burnt particles that just won't come up off with scrubbing, endeavour boiling the water and vinegar mixture and scraping once again with a spatula.

RELATED: The easy style to make healthier comfort foods.

Rebecca Firkser

Rebecca Firkser is a food writer and recipe programmer. Read more than