How to clean a burnt saucepan
It’s not often I post about home tips (because ours isn’t really an example of amazing DIY, decor or house keeping). But sometimes I discover handy solutions to issues and I must share them. The latest is how to clean a burnt saucepan.
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I was making chocolate blancmange to use up milk. I’ve made it before on the Aga, but this time was on the electric hob and the milk just wasn’t boiling. So I turned it up….and ended up burning the pan black. Oops. And the blancmange wasn’t thickening, so it had to be thrown out. Argh, so much for avoiding waste.
I thought I was going to have to throw out our largest Aga saucepan (ouch, they’re expensive to replace). It was put into soak a couple of times and went through the diswaster to no avail. But I came back from holiday and found a possible solution online.
My beloved vinegar and bicarbonate of soda (the saving combination for lots of issues including sorting out smelly shower drains and cleaning up the smell of sick).
You just need white vinegar and some bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda if you’re in the US).
Instructions to clean a burnt saucepan
1, Dilute the vinegar, equal parts to water.
2, Boil the vinegar and water in the pan. Mine was badly burnt so left it quite a while, then topped up and boiled again. You can use a wooden spoon to try and scrape some of the burn off if it’s flaking a bit.
3, Empty the pan then sprinkle on plenty of bicarb over the bottom of the pan. Leave for a minute
4, Scrape off the burnt bits with the wooden spoon. You should find most of it comes off easily. If not, repeat from the start again. (mine only took one go)
5, If you’ve a few stubborn burnt bits, use a piece of ultra fine wire wool* to remove (this stuff is amazing for cleaning and polishing and you only need a tiny piece)
You should end up with a nice shiny pan that looks like new.
Don’t try it on non-stick pans, just in case you take the coating off as well. Or if you want to try it, just don’t do the scraping.
What tips do you have for cleaning and recovering burnt on pans?