How To Get Your Baking Sheets Looking (Nearly) as Good as New
My baking sheets are the ones I chose with the scanning gun when we registered for our wedding 13 years ago. They’ve served us faithfully through many rounds of everything from roasted Brussels sprouts to dozens of chocolate chip cookies. And they show it.
I don’t know when I decided that my baking sheets would just have a patina, but it’s been a very long time since they’ve been perfectly clean. I don’t mind their overall well-loved (read: darkened) appearance, but the sticky, slightly raised veins do actually make them feel dirty. I’ve been wanting to clean these off for a while, but I haven’t yet been in the mood for a scrubbing battle and so they’ve remained as they are.
But then I found some methods online (including this one from One Good Thing by Jillee) which had DOWNTIME as the key component. That got me excited. I’m good at letting things sit! I already had everything I needed, too! I pulled out my baking sheets, located our hydrogen peroxide, and got to work.
baking soda paste was taking on a rusty hue. It’s as if the years of burnt-on grease were being siphoned off my baking sheets, and I couldn’t help doing a couple test scrapes to see what the baking sheets looked like underneath.
Here’s the thing: For baking sheets like mine, you’re not going to be able to go back to the pristine, untouched-days-of-yore look. But you will be able to get off all the nasty, sticky bits and get it as clean and smooth as you possibly can. If you employ this method more regularly and from closer to the beginning of your baking sheet’s life, you’ll stand an excellent chance of keeping these bakeware workhorses as unmarred as the day you brought them home.
How To Clean Baking Sheets
What You’ll Need
- A good amount of baking soda (I like to keep a large bag from Costco handy for cleaning.)
- Hydrogen peroxide
- A spray nozzle (You can take one off of another spray bottle, but just be sure to wash it out before using it again.)
- A plastic scraper tool
Instructions
- Get your baking sheets ready: It’s best to start with a clean (read: recently washed) baking sheet vs. one that was just used for tonight’s sheet pan dinner. Find a spot where they can sit for the next few hours or overnight.
- Sprinkle baking soda liberally over the entire surface of your baking sheets: I used my hands to sprinkle from a decent height and get good coverage more easily. But you can also just pour it right from the box. Don’t leave any dirty parts uncovered.
- Spray with hydrogen peroxide: Screw the spray nozzle onto your bottle of hydrogen peroxide and spray, also liberally. You want the baking soda to be quite wet.
- Let the sheets sit: The longer the better; preferably overnight, but at least a couple of hours.
- Scrape: Take your scraping tool and scrape the paste into a pile on your baking sheets. Dump the used baking soda into the garbage.
- Wash your baking sheets: Give your clean baking sheets a good wash and dry before putting them away.