I Tried This Italian Nonna’s Unconventional Trick for Cleaning Dirty Pots and Pans

It’s no secret that I absolutely love a good cleaning hack, especially when it involves inexpensive items that I already have in the kitchen. From using rice and soda water to clean gunky flower vases to making stainless steel polish out of olive oil, kitchen cleaning hacks using household items are plentiful and effective. So when I came across an unexpected way to clean dirty stainless steel pans, I was all over it. 

I first saw the hack on TikTok, where Steel Pan Guy shares his own “nonna’s” secret for cleaning dirty pans. He spreads a small amount of tomato paste (yes, really) on a scrubby sponge and then uses it to clean out a pan with a dirty cast to it. After rinsing, the pan is pristine. 

According to professional cookware retailer Dalstrong, tomato paste “is a high-acid food that, when cooked in a previously overheated stainless steel pan, will restore the pan’s sheen.” The acid in the tomato paste helps break down dirt and grime, making it an effective cleaner. The pH of tomato paste, which sits at around 4 for commercial products, is the key to its cleaning power. But it’s also the fact that it’s a paste that makes it a useful cleaning agent; its thickness allows you to spread it on the affected area and let it sit to break down stains. 

But how well did it work when I tried it? Well, the answer lies in the way I chose to implement my trial. I thought I’d use the hack to clean the bottom of a stained stainless steel pan that has seen much better days. I spread the contents of an entire small can of Trader Joe’s tomato paste on the underside of the pan, let it sit for half an hour, then scrubbed and rinsed. 

I had high hopes, but the results were … underwhelming. I could see a bit more shine on the bottom of the pan, but it was still visibly dirty, with months of built-up stains remaining. As I watched other videos of people trying the hack on social media, I realized that the method is best for those instances when there’s residue left on the pan after cooking something especially gunky, like burgers, or when the bottom of the pan gets that strange rainbow tinge. 

I learned my lesson about getting my hopes up too high about a hack that seems too good to be true. If I’d stuck to using tomato paste to clean a mildly discolored pan or to clean out residue that was more fresh, my results might have been different. I’m not giving up, though! Next I’m going to be trying the tomato paste hack on my discolored stainless steel Instant Pot insert. I just know the nonnas are on to something!

Have you tried this tomato paste cleaning hack? Let us know in the comments below!