Stove grates can easily become dirty if you have a busy cooking schedule. Just think about that bacon grease, burnt food debris and spaghetti sauce, all stuck on your precious stove grates.

Constant exposure to fire and grease makes the grates crusty and stained. This can defiantly ruin the aesthetic value of your shiny burner. Fortunately, there are a few simple techniques that can help you in easily restoring the shape and texture of your cast iron grates.

  1. Scrub with a Grill Brush

The first and probably most effective technique in cleaning iron stove grates is to always make time for it. Even if you intend to skip out on the scrubbing when you’re cleaning the kitchen, you need to do it before all that dirt and grease dries up and becomes harder to remove.

Grill brushes are popularly used for scrubbing steel grills of various types. They have metallic bristles that are generally made using stainless steel wires. These brushes usually have a wooden handle.

  • For cleaning stained and greasy cast iron grates, all you need is a good-quality grill brush. Various types of grill brushes and cleaners are available in the market. So you need to look for a reasonable one. Just make sure that you find a grill brush that will not scratch your cast iron stove grates.
  • Before using the grill brush, soak the grates in hot water for a few minutes. Carefully scratch the surface of the grates with your grill brush.
  • After scraping, leave the grates immersed in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. Finally, rinse the grates in tap water.

  1. Clean with Ammonia

Since cast iron grates have an oily shine, many people avoid using soaps and detergents that can reduce the shine over time. If you wish to maintain the shiny coating of your cast iron grates you can use ammonia as a safer cleaning solution. Just make sure to use ammonia with caution, as it could be harmful if not handled properly.

  • Ammonia is a cleaning solution often used for restoring severely soiled cast-iron grates. Ammonia has strong cleansing powers that can easily dissolve grime and grease.
  • For cleaning with ammonia, place the grates in a sealable plastic bag and fill it with water. Add half a cup of ammonia and seal the bag.
  • Leave the bag overnight in your sink. In the morning, safely dispose of the solution and thoroughly rinse the grates using hot water.

  1. Season with Oil

Seasoning is a traditional technique that people use for cleaning rusty cast iron objects. You can use this method if your grates have a crusty layer of rust.

  • Before seasoning with oil, soak the grates in hot water and scrub them thoroughly using a stainless steel grill brush.
  • After rinsing the grates, wipe them dry. Once the grates dry fully, start applying oil. Make sure to cover with oil all the rusted areas of your grates.
  • Pre-heat your oven up to 350°F and place the grates in a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes. Once the grates turn cool rinse them or repeat the process of oiling if they are not clean enough.

  1. Clean with a Degreaser

Degreasers are solutions with a chemical base that are effective in cleaning grease-stained metallic surfaces. They are effective in cleaning burners, grills, and grates.

  • Clean the grates with a grill brush and hot water. Wipe the grates and apply degreaser on their surface.
  • Let the grates sit for an hour so that the degreaser can breakdown and dislodge all the greasy stains. Wash the grates in soapy water and rinse well.

  1. Clean with Vinegar

Vinegar is a popular cleansing agent that can be safely used for cleaning a wide range of kitchen appliances and utensils.

  • Mix a cup of vinegar in a bowl of water and place the grates in the solution for around an hour.
  • If the grates are rusty and badly stained you may need to leave them in the solution for 4 to 5 hours. After that, remove the grates and scrub them with a grill brush and rinse with warm water.

 TIPS

  • Use canola or peanut oil for seasoning. They are cooking oils that are suitable for deep heating.

Seasoning is not required if the grates have a strong coating of enamel or porcelain.

How do you make cast iron grates look new?

Cleaning Cast Iron Grill Grates

Rub the grates with vinegar and allow them to sit for a few minutes to an hour. The vinegar will dissolve the rust, making scrubbing more effective. You may need to repeat this process a few times. You can also use a paste made of baking soda and water.

What is the best way to clean cast iron grill grates?

When cleaning cast iron grates, burn off any food left over on the grates. Then let the grates cool and scrub them with the nylon cleaning brush. After cleaning the grates, dry and saturate the grates with vegetable oil to prevent rust from forming.

How do I make my gas stove grates look new?

Baking Soda

Clean off whatever you can with soap and warm water, gently scrubbing each grate one at a time. Then wet some baking soda with water and mix until it forms a thick paste. Apply this paste directly to the burners. Make sure you get all the tiny and hidden recesses in the grating.

What is the easiest way to clean stove grates?

If your grates or caps are very dirty, create a paste by mixing three parts baking soda to one part water. Coat the grates in this mixture and set aside for 20 minutes. Wipe down the burners with a soft cloth. If you have coated the burners in baking soda paste, rinse this off first to avoid damaging the finish.

Will vinegar clean stove grates?

Fill your spray bottle with vinegar, and spray the stove grates and burners. Let the vinegar sit for 15 minutes to give it time to cut through the gunk, and wipe the stove equipment with the clean cloth. Repeat if needed to clean away stubborn food or grease spots.

Can you clean stove grates with oven cleaner?

Remove grates. Use a no-scratch cleaning pad and clean with hot water and mild detergent or a paste made of baking soda and water. Use degreasers or Easy-Off® Fume Free Oven Cleaner with a blue Scotch-Brite™ pad sparingly. Degreasers include Formula 409 products and citrus cleaners (for example, Fantastik Lemon).

How do you clean stove grates without scrubbing?

Luckily, there is a super easy way to clean stove top grates, no scrubbing required…all you need is ammonia! Just put the grates into a baggie with some ammonia and let it sit overnight, and in the morning all that black gunk will rinse right off!

Should you oil cast iron stove grates?

To prevent rusting of cast iron grates, apply a light coating of cooking oil to the bottom of the grate. If burner caps are discoloring or blackening after each use, a flame adjustment may be needed.

Is Vinegar a degreaser?

Distilled vinegar (also called white vinegar) can be used alone as a degreaser. The vinegar can be applied to greasy surfaces with either a spray bottle or a cloth, and should cut most grease with minimal rubbing.

What is the best homemade degreaser?

Vinegar is an effective sanitizer; liquid soap is a great stain remover and degreaser; baking soda makes a gentle abrasive and lightener for tough stains; and essential oils add a clean scent — mix them together and they make the perfect degreaser for your kitchen (and other places, too!).

Is Dawn a degreaser?

Dawn Ultra Heavy Duty Degreaser is designed to clean tough, greasy soils. It can be used to clean extra-tough, greasy build-up on a variety of kitchen surfaces like range hoods, ovens, greasy quarry tile floors, and other greasy hard surfaces.

Is it safe to mix vinegar and Dawn dish soap?

The combination of dish soap and vinegar is highly effective for a few different reasons. However, vinegar alone will simply run off of most surfaces, while dish soap is too thick to use as a spray. But when you mix them together, you get an effective, sprayable cleaner that sticks to any surface!

Why Dawn dish soap is bad?

Dawn dish soap is toxic because it contains ingredients that are harmful. Moreover, Dawn dish soap contains dyes, synthetic fragrance and 1 4-dioxane which is known to be a contaminant in groundwater.

Do you have to rinse after cleaning with vinegar?

Rinse away grime with clean water. To prevent soap scum buildup, wipe shower doors with a sponge soaked in white distilled vinegar. There’s no need to rinse.

Does vinegar and Dawn cleaner shower?

Heat vinegar in microwave until hot and pour into squirt bottle. Add the Dawn soap. You now have a powerful cleaning product that will melt soap scum and tub and shower buildup, clean sinks, appliances and just about anything. Just spray it on, scrub, rinse and be amazed.