A TikToker shared her secret to getting her cast-iron skillet clean without harmful chemicals and cleaning products, replacing them instead with simple household ingredients.
The scoop
TikToker Nicole K. Modic (@kalejunkie) shared a simple hack to help you get those pesky, cooked-on crusty spots cleaned off your precious cast-iron skillets and pans.
@kalejunkie 🪄how to get that stubborn residue off your cast iron skillets! It isn't ruined and you don't have to live with it caked on there. It's easy to get off using this method. THIS is the secret. Sprinkle baking soda generously into your pan along with warm water. Bring to a gentle boil for about five minutes. Pour the water out, then scrub. The residue should be all gone and if it's not, just repeat once more. MAGIC 🪄 Be sure to SAVE this post, SHARE with friends and FOLLOW for more! #kitchentips #cleaningtips #castiron #castironskillet ♬ original sound - Nicole K. Modic
"This is the secret," she wrote in her caption. "Sprinkle baking soda generously into your pan along with warm water. Bring to a gentle boil for about five minutes. Pour the water out, then scrub. The residue should be all gone and if it's not, just repeat once more. MAGIC."
How it's helping
What makes this hack genius is its simplicity. Cast-iron skillets are a treasured piece of kitchen cookware that can last for generations and only get better with age. However, cleaning them after use can be tricky. You aren't supposed to use soap or any kind of caustic cleaning agent, lest you cause the iron to lose its curing. Doing so opens the skillet up to rust, as iron on its own is fairly porous and will soak up the water (and soap), making rust a serious concern.
Fortunately, while baking soda is a caustic agent, it's far gentler than most cleaning products and won't compromise the curing of the iron. When you mix the baking soda with water, which softens up the crusted-on gunk, and heat, which further softens the hold the gunk has on the pan while also agitating the baking soda by bringing it to a boil, it creates a potent scouring powder that attacks the baked-on, crusty gunk. This makes scrubbing it off infinitely easier and safer for the pan.
On top of that, the only follow-up needed is the standard re-oiling of the pan to keep it fully cured and shiny.
What everyone's saying
Commenters loved the hack.
"Needed this so bad," one said.
"This works on stainless steel cookware, too!" said another.
"This is great," said a third. "Thanks for sharing!"
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