I’ve been making my own dish tabs for years, but recently I tried a new recipe that is sooo much easier to make than the one I’ve been using. You only need 3 ingredients to make these homemade dish tablets. They will leave your dishes clean and sparkly and will help save you time and money!
I made a quick video showing how easy they are to make in real time…check it out below!
What you will need to make Homemade Dish Tablets:
You can click the links to find the products listed below…these are affiliate links that I may receive a commission for if you buy.
1 Cup Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Dish Liquid (any brand will do)
Start by adding one cup of baking soda to a large bowl.
Add 1/4 cup of citric acid.
Add 1 tablespoon of dish liquid.
Mix well using a whisk or you can use your hands like I do…I just think it is easier to mix it well this way.
Push the mixture into silicone ice cube molds. I used two different molds so I could use all of my mixture.
Wait about 10 minutes and level them off with your hand. They expand just a little bit, but much less than the old ones I used to make. Once you level them off, they shouldn’t expand much more.
Let sit for at least 4 hours or overnight. They will harden like store bought dish tablets. Now just flip your molds over and push the tabs out.
They are ready to use! Use one tablet per load of dishes. Just place directly in your dishwasher and run a normal washing cycle.
Store them in an airtight container and keep them dry until time to use them. Happy cleaning!
Want to add a little cuteness to your homemade cleaning solutions? Grab my Free Printable Cleaning Labels HERE!
Looking for more home tips and cleaning recipes? Find hundreds of them HERE on my Home Tips Page!
Where can I buy the Citric Acid????
Hi, Frances! You can usually find it in the canning section of the grocery store near the canning jars, or you can buy it here online… Citric Acid
They are easily available at any Indian grocery store, if you have any nearby. They are cheaper than somewhere else.
Can YOU just add aa tablespoon instead of using molds?
Check with local health food stores. It would be found with seed sprouting supplies.
What do you mean “place them directly in the dishwasher”? My dishwasher has a two-part soap dispenser with a covering lid where I place tablets? Place there, or just “toss” in the dishwasher before starting?
Some of the molds that I have used don’t fit in the dispenser. If it fits, you can add it there, if not, just toss it in before you start your dishwasher!
How big of a tab do you use per load? I have a few molds and they are all different sizes.
Hi, Tracy! Mine are about the same size as an ice cube. Hope this helps!
Does it leave a film? I made some with Baking soda , salt, borax vinegar and it leaves everything with a white film:( thanks
That’s the greatest thing about these tablets…no film since they don’t contain too many ingredients!
Do you think regular plastic ice trays will work?
Absolutely…regular plastic ice trays will work perfectly! Thanks for asking!
Can you explain what the citric acid does for the dishes? I’ve never made these so I’m curious what an ingredient used in canning would contribute to the cleaning process. Thanks!
Citric acid is used to remove lime particles and help with hard water. Hope this helps!
You are using about 3/4 cup in the recipe, so any size jar will do. Hope this helps!
How many tablets come out of one batch?
Hi, Latasha! It depends on the size of your tray. I usually get 20-24 tablets out of each batch. Hope this helps!
Are you to use 1/4 cup of citric acid or 3/4 cup?
Can you use castile soap for the dish soap?
Hi, Sarah! You can absolutely use Castile soap instead of dish soap…you may need to add a little more to get the right consistency though. Great idea! ~Jess
How many batches can I get out of the bottle of citric acid?
Hi, Suzanne! At least 2-3 batches from the small container of citric acid that I showed.
Do these really work as well as regular tabs?
I sure think so!
I tried making them and they didn’t harden. Very soft and crumbly. Help, what did I do wrong?
do you need finish to reduce spotting? or do you jot have a problem with it when using this?
I use vinegar as a rinse aid and it works great to keep spots away! ~Jess
My tablets won’t stop expanding. I’m I doing something wrong?
Hi Jessica,
Just found you on Pinterest. I have allergies and therefore am eliminating as many toxins in my house as possible (they exist everywhere don’t they?!) I have been looking for a dish tab cleaner and found yours. I like your idea except that store boughten cleaners have toxins in them :-(
I am wondering if u think substituting Castille soap would work in its place? For me….that would satisfy my need to use products that are pure.
Absolutely, Janice! Castile soap will work great! I’m with you on eliminating as many toxins as possible…good luck! ~Jess
I would like to know how to get the baked on stains off the upper part of my microwave?
Hi, Diane! Try making a paste using baking soda and water to use to scrub it off.
Pour a little bit of vinegar in a cup and microwave it until it boils. Turn off the microwave and leave the door closed for 3-5 minutes, so the acidic steam can work to loosen the gunk on the inside of your microwave. Open and wipe clean. No scrubbing.
If you have no vinegar, boiled lemon water works also
I do this all the time for my microwave. If the gunk been sitting for a while, I will let the vinegar sit for at least an hour after warming before wiping the microwave clean. This does wonders.
If I don’t have citric acid can I replace it with something else?
Hi, Chellsea…the citric acid is really needed for these. They help to harden the tablets and also help get the dishes sparkling clean. Hope this helps!
Could you use lemon juice instead of the citric acid?
Citric acid works really well, but some say lemon kool-aid and or lemon juice works also… I was just worried about the yellow dye staining my machine
How long do they keep for. Can you make a lot and keep it stored in a jar or a reusable dishwasher tablets container
They should keep for up to 6 months. I make a large batch and store them in an airtight container and keep them under my sink. Hope this helps!
I have the same problem as Michelle- but notice no replies for her or the other one that had a problem with them not hardening. Posting those replies are helpful for others as well. Thank you!!
Love the thought of the 3 simple ingredients but I’m having a terrible time with the mixture foaming up. I’ve been working for 15 minutes and it’s still foaming and not packing into mold. Any ideas how to stop this. I used dawn simply clean, soda and citric acid. Thanks for your time
HI, Kathy! I usually walk away while it is foaming up and come back once it has stopped. Then I swipe away the excess and fill another tray…it just makes more. Different dish liquids make foam more than others, so times may vary. Hope this helps! ~Jess
Hi there… I’m just wondering, the inside of my dishwasher is stainless steel, are the dishwasher tabs safe to use?
Should work just fine…all of the ingredients are safe for stainless steel!
Where can I buy your jars and other containers and ive trays?
Hello! I was looking to see what dawn soap had in it and noticed the dawn soap label specifically says not intended for dishwasher use. Would you recommend any other soap to use as replacement?
Hi, Lindy! They are really referring to the fact that you aren’t supposed to use a great deal of it in the dishwasher. There isn’t enough used in each of these to affect it. The only reason you shouldn’t use much is because of the sudsing. No worries with these!
These tabs work really well. I’ve tried a few recipes, and so far this one is the best. I have hard water so I added some salt to this recipe, but even without the salt it worked. No grease at all, no yucky film… It did swell up alot, but it stopped after a little while, I just removed the excess and made more tabs… One recipe like this will give you about 1 regular sized ice cube tray full (approx. 14 tablets) I multiplied it by 4 and filled 4 trays
Will the acid and dish soap break down the plastics and rubber inside the dishwasher over time? These sound awesome and I have all the ingredients. I’m just concerned about the long term effects. How long have you been using them?
Hi, Valerie! No, they won’t…citric acid is in sooo many products that we buy at the store and is actually really mild. It causes a fizzing action and helps remove stuck on foods and stains from your dishes and your dishwasher too! Hope this helps! xoxo Jess
I do not have a dishwasher!! Can I use the Dish Tablets in a sink full of hot water! I love the idea of them.
TO be honest, dish liquid is all that you need for a sink full of dishes, but you could sure give it a try! xoxo Jess
O.k thanks. I am going to try them. I have a white kitchen sink and it may just help with keeping that cleaner also.
Hi Jessica! Just giving your recipe for these tabs a try, I’ve tried another type but they left a film on a lot of my dishes & left some very spotty. I was wondering if I can swap the baking soda for washing soda? I feel like with our kind of water the baking soda my have been what left a film. What do you think? Thanks!
These tabs work so well. I also added a few drops of lavender, lemon and orange essential oils to recipe . They smell so good and leave my dishes clean. I used a regular ice cube tray to mold. They are slightly larger than the brand I usually purchase but I haven’t had any issues with leftover residue . Will definitely make more of these instead of purchasing tablets.
These work amazingly well! I was literally taken back by how much cleaner my dishes and dishwasher were than with the store bought stuff! Unfortunately my tree nut allergic son had an allergic reaction around the time I mixed these and I realized later that the citric acid had a tree nut cross contamination warning. I’ve been unable to find citric acid that is tree nut free. Does anyone know of any?
Holy moly I’ve been reading all these comments and I would just like to say that you are a real trooper with all the replying and advice! I love these tablets, just came back for the recipe again to make a new batch. Thank you!
I made these for the first time a few weeks ago. When I put the mixture into my ice cube trays, it kept expanding longer than 10 minutes. So much was coming out, that I had to repack the ice trays. Once they finally stopped expanding, I let it be for several hours. When I tried to take them out of the ice trays, just about ALL of them crumbled into a giant mess. I did one batch with blue Dawn and one batch with the Meyer’s Lemon Grass soap. They both came out like this. What could I have done wrong?
I should mention that I made these for my toilet. I do plan on also making them for my dishwasher once I run out of the store bought detergent.
I have just made this recipe twice but it turns to a fuzzy liquid, does it set over a period of hours? Your pictures dont look liquid like mine do.