Today I am sharing a cleaning trick with you that I had to learn out of pure desperation. I'm going to share how to clean burnt pots and pans the natural way so maybe you won't have to throw your pans away. I have thrown a few old pots out in the past, but this has been my favorite one for years, so I had to try and save it!
Here is how it happened...the burning of the pot that is. Sunday there was a chili cookoff. Matt and I were both putting our own chili entries in the contest. He was making his yummy chili, and I was making my Crock Pot White Chicken Chili. Mine was doing its thing in the crock pot, but his needed to be heated up. He was going over early to get us a seat, so I said I would warm it up and bring it with me. Well, I turned the burner on low and went to start getting my hair ready. I was gone less than two minutes, but walked back into the kitchen and could immediately tell something burning...it was Matt's chili. My heart sunk. Burning my own chili would have been disappointing, but burning his was just awful. I tried to pour it out of the pot into a bowl without getting any of the burnt bits, but his chili still had a faint burnt smell...I started to cry. I called him to give him the news, and he said it wasn't a big deal, just come on over and enjoy the game. So, I walked away from it. I literally left it sitting there and walked away. I had ruined Matt's chili and my favorite pot...nothing could be done. I took my chili and went to watch the game with our friends and endured the little bit of teasing about sabotaging Matt's chili and had a great time. I even ended up winning the Chili Cookoff! I pinkie promise I did not intentionally sabotage Matt's chili. Next year, he gets to go it alone and I'll keep mine out ;)
The next morning, I was going to just throw the entire thing in the trash, but decided to try a tip that I had read about years ago. I love cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, so I decided to give it a try.
I started by adding one cup of hot water and one cup of white distilled vinegar to the pot. For smaller pots, add enough of each to cover the bottom of the pot.
Next, I added 3 tablespoons of baking soda. It started fizzing a ton, which from past experience has meant it was doing it's job and loosening up all of the burnt on bits of chili. Let the mixture rest until it cools.
Once the fizzing stopped, and the water has cooled, I poured the icky leftovers out and added a little bit of water and dish liquid to my pot and gave it a gentle scrub. Then I rinsed it and dried it with a clean towel.
And now my favorite pot is all clean! I can't believe how clean it is..I actually don't think it has been this clean since it was brand new!
And all thanks to my two favorite cleaners, vinegar and baking soda!
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