Everyone has one thing in their kitchen that they struggle to keep clean. For most, it's probably their oven or air fryer as these are big cleaning jobs requiring a lot of elbow grease. Now, I'm not saying my oven is currently sparkling clean, but truly: it's my toaster oven that bothers me the most. I've truly tried everything to budge the burn marks on it. Eventually, I just had to make peace with the fact my once-sparkling black Smeg toaster was sporting brown marks right in the center of it. So I did what any normal person would do: I pushed it into a corner of my kitchen and hoped nobody would notice.
Now, the TikTok algorithm knows I love a cleaning hack. So when it served me this genius solution to getting rid of burn marks from a toaster oven, I immediately had to give it a try. It looked so simple and the best part was I already had what I needed in my kitchen to try it out. It was meant to be.
In less than 10 seconds, the burnt marks from my toaster were gone and I was left wondering what else I could try this hack on. Give it a go for yourself or add this to your spring cleaning to-do list and watch as burn marks melt away in front of your eyes. Impressed isn't the word!
You might also be interested in trying this pet hair cleaning brush set — I tried it and I don't even own a pet!
Everything you need
All you need to complete this quick and easy hack is your toaster, a bottle of white vinegar , and some aluminum foil.
I used some aluminum foil that I'd already used to store some leftovers in my refrigerator, which is a great way of getting even more use out of everyday waste that you may otherwise have thrown out.
Prepare your toaster
First things first: give that toaster of yours a quick clean. Unplug it before taking it out and emptying the crumb tray. Give this a soak and a good scrub, and then dry it. However you get the rest of your crumbs out of your toaster, whether that's a shake over your sink or you've got another genius hack, make sure you're crumb-free before we begin. And don't forget to give the exterior of your toaster a clean with your favorite spray.
How to remove burnt-on marks
When you're ready, grab your aluminium foil. Now, the video I followed says to scrunch up the foil but next time I'll fold mine as I think I may have scrubbed too hard and left a few tiny scratches on my toaster. Lesson learned.
Avoid scrubbing too hard, or you could risk damaging your toaster
Then, you want to spray your white vinegar sparingly onto the burnt marks on your toaster. Begin to brush them off with the square of aluminum foil you folded, using it as a sponge. You'll see the burnt marks lift almost instantly. Keep checking, as you don't want to scrub too much as you could damage your toaster.
Finally, wipe your toaster down with a dry cloth and you're all done! Now, start saving that aluminum foil instead of throwing it away after using it for your food.
How it works
As much as this cleaning hack worked, I would use it as a last resort as aluminum foil is extremely rough. It could scratch your appliance if used too much or while applying too much pressure. So, before resorting to this, I would try other methods.
I tried to clean the burnt marks with The Pink Stuff cleaning paste that you can get on Amazon. Paired with a Scrub Daddy, there's not much this duo can't remove. But for me, I think the burnt marks had been left for a bit too long for this to work.
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