Crock-pots are a beloved part of many people’s kitchen routines. The perfect no-fuss, no-frills cooking solution, crock pots are an easy heating dish that 
can slow cook meals while you’re at work so that when you arrive home after a long day you’ve got a perfectly cooked, well-warmed, savory dish ready for you to enjoy.
Though crock pots are some of the best long-distance cooking tools, they also are some of the hardest to clean, likely because the many hours that meals sit inside the crock pot and cake into the pot itself. The constant exposure to food over a long period of time means stains or dirt buildup inside your crock pot, and can be a real challenge to remove. Thanks to our team’s expert research, we’ve put together a top guide of tried and true cleaning recipes on how to clean your crock pot, and help you keep it clean and in top-condition.
The Daily Cleaning:
Materials Needed:
- Dish Soap
- Microfiber Cloth/ Paper Towel
One of the easiest ways to make sure that your crock pot doesn’t get seriously dirty or damaged over time is to do regular, daily cleans after every time you use it. The simplest way to cut back on the grease and dirt formation over time is to let your crock pot soak almost immediately after use. Fill your crock pot with warm water and add a few drops of dish soap. Cover your crock pot and set it to cook for about 60 minutes. After said time, drain the water into your sink.
Next, take a damp cloth or paper towel and wipe down the inside and outside surfaces of your crock pot. Make sure to get the dial, the lid, and the handle as well. Thoroughly dry down the crock pot and then put it away for safe storage until you’re ready to use it again.
Deep Cleaning Duty:
Materials Needed:
- Dish Soap
- Baking Soda
- Dish Brush
- White Distilled Vinegar
- Microfiber Cloth
When it comes to scrubbing off harder to clean stains or food debris, you can bust out the heavyweight cleaning agents to help you scrub your crock pot to perfection. Begin your deep clean journey by soaking the interior of your crock pot in warm and soapy water that will help dissolve excess dirt and soften the bonds of any seriously caked-in dirt or decay. Let sit for about half an hour and then drain.
Fill the interior of your crock pot again with warm water and then mix in baking soda until you have a foaming paste. Take your dish brush and apply the mixture thoroughly to the walls and sides of the crock pot before scrubbing with hard and equal pressure. If you’re not seeing immediate progress, you can also reach for some vinegar. Add a few drops to help for extra power.
End by wetting a microfiber cloth and wiping off any residue from the baking soda mixture. Rinse by spraying down with warm water and drying again.
All-Natural Spray and Scrub:
Materials Needed:
- Baking Soda
- Dish Soap
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Dish Brush
If you’re looking for an all-natural or DIY solution, you can use a few other household ingredients instead of turning to commercial, chemical heavy cleaners. Almost every household has baking soda and dish washing soap around. You can turn these into a simple degreasing solution with the addition of another common ingredient: hydrogen peroxide.
Combine three tablespoons of baking soda, one tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide, and one tablespoon of baking soda and mix into a paste. Apply with a dish brush to the interior of your crock pot and scrub until clean, then rinse out with cold water and dry.
Get Serious with Stain Removal:
Materials Needed:
- Easy Off Fume Free Oven Cleaner Spray
- Dish Brush/Dish Cloth
For crock pots that have baked for a bit too long and have dirt and food debris cooked or burned into the side of your crock pot, you’re going to want to turn to more serious, heavy-duty solutions. Commercial oven cleaners are renowned for their ability to cut through grease, oil, food debris, and charred or burned food bits easily and leave behind a sparkling clean surface. However, some commercial oven cleaners come with powerful smells that can feel impossible to remove. If you don’t want every dish you cook in your crock pot to taste like oven cleaner chemical, look for the Fume Free oven cleaner versions, such as Easy-off Fume Free Oven Cleaner Spray. Follow the bottle’s instructions and spray down the entire surface before letting sit and eventually wiping and drying clean.
The Total Overhaul Method:
Materials Needed:
- Ammonia
- Dish Brush/ Dish Cloth
Maintaining the clean and sparkling new appearance of your crock pot is a big step in keeping your kitchen appliances healthy and functioning, but sometimes after years of use crock pots just seem to accumulate stains or other diseases that are seemingly completely beyond repair.
If your crock pot is discolored, cracking, smelly, molding, or threatening to be a total loss, you’ll need to turn to the most serious of cleaning solutions in order to fully cleanse it and return it to top condition. Begin by mixing water and a small amount of ammonia. Take your ammonia on a dish cloth or brush wipe and thoroughly clean or scrape off all the visible dirt and food debris you can find. The ammonia is a serious cleaning agent that bleaches and scours every part of your crock pot, so it should be used with extreme caution and only in the most serious of circumstances.
How To Keep Your Crock Pot Clean – Slow Cooker Liner:
Here’s what really saves the day! You can avoid the mess completely by purchasing a box of Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. These liners are plastic bags designed specifically for your crock pot, they are BPA free and FDA compliant for cooking.
Simply put a bag into your crock pot before adding the food, and just be throw out after you finish your meal.
Your crock pot stays exactly the same way as before you started cooking, and could just be stored away for the next slow cooker meal!
Crock pots continue to be a key part of single parents, working families, single adults and many other homes and cooking routines. Knowing how to clean your crock pot properly will ensure your crock pot lasts a lifetime and continues to be sparkling clean and ready for use at a moment’s notice. Thanks to our team’s carefully tested methods, you’ll discover effective, affordable, and versatile cleaning solutions that will have your crock pot shining, clean, and ready to be used or reused again at a moment’s notice!
