Having a fresh hot meal prepared by your mini slow cooker leaves you a satisfying feeling after a day’s work. After filling your stomach with the food, you immediately go upstairs to take a good night’s rest because you are so tired, leaving your mini slow cooker behind with stuck-on food or burnt food. This will certainly make a mess when you wake up.
A burnt slow cooker is a mess that you should not underestimate. If you noticed something inside your slow cooker, such as a burnt smell or the most obvious one, burnt food, fix it immediately. Do not leave it untouched for so long, for it might cling to your mini slow cooker, making it hard for you to wash away.
But hey, don’t fret! You will surely encounter this mess once in a while because no slow cooker is perfect, just like people. If ever you will experience such as mess like a burnt slow cooker after preparing a dish, it’s time to give that slow cooker a nice sparkle. Here’s how to do it:
Things you will need to clean a slow cooker
- Baking Soda (Arm & Hammer Fridge-n-Freezer Baking Soda)
- Vinegar (Lucy’s Family Owned – Natural Distilled White Vinegar)
- Scrubs (Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads)
- Cloth Wipes (Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sheets)
- Sponge (Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges)
- Detergent (Gain Laundry Detergent Liquid Plus Aroma Boost)
- Cleanser Liquid (Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser Liquid)
- Polisher (Bar Keepers Friend Cookware Cleanser and Polish & All-Clad Cookware Cleaner and Polish)
How to Clean Burnt Slow Cooker: Detailed Steps
1. The Basic Water Therapy
When you see a burnt slow cooker, it will automatically tell you to soak it with water and detergent. Use Gain Laundry Detergent Liquid Plus Aroma Boost for a better cleaning boost. This is the general way to remove the burnt food that is stuck inside your mini slow cooker. Soaking it with water will soften up the leftover food, which you can scrub afterward.
But in some cases, it might be harder to remove the stains. Thus, you should next try to cook it with water inside for a few hours to make things mushy inside. In that way, it will soften up the stuck burnt leftovers for you to remove hands-free most conveniently.
2. The Magic Cleaner Baking Soda
After many hours of soaking it with water, again and again, you have found out that there are still stains inside. It becomes so persistent that it will make you a bit frustrated. Worry no more because this magic cleaner Arm & Hammer Fridge-n-Freezer Baking Soda will save your day. Baking soda is your trump card for removing these persistent and difficult stains from your mini slow cooker.
Yes, it is possible to remove that bickering burnt food inside using this cleaning agent. It removes the stains and helps to remove the odor that comes from the leftover food. To do this, just get your mini slow cooker and fill it up with water. Add three to five tablespoons of baking soda and mix it well. You may also add drops of dishwater soap for removing stains better.
Once done, set your cooker to low heat and cook it for at least three hours. After waiting, turn it off and get the water out. Wipe it using a non-scratch scrub or sponge to remove all the residual stains. For better scrubbing, we recommend Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges. And voila! You have your mini slow cooker cleaned in and out.
3. The Holy Grail Vinegar
Oftentimes, some slow cooker often produces precipitates of mineral deposits from the ingredients that you put inside. Even though this stain may not affect the cooking process, it will greatly affect your cleaning. It becomes bothersome because it is hard to remove with water.
Worry no more! A taste of vinegar will do the trick, and we recommend Lucy’s Family Owned – Natural Distilled White Vinegar. Vinegar is an excellent remover of odor and is being utilized to clean any kitchenware parts. It is also considered a grease remover. Now with the steps! The first thing you will do is soak your slow cooker half-full of water and add one to two cups of vinegar as required. Soak it for three to four hours or, better yet, wait until tomorrow. Leave it as it may so that the vinegar will remove you, the same as your slow cooker when preparing the food.
After hours of waiting, you can observe that the liquid inside will be murky, indicating that the vinegar has removed the stains over time. With that, get your slow cooker, dump the water out and wash it thoroughly with water and wipe it with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sheets. Finally, dry it to make your slow cooker sparkle again.
What is the best method to clean a slow cooker?
Having the best dinner with a prepared meal from your slow cooker always leads to a cleaning journey afterward. In taking good care of your slow cooker, you must know how to clean it properly. Here are some tips that can lend you a hand to make your slow cooker shine always:
Method 01: A slow cooker may seem clean inside, but you wouldn’t know if bacteria and germs are already making their way to your kitchen. If you haven’t used it for a while, a good cleaning can spark it. Just fill some water inside the slow cooker half-full and add a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Set it to cook on a high setting for an hour. In that way, it will remove the bacteria and germs inside. Dump the soapy liquid after an hour and clean the interior with a cloth.
Method 02: It is really frustrating when you wash your slow cooker with tiny bits of stains. With that, baking soda comes into play. Baking soda can do a lot with any cleaning process. Just follow the normal method and use baking soda instead of the liquid detergent to remove the stains. After which, you can use a brush to get all things done.
Method 03: After a day’s hard work, you have forgotten to do the cleaning. Then you realize that there is still food leftovers inside your slow cooker, and eventually, it has thickened. Hardened leftovers are very difficult to remove, but water, baking soda, and vinegar will do the trick. Get the three liquids and pour them into the slow cooker, and set them to simmer for an hour. While heating things up, scrub the insides of your slow cooker to thoroughly remove the stains. Finally, wipe it with a cloth to make it sparkling shine again.
Additional Information: How about the base?
In some cases, you can find spills and wastages along your mini slow cooker’s base because of the burnt residue of the leftover foods that you’ve left unattended. This does happen when you overfill your slow cooker in the cooking process or because you have stirred the contents hurriedly, making spills and splashes.
Today’s most slow cookers have a stainless steel base or a ceramic one that burnt residues can taint from the cooking due to overflow spills. In cleaning this type of mess, you can use baking soda with water or the best cleaning product, the Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser Liquid. This is an all-around cleaner that you can use to remove any residue at the base of your mini slow cooker. You can use it also for other kitchen utensils and even in the bathroom.
Is it important to clean a slow cooker after every use?
Yes! It will become worrisome if you don’t clean your mini slow cooker after usage. One reason is that it is not healthy. Having clean equipment in your kitchen will ensure a tip-top shape and healthy surroundings. The second is that food leftovers tend to stick with your slow cooker over time, and that will make it harder to remove if left unattended. You wouldn’t want to take much of your time cleaning it, right?
Is water enough in cleaning a burnt slow cooker?
Cleaning a burnt slow cooker with water is sufficient to eliminate the burnt stains. In some instances, some stains are very stubborn to remove, which may require more cleaning materials such as baking soda and vinegar.
How to take care of your slow cooker when cleaning?
Taking good care of your slow cooker takes a lot of understanding to do. It does not require only practice but also reading the instruction manual is important too. Be sure to read the instruction manual for cooking and cleaning purposes because this might greatly affect the performance of your slow cooker in the long run.
Some slow cooker is not dishwasher friendly, so you need to manually hand clean them. Some other old models can’t be washed with water because of their heating element, and newer ones, on the other hand, do also have their heating element at their base. This will make it harder to clean it. Most slow cookers nowadays are designed for easy cleaning since they are dishwasher safe.
To further clean your slow cooker at its tip-top shape, we recommend the Bar Keepers Friend Cookware Cleanser and Polish and All-Clad Cookware Cleaner and Polish. These products are not good only with the cleaning part but also with the sparkling polishing finish.
Final Thoughts
It is very recommended to clean your slow cooker every after you use it to maintain its excellent condition. Still, whenever a mess happens, you can trust Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser Liquid to keep it clean inside out. Just make sure to follow the process mentioned in this guide to clean the burnt slow cooker.
Maintaining your mini slow cooker is your responsibility. By having it cleaned properly always, it will give its full support in cooking and also with hygiene. Your slow cooker will then be happy to make you the best dishes ever by consistently taking good care of them.