Those of us lucky enough to own a stainless steel toaster can attest to the unrivaled joy of opening the box and the experience of seeing your reflection in its perfectly shiny sides. While a toaster is an essential of anyone’s kitchen (who doesn’t love bread?), many of us leave the cleaning of the toaster to someone else and find ourselves needing to replace them months down the track.
You don’t need much for this, only:
- Steel wool
- Oven cleaner
Table of Contents
How To Clean a Stainless Steel Toaster
Keeping in mind stainless steel appliances are not something you only clean when you feel like it, they require daily cleaning. Investing in stainless steel appliances like a toaster is like getting a dog, you need to keep up your care. That being said, the process for cleaning stainless steel appliances is much easier than you would expect and is so easy you can easily do it while your coffee finishes boiling on the stove.
Step 1: Remove Any Grime
A small drop of soapy water and a rag will get most of the grime off of your appliance. Following this, get your hands on a polish suitable for stainless steel, quickly wiping your appliance over with this. When you polish your appliance you are going to notice it starting to shine more than usual, this is a good sign.
Step 2: Buff With The Grain
To make sure the appearance stays like this, use a light dry cloth to buff with the direction of the grain. This may not be completely obvious at first but when you buff you will start to notice the grain more.
All of this should only take a couple of minutes, but if you do it daily you can rest easy that your toaster will look like new.
How To Clean The Inside Of A Toaster
For pop-up toasters
When most of us think about how to clean the inside of a pop-up toaster, a lot of us see it as impossible, life-threatening, or as simply shaking the toaster upside down. The latter of these does carry some weight as a valid way of cleaning your toaster, but you need to make sure you take the proper precautions.
Step 1: Exercise Safety
Unplug the toaster first and make sure you aren’t too heavy-handed otherwise you risk damaging the mechanisms inside the toaster.
Step 2: Lightly Shake The Toaster Upside Down
Shaking the toaster over a wastebasket lightly to get rid of all excess crumbs is the best method for a clean toaster. While there is bound to be a bunch of seemingly dirty stains and buildup on the insides of your toaster, these are very hard to clean and don’t need to be disturbed as they don’t affect the operation of the toaster.
For toaster ovens
When it comes to the bulkier toaster ovens, cleaning these is a much more intense activity than a couple of shakes of the wrist. Oven cleaner is your best friend when it comes to cleaning your toaster oven, whilst the grease will be nothing compared to your full-sized oven, these cleaners are perfect for this application. Steel wool is also a great tool to have on hand as most scourers won’t be able to get rid of the very tough stains.
Step 1: Stay Safe
Firstly unplug your oven, of course. Not to mention inspecting your back panel for any stray wires.
Step 2: Disperse Your Cleaner
Spread oven cleaner and hot water through the bottom of your toaster oven and soak for a few minutes or potentially overnight.
Step 3: Scrub off Unwanted Grime
Scrub as much as possible with steel wool to make sure all unwanted residue is removed.
Step 4: Remove Leftover Liquid
Use a paper towel after you have scrubbed to remove all the leftover liquid and ensure the oven is completely dry. This will make sure there are no obscure scents imparted onto food when using the toaster oven in the future. Also minimising any chance of damage to the operation of the toaster when you turn it on.
How To Clean Toaster Oven Tray
Step 1: Remove Your Tray
Most trays slide out from the bottom of the toaster, and if cleaned at least once a week, if not after every use, you can make sure your bread crumbs are usable and your toaster lasts.
Step 2: Flick Crumbs Into Bin or Jar
A simple flick of the finger will get most crumbs off the tray, if you aren’t reusing these simply wave the tray over an open bin.
Step 3: Clean off Grease
Use soap and hot water to rinse the tray under the tap. Scrubbing lightly to remove excess crumbs and grease.
A dirty tray can attract bugs and bacteria, even catching fire sometimes, store your stray breadcrumbs and you can recycle them for plenty of delicious recipes later on or add them to soups.
Can You Clean With Things From Around The House?
Sometimes we can’t get to the shops or are trying to save money and don’t want to use a commercial oven cleaner. As it turns out there are plenty of things around your house that will do a great job of cleaning any tough grime off the inside of your toaster oven.
Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol is a great start for most people thinking of disinfecting surfaces and alongside that their everyday cleaning. As it turns out, rubbing alcohol (if it’s a high% of alcohol, usually around 90%) is a great choice for cleaning your toaster oven. Rubbing alcohol is also a great choice of cleaner for pretty much anything because it helps surfaces dry faster.
Baking Soda and Vinegar
Mixing baking soda together with some water into a paste and then spreading throughout your toaster oven is a great way to renew the looks of your appliance. Leave this paste overnight then soak your sponge in some vinegar before you use it to clean off the paste, your toaster oven will not only be spotless but odour-free for many weeks to come.
What To Do With Breadcrumbs?
Use To Top Your Favourite Recipe
The simple act of sauteeing some butter with breadcrumbs over a low heat can transform your breadcrumbs. Add in some garlic and now you have an unrivaled topper for almost any recipe from ramen to mac and cheese. Breadcrumbs with parmesan sprinkled over them and then put in the oven for 5-10 minutes at medium heat is also a phenomenal indulgent treat or a wonderful addition to your best bowl of pasta.
Soak Up Liquid
Of course, if you are making a hearty soup or curry that has a bit too much water, you can use breadcrumbs to soak this excess liquid up. Furthermore, any burger patty recipe will most likely tell you to add breadcrumbs for that perfect uniform texture.