How to Clean the Burnt Bottoms of Pots and Pans (Without Hurting the Metal)

Step by step

1. 1

   Let the pan cool and turn it over

   Wait until the pan is cool, as All-Clad advises before cleaning. Set it upside down on a towel in the sink, so the bottom faces up and the paste stays put.

2. 2

   Mix the baking soda paste

   Stir together 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water. That is Arm & Hammer’s ratio, and for a full pot bottom they suggest about 1 cup of baking soda and 1/3 cup of water.

3. 3

   Spread it on and wait

   Spread the paste generously over every brown and black spot. Then leave it alone for a few hours, or overnight.

4. 4

   Scrub with a nylon brush or pad

   Sprinkle on a little more baking soda, then scrub with a nylon brush or a scour sponge. That is how Arm & Hammer finishes the method. Skip steel wool, because All-Clad warns against steel wool and steel pads on its pans.

1. 5

   On stainless, finish with Bar Keepers Friend

   Rinse off the paste. If spots are left on a stainless steel bottom, wet the surface and sprinkle on a little Bar Keepers Friend. Rub gently with a wet sponge, then rinse it off within a minute, as the label says. Do not let it sit, and do not rub harder than you need to.

2. 6

   Rinse well and dry

   Rinse the whole pan with warm water and wipe it dry with a towel. The Bar Keepers Friend label says to rinse thoroughly and wipe dry.

When it will not work, and what to do instead

Some bottoms have years of buildup, and some metals need a different touch. Here is what to do.

• The brown layer is still there. Do the paste again and give it a full night this time.
• It is a copper bottom. Turn it upside down, keep a thin layer of water on the bottom, sprinkle on baking soda and scour with a cut lemon half, as Arm & Hammer directs. Then rinse with warm water and dry it right away, as All-Clad advises for copper. All-Clad also suggests a cream copper cleaner.
• The copper is just dark, not burnt. Mauviel says it is fine to let copper darken with age, and All-Clad says that patina does not affect how the pan performs. You only need to polish it if you want the shine back.
• It is stainless with very heavy buildup. Stainless can take a stronger washing soda paste. Our baked-on grease page has the method. Never use washing soda on aluminum.

Why it works

That brown crust on the bottom of a pan is often oil that met high heat. Lodge, the cast iron maker, explains that oil heated hot enough changes from a wet liquid into a slick, hardened surface. That is the same change that seasons a cast iron skillet, and it is why plain soap slides right over it.

Baking soda is a mild alkali (the opposite of an acid, like vinegar), according to the American Cleaning Institute. Given a few hours, the paste gets to work on that layer so a nylon brush can lift it. Bar Keepers Friend works another way. It contains oxalic acid, and its label says to rinse it off within a minute.

Think of it like a sticky pot of rice. If you soak it first, the scrubbing is easy, and if you skip the soak, you fight it.

Most of us notice the bottoms of our pans at the worst time. The stove is clean, company is coming, and that pan is sitting there looking tired. It is easy to feel like the pan is ruined, but it almost never is.