You're cleaning your saucepans wrong! Experts reveal the surprisingly simple way to shift stubborn remnants - and it requires minimal elbow grease
Cleaning dirty saucepans is a chore that most people dread. But the days of practically breaking your arm trying to scrub the remnants of food out of the bottom are finally a thing of the past. Experts at Which? have revealed the surprisingly simple way to clean a burnt saucepan.And best of all, it requires minimal elbow grease. To find the ultimate method, the team scorched baked beans onto the bottom of a pan, before testing popular cleaning hacks to shift the remains. This included baking soda, lemon juice, dishwasher tablets, and even dryer sheets. Their results suggest that, if you've had a cooking nightmare, your best option is a dishwasher tablet. According to Which? this method will help you achieve a 'sparkling saucepan' with 'relatively little elbow grease.' Experts at Which? have revealed the surprisingly simple way to clean a burnt saucepan – and it requires minimal elbow greaseFor the study, Which? tested four popular hand–washing options, although it points out that many non–stick saucepans can simply go in the dishwasher. 'Many saucepan manufacturers claim their saucepans are dishwasher–safe, but we'd still recommend you wash non–stick saucepans by hand if you can,' it explained.'The very hot water used inside a dishwasher can wear down non–stick coatings over several washes.'The best method was found to be the dishwasher tablet technique, which Which? tested using Fairy's 29p Platinum Plus tablets. Start by filling the saucepan with enough water to cover the burnt bits, before adding a dishwasher tablet. Put the pan back onto a medium heat and let the water simmer for 10 minutes. Rinse out and wipe away any residue with a soft sponge, before washing as normal.While this technique is effective, Which? points out that using a whole dishwasher tablet for a single dirty pan isn't good for the planet – or your wallet. For the dryer sheet method, put a few drops of washing–up liquid into the pan and cover it with a few inches of hot tap water, before completely submerging a dryer sheet for an hour How to clean a burnt saucepan Fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the burnt bits.Add a dishwasher tablet.Put the pan back onto a medium heat and let the water simmer for 10 minutes.Rinse out and wipe away any residue with a soft sponge.Wash as normal to get a sparkling saucepan achieved with relatively little elbow grease. 'We'd recommend using this method only as a last resort,' the consumer champion explained. 'That would be when you've got a really stubborn patch of burnt food you just can't seem to shift, and the only alternative is chucking the pan away.'Don't have any dishwasher tablets? Don't panic.If you have dryer sheets, lemons, or baking soda, salt and vinegar, these are also effective – although they require more scrubbing. For the dryer sheet method, put a few drops of washing–up liquid into the pan and cover it with a few inches of hot tap water, before completely submerging a dryer sheet for an hour. 'To our surprise, this method proved very effective on the areas of the stain the dryer sheet touched,' Which? said. 'These areas came away with a rinse, but the rest of the burnt food needed a lot of elbow grease and vigorous scrubbing to fully remove.' For the lemon technique, cut up three lemons and simmer them in the pan for around 10 minutes on a medium heat. While this does the job, Which? admits it's an expensive option. 'This method is one of the pricier ones, at around 90p a go, and feels like a waste of three perfectly good lemons,' it said. Finally, you can cover the burnt bits with a paste made from baking soda, salt and vinegar – although this is the least effective option. 'It worked, but we had to do it twice,' the consumer champion admitted. 'Each time, there were fewer burnt bits left, but we still needed to do some serious scrubbing, and even after that the pan wasn't left looking new.'
