Why You Should NEVER Clean Your Sheet Pans

If you're thinking about cleaning your sheet pans, this video will save you lots of time and frustration. I tried to clean a sheet pan with years of baked-on oil and failed miserably. In the process, I learned that trying to remove the deep oil stains from your sheet pans is a terrible idea for several reasons.
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[@lizcademy4809]

Helen Rennie has an excellent video on this ... the best solution is to have one dark pan for roasting and one shiny pan for baking. I'm doing this with my new 1/8 size sheet pans. Keep in mind a dark pan isn't "dirty", it's seasoned in exactly the same way a cast iron or carbon steel skillet is seasoned. You still need to wash your pans with soap and water after every use ... just don't bother scrubbing to bare metal.

[@wojtekimbier]

That's a lot of work and baked oil removed from the sheet pan to learn that it's best not to scrub it at all! Thanks for the video

[@PrudentReviews]

It was 😀 hopefully this saves others the time

[@ozzymandius666]

Excellent. Knowing when not to do something is a good thing. Truly labor saving.

[@codybroken]

Your videos are EXCELLENT!!! Thank you.

[@PrudentReviews]

Glad you like them!

[@ArkhamNorth]

Ammonia-soaked papers/rags in a garbage bag overnight is better than oven cleaner and safter to use on aluminized/coated pans. I don't do that for sheet pans but it's great for stainless steel pots/pans and BBQ grates.

[@OhJodi69]

I'm glad that when I was growing up, we had the "fish stick pan". So brown it was almost black, used only for greasy food, like french fries, biscuits, and fish sticks. I'm glad I learned about this early on! It was a sad day when someone, who thought they were helping, threw the pan away.

[@Visitkarte]

Our ovens in Europe are usually delivered with original sized black enameled baking sheets. Silvery surface doesn’t work well at all. I learned that the hard way.

[@Vandelay666]

Good video, thank you

[@PrudentReviews]

Thank you

[@asintonic]

Dude Now i need a sheet pan too! lol. I'm new , so i have to see your video on sheet pans. Thanks

[@PrudentReviews]

I don't have any videos on sheet pans yet, but I plan to make one in the future.

[@corrinejacobson9232]

Thanks for the video!!

[@PrudentReviews]

Welcome!

[@rustyp69]

you guys make super helpful videos, thanks a lot and keep it up

[@PrudentReviews]

Really appreciate it!

[@efuass]

The baking soda/vinegar cleaning solution is a big misconception. There are a ton of articles online saying to clean with this solution. But if you think about it, baking soda neutralizes the vinegar and basically turning it into just plain water. Just use straight up vinegar.

[@PrudentReviews]

Yea, it didn’t work at all for me

[@jaywung7616]

Well, sodium acetate solution, but yes, more neutral 😅

[@ebonfortress]

But bubbles! Also, vinegar doesn’t react with fats

[@barry7391]

you could try media blasting using fine garnet, walnut shells or other types of media. Blasting with dry ice is also an option, just try finding some one to do it, not a chance. Just saying there are ways to clean but they just might be impractical. I used to think a cooking item wasn't clean until it shone like the day you first used it. Have you ever looked into a smoker and seen all the caked on smoking residue, that's seasoning, leave it alone and enjoy the food that comes off of it. Yum-O!

[@daisybravo6526]

I mix lye with water paint the solution on and cover sink so it doesn’t dry out. Just rinse. Oil your potatoes lightly.

[@patrickobrien6648]

I would call that a cast iron skillet. My roommate loves cooking meat, and browns all my aluminum pans. I guess that's a good thing.. lol

[@NoZenith]

Thank you very much, very much. what baking sheet is this and do you Recommend it? I'm in the market

[@PrudentReviews]

You’re welcome. This is a very old Williams Sonoma brand aluminized steel half sheet pan. They still sell this design but only with a non-stick coating, which I don’t recommend for a sheet pan. I’ve heard great things about Nordic Ware and Vollrath sheet pans but haven’t tested them yet.

[@NoZenith]

@PrudentReviews I have heard similar! Thank you so very much for your response. I already have a very large and wonderful AirBake cookie sheet that I keep immaculately clean like you recommend. I always use Parchment paper or Silpats on it. It's been my go-to for snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies for going on a decade, and it's still looks new. I highly recommend you try it out if you get the chance. It's a double layer aluminum, so there's air inside of it to help even out the heat so you don't get hotspots. NOT sure how effective it is compared with traditional single layer as This was a gift when I was first getting into baking cookies and all I had was a crappy second hand, very dark metal one that had burn stains that I kept burning cookies on... Moms are great! Actually it would probably be a little more effective if it wasn't a full sheet that took up my entire oven but I just Rotate front to back about 2/3 of the way through baking time as quickly as I can. Everything comes out pretty even except the very corner cookies tend to get a little more done.

[@bohemiansusan2897]

I always heated up the pans in the oven as I would for cleaning the oven, they came out clean. That was a once a year thing. To be honest, I can't see how others have layers of hard grease on the stainless steel cookware. I don't spend too much time scrubbing and I don't get that kind of build up. Though I use stainless steel baking sheets rather than aluminum.

[@jaclyniicole]

What do you do if the staining feels sticky/tacky? Should those stains be removed?

[@markholm7050]

Oven cleaner is likely to attack the metal of an aluminum pan. I used to use sodium hydroxide, the active ingredient of oven cleaner, to dissolve aluminum films from plastic samples. The aluminum bubbled and foamed and completely dissolved.

[@ebonfortress]

And even an high concentration sodium hydroxide (I’ve tried an oven cleaner with five to fifteen percent lye) is pretty bad at removing carbonized oil and I don’t know if going into real danger zone and making huge amounts of solution using drain cleaner or pure sodium hydroxide will help. I wonder if there’s an organic solvent that is effective

[@markholm7050]

@@ebonfortress The cost of an organic solvent will be a significant fraction of the cost of a new sheet pan and come with very real risks of fire and toxicity. Better to put the money toward a new pan. As the video points out, a sheet pan with a layer of baked on oil is not ruined, perhaps only limited to certain uses.

[@Metal_Vistas]

A drill or rotary tool with a copper or brass wire wheel will get you down to bare metal (steel, not aluminum, which is much softer) without putting deep gouges into it as sandpaper, grinding wheels, flap wheels and steel wire wheels will. I'm not sure it is worth the effort, particularly if you want it dark for browning, but if you really want to strip an old pan, that will do it.

[@bikeny]

If my mom was still alive, she'd say THANK YOU for this info. Her sheet pans (no chevron pattern) were used for a multitude of things, but the most important was her Sicilian Pizza. The only times we had a problem with her pizza they were not caused by the pans, but by her. 1. Dough didn't rise (the investigation revealed she had used old yeast; lesson: always check the expiration date). 2. The dough didn't stretch enough to fill the 5 sheet trays. That investigation was a real simple open and shut case (yes, since mom didn't make pizza for us very often, we always wanted to know why a problem happened). Simple math. Her recipe was perfect for 5 trays. Unfortunately as we all looked at all the trays, we counted 6. Basically when she was splitting all dough up and putting them in the pans, she didn't notice she had taken out 6 of them. Not a real problem in the end, just no corners like we are used. Dough was fine, so she cooked the 6 trays. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories of mom and her pizza. And of course confirming that I should not be planning to get them shiny.

[@hashimsalim2665]

🤘

[@aididdat1749]

What kind of sheet pan is this? Aluminium? Carbon steel?

[@ArkhamNorth]

It looks like an aluminized steel pan. I think it's a re-branded USA Pan.

[@jamessquair6829]

Curious - why didn’t you completely cover the surface with the oven cleaner?

[@jaywung7616]

It's not really seasoning like iron pans. The goal there is to make a thin hard layer of polymerized oil. The problem is too much oil polymerizes into a sticky, softer and thick layer that isn't anti stick. That's what happens on most pans. Just use parchment paper and or oil and don't bother trying to clean it. If you REALLY want to remove it, stick it in a gas oven and run a cleaning cycle. It wont come out shiny because it's not polished, but it will burn off all the residue.

[@violetviolet888]

Helen Rennie tested this years ago. Watch her video titled *Seasoning Your Baking Sheets to Improve Browning*.

[@keyrarasanchezmichael3211]

I like parchment paper..

[@jesuslovesyoujohn314-21]

I didn't expect it'd make that much difference in browning.

[@PrudentReviews]

I was very surprised

[@ebonfortress]

I guess it has something to do with the fact that black things both absorb and radiate more IR

[@WarChortle]

I don't know why, but I thought maybe ultrasonic cleaner might do the trick or electrolysis.

[@gregrburnett3400]

I would think that if wanted to clean on of those pan, find someone that can "soda blast" them. But I wouldn't worry about it.

[@unclerojelio6320]

Why didn’t you just use a cordless grinder?

[@legambaz]

Cast iron cookware collectors dump their flee market finds into a lye bath for weeks. That usually remove everything. But you're right. Just leave the pan alone

[@coffeeabernethy2823]

If you have a sandblaster...

[@father042]

We don't have sheet pans like this, ours are all black

[@Philipk65]

Putting yourself through that much work and exposing yourself to those toxins in the oven cleaner demonstrates a dedication to your audience or just an unusual high amount of self loathing lol 😂.

[@PrudentReviews]

I'd like to think it's dedication to my audience, but who knows 😂

[@Philipk65]

@@PrudentReviews 🤷‍♂

[@Philipk65]

@@PrudentReviews I do enjoy your reviews though.

[@vinquinn]

A new pan is probably cheaper than all those cleaning supplies.

[@PrudentReviews]

exactly

[@scott33761]

The instructions on the can say to heat the oven first. You did not follow instructions and heat the pan.

[@joesapienza8121]

I've been lining my baking sheets / pans with parchment paper for more years than I can remember. While not ideal for everything, when it comes to roasting vegetables, baking chicken, fish, cookies, potatoes / french fries and so much more, it's really hard to beat. Pans stay clean and the food comes out just as it should.

[@rabbit_scribe]

Agreed. I just wish I'd started doing it sooner. A couple of my older sheet pans didn't get the benefit 😝

[@bunnybunny3536]

I would never buy a grooved sheet pan, that’s just asking for misery IMO.

[@Alex.McManus]

Its the same concept as seasoning cast iron. Why would you wanna wash off the stuff that makes it non stick and keeps the iron from leaching into the food?? Youre going from non stick to sticking. Youre going from enjoying cooking to frustration. Makes no sense. I remembered this concept from when I was 7 years old. Mom would never attempt to clean the seasoning off for those 2 reasons.

[@jeremiahwolfe]

Easy Off WILL work, you just have to do it right. DON'T follow the instructions. Do this OUTSIDE. The fumes are terrible. "Well ventilated" doesn't cut it. 1)Sake can of Easy Off Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner well. 2) Thoroughly coat entire surface. It should be very wet with cleaner. It's hard to tell in the video, but it doesn't look like you're using anywhere near enough. 3) Place inside garbage bag!! To keep from drying out. 4) Let sit over night. 5)The next day, everything will just wipe off.

[@tckoppang]

Put the pan in the oven during a self-cleaning cycle.

[@PrudentReviews]

Heard that works but haven’t tried it yet.

[@John-kd1bf]

Personally, I wouldn’t put oven cleaner on a pan where food comes in contact with. Does that oven cleaner say it’s ok for pans?

[@ebonfortress]

@@John-kd1bfall the components are water soluble so a thorough rinse will wash away everything. I regularly use oven cleaner on stainless steel pans, still alive

[@tannarbuck7908]

I hate to be a bummer but the chemicals from the oven cleaner are probably in the fat that was left on the pan and will now go into your food another reason not to clean them

[@PrudentReviews]

Add it to the list!

[@darlenebergantzel1534]

Too much work. I don’t have a grooved pan, but I only scrub my sheet pans when there is stuck on food residue. Otherwise, they just go in the dishwasher.

[@matteframe]

Its not dirty, its better...lol

[@Electrichead64]

Or maybe dont be lazy and clean as you go instead of waiting to scrub your cookware every 5 years

[@PrudentReviews]

As I mentioned, I clean it after each use. This is baked-on oil from roasting, it doesn't come off with dish soap and a sponge.

[@Electrichead64]

@@PrudentReviews If you go after it with an SOS pad as you clean up each time, it wont build up to this point. The more you let that patina bake on, the worse (or better) it gets.