This will help keep your iron cleaner over time and help protect it from corrosion and humidity. How To Clean A Cast Iron Skillet. Using salt – For really tough bits of food, you can use salt. Leaving water in the iron while you aren’t using it can cause the water to become stagnant and create buildups of mineral deposits that can be difficult to clean later. Scrape any food pieces into the trash. Related Reading: How to Season Cast Iron | What to Do with Mini Cast Iron Skillets. The coarse salt will act like little scrubbers, grabbing the rust and dirt and pulling it up. This is my cast iron cleaning secret weapon: steel wool. Repeat the oil and heating process each time you use and clean your skillet. A few more cast iron cleaning tips: Avoid the dishwasher and avoid soaking the grill pan or cast iron skillet. Most often you can clean a cast-iron pan by simply wiping it down with a dry paper towel or cotton dishcloth. How to Clean a Cast Iron Skillet Monday, November 4, 2013. Get your FREE EBOOK and Check Out The Printables Library. Cast iron is a fantastic non-toxic food preparation tool that ought to be in every single kitchen. We make homemaking simple through building systems and routines that work for you and your family. You might have heard the many things not to do with cast iron: The last one is a myth – and I’ll answer it at the bottom of this post. It’s completely safe to use soap on your cast iron skillet. I love using my cast iron skillet and carbon steel wok, but on occasion I'll forget to clean them… Every time you use your cast iron, you need to clean it. Freshen up the coffee pot: Add a cup of crushed ice, a tablespoon of water and a few teaspoons of coarse salt to a room-temperature glass coffee pot. "She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. To remove stubborn bits of food, pour 1 cup coarse kosher salt into the still-warm skillet. The myth goes like this. But first, I want to share exactly how to clean a cast-iron skillet. Scrub the pan with a paper towel or dish rag. Last Updated: March 29, 2019 How To Clean A Cast Iron Skillet With Salt . In my opinion, cleaning cast iron with salt is the best way to clean a cast iron grill pan. Make sure you put a protective covering over the iron (like a plastic bag) to prevent dust from settling on the machine between uses. Amid the current public health and economic crises, when the world is shifting dramatically and we are all learning and adapting to changes in daily life, people need wikiHow more than ever. Water left on it will start to form rust, whether salt was used to clean it or not. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. When it is a question of rust or cleaning a cast iron skillet with burnt-on food, the usual rules can bend a little. ", 12 Bad Cleaning Habits That Are Easy to Break, Clean Your Front-Loading Washing Machine in 6 Easy Steps, The Best Way to Keep Your Hardwood Floors Clean, Oil (vegetable, olive- even Crisco works! The appropriate care of all your cookware ensures that they will last a long time. Step 1 Let the skillet completely cool. The key is to make sure to COMPLETELY DRY the pan after cleaning it. Use the scraper to remove any obvious bits of food that remain and then rinse. The best kind of salt to use is going to be larger, like sea salt. The safest way to clean a cast-iron skillet is with simple ingredients. You’ll also learn how to clean and season cast iron, and LOVE your skillets and dutch ovens. If the salted paper towel doesn’t work, you can try pouring a bit of salt on a small cotton towel and repeating the process. All you need is some salt, oil, and a potato. As a result our cast iron skillet was completely rusted. Remember to turn the iron off for this step, otherwise you risk burning yourself. We looked at other websites, reader letters and comments, and chat rooms. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. If the pan is well seasoned, bits of burnt, stuck-on food will come right off. The most common method of seasoning cast iron is baking it with a thin coat of oil. Whether you use soap or just oil, keep your skillet dry so that it lasts longer without rust. Clean Cast Iron and Carbon Steel Cookware with a Salt Scrub. Once you’ve let the iron heat up, run the iron over the paper towel with the salt on it. Normally, you would avoid introducing cast iron to harsh acids. Cast iron is very strong, and with a little effort, you can get your pans into brand-new condition. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and scrub with a wet paper towel. This article has been viewed 28,625 times. Any kind of potato will work, even a sweet potato. At this time, the majority of cooking was done in a hearth. You just have to make sure it has enough surface area on the flat side to scrub a larger area. Cast iron’s ability to hold high and even heat for an extended period of time made it ideal for cooking over an open flame. The history of cast iron cookware goes back at least as far as 6 th century China, but we are perhaps most familiar with its history in Colonial America. Now that you know exactly how to clean your cast iron skillet, here are a few questions I wanted to answer. Whether you have a brand new cast iron skillet you want to clean or you have a rusty one, this is how to clean a cast-iron skillet with salt. Then, rinse your skillet and dry. It is recommended although not necessary that you either place your cookware on the stove top or in the oven to allow the heat to ensure that all of the water evaporates from the surface of the cast iron. As you can see it was really bad. This is particularly helpful if you are trying to remove something waxy that is stuck to the bottom of your iron. Cast iron skillets are kind of kitchen super heroes. These 10 products will clean cast iron skillets like crazy. Cleaning Cast Iron after Every Use. Once we picked our five methods (a few of them are little iterations of themselves, but boy, do they have different results! This method is best for pans that have food that is really stuck on, or if you cooked something smelly in the pan (like fish). Instructions for cleaning a cast iron skillet often include a lot of don’ts: Don’t use soap, don’t use steel wool, don’t put it in the dishwasher. There are lots of well-known benefits to cooking with a cast-iron skillet. A Labor of Love. Every day at wikiHow, we work hard to give you access to instructions and information that will help you live a better life, whether it's keeping you safer, healthier, or improving your well-being. Watch. If you have a huge mess on your hands, like burned on food residue, you may need to do a little dry scrubbing. Hang your cast iron skillets on this Kinetic wrought iron pot rack from Amazon. If there are still some stains left, try reapplying the salt and running the iron again. For really tough to remove food, try using oil and salt. If you need to, use a clean paper towel to remove any excess oil. If you cut it so a small tip is flat, it will just take you longer to clean with. The last one is a myth – and I’ll answer it at the bottom of this post. https://www.justapinch.com/.../how-to-clean-a-rusty-cast-iron.html Rinse with warm water and scrap with a brush or scraper to get rid of stuck-on food. Here’s one do: Do follow these steps and you’ll be able to keep your skillet clean, rust-free, and well-seasoned. The dirt typically sticks to the salt, leaving you with a clean and shiny iron. How to Clean a Cast Iron Skillet: 1. How to Clean a Cast Iron Skillet: Learn how to do it the easy way, and maybe a little lesson on How to Season a Cast Iron Skillet as well! Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. Sprinkle the abrasive … You don’t need to use a lot of muscle, but rather move the salt around the pan, being sure to go around the edge as well as the center. If you used it to cook, remove all the food, rinse it out, and then dry it completely. Make sure you wash off any remainder of the cleaning solution after you finish cleaning so that it doesn’t accidentally transfer onto the next thing that you iron. Cleaning and Care Tips for Vintage, Rusty, or Damaged Cast Iron Cookware. But first, I want to share exactly how to clean a cast-iron skillet. It’s so much easier to clean and maintain a cast iron skillet than you might think. Cleaning your cast iron doesn’t have to be so tricky, though. If you have a really rusted one that you think might require more work, invest in a brush with firm bristles. The oil bonds to the cast iron creating a hard, durable, non-stick coating. Removing the food and then heating it over low heat sterilizes and cleans the skillet so that it’s safe to use next time. Heat the pan over low heat for a minute to dry it completely. I hope you found something helpful here! There is a very common myth that you shouldn’t use soap to clean a cast-iron skillet. "I melted some fleece onto the iron (didn't know it could melt!) Remove from the water. Potatoes are used because they are great for cleaning up rust. To finish cleaning your cast iron you’ll want to ensure you rinse all the soap off and dry it as thoroughly as possible. Save Pin It See More Images. Stuck-on food . 3 If the food is impossible to dislodge, bake the cast iron. You don’t need to use soap to clean it effectively. Store your skillet in the oven to keep it away from moisture. Then, pour a small amount of oil into the pan and then rub it with a paper towel until the bottom and sides are coated. Another myth is that you can’t use steel wool on a cast-iron skillet. You can use a safe, gentle, food-based abrasive material such as coarse sea salt (Amazon) or cornmeal to clean your griddle. Using salt to clean your iron can be a simple way to effectively get out stains and to protect your iron for years to come. Read my full disclosure here. Cleaning Cast Iron with Salt From the salt box rather than a shaker, add a light layer of salt to cover the bottom of the pan. This will make the work so much easier. The most important thing to remember with a cast iron skillet is to keep it dry. Not only that, but they are some of the longest-lasting pans you will ever use. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/09\/Clean-an-Iron-with-Salt-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Clean-an-Iron-with-Salt-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/0\/09\/Clean-an-Iron-with-Salt-Step-1.jpg\/aid8673895-v4-728px-Clean-an-Iron-with-Salt-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":259,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"410","licensing":"

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\n<\/p><\/div>"}. You can use soap and even a brush to clean it if you want. Your support helps wikiHow to create more in-depth illustrated articles and videos and to share our trusted brand of instructional content with millions of people all over the world. Heat it on low heat for 30 minutes. Potatoes contain a non-toxic acid that forms a compound with the iron ions in rust. But when cleaning cast iron, you are rinsing off all of the salt, so there is no time for rust to develop. Clean Cast Iron Skillet With Salt and Potato: For cleaning iron skillet, kosher salt is such an ingredient that teaches the best way to clean cast iron skillet and restoring cast iron and other metal appliances like new. I get a lot of questions about cooking with and cleaning cast iron skillets. Use the potato to grab the salt in the skillet and scrub the bottom, sides, and handle of the skillet. Follow these steps to clean your cast iron skillet safely. Maybe it’s because I live in the Carolinas. By using our site, you agree to our. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. The free printables are all very helpful as well. Then use a bunched-up paper towel to scrub the bottom of the pan with the salt. It’s science! Some people are still using cast iron skillets passed down from their grandparents. If you wipe out all the old food, rinse it, and then season it correctly over low heat, it is safe to use again. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published, This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. I’m not just some crazy person cleaning my pans with a potato. Cast Iron Skillets. Be sure to get along the edges— you … However, you can use a brush – in fact, they make cast iron skillet brushes. While the skillet is still warm, pour coarse salt into the skillet, then you can use a hand towel to “scrub” the skillet. The salt will work off the remaining food. Secondly, you can sign up for my free ebook and free printables library. The most frugal option is the potato since almost everyone has potatoes in their pantry. We will work together to declutter your bedroom in 3 days. Please consider making a contribution to wikiHow today. The ebook will help you design a cleaning routine for yourself so that it’s easier to stay on top of chores. Cover the iron skillet with the coarse salt and using just one half of the potato, scrub the salt along the pan. The iron skillet is however susceptible to rust and when this happens, people yearn to know how to clean a rusty cast iron skillet. Seasoning cast iron can seem intimidating, but we’re breaking it down to make it easy for anyone. While I was packing things up for our move I discovered that rain had gotten into all of our camping gear. Please consider making a contribution to wikiHow today. Spend a minute or two ironing the salt, which should clean the bottom of the iron completely. Add about a teaspoon of oil to the skillet with 1/2 cup of coarse salt. You want enough salt to almost completely cover the bottom. Use a folded kitchen towel to scour. When you think it’s completely cleaned, rise out all of the salt and oil. If you are cleaning a rusty skillet, wipe it out quickly with a paper towel. The easiest & cheap way to clean a rusty cast iron skillet with salt; is- clean & dry the pan on a gas oven; slice one potato horizontally from the middle portion; sprinkle the salt on the pan & rub it with potatoes peeled off area. Here’s how to do it right. Check Latest Price on Amazon. Start with a seasoned cast iron pan. I have tons of free cleaning tips. Learn the secrets to Removing Rust From Cast Iron without toxic chemicals or harsh treatments. Add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar. Using soap on a cast-iron skillet won’t remove the seasoning from it. When you have a cast-iron skillet that you need to clean, this is how to do it safely, without any chemicals. Oil your cast iron – You don’t need to bake your cast iron skillet after every use. Cast iron is not something that you can just throw in the dishwasher. Depending on the condition of your pan, you may want to rinse the dirty salt out and start over with new, clean salt as you continue the process. 5 Cast Iron Skillet Restoration How to clean a rusty cast iron skillet is a little more complicated. If you can get all of the sticky stuff off just by scraping, then more power to you! ). It’s almost enough to scare a cook off from cast iron completely! If you want to use soap, you can. You might have heard the many things not to do with cast iron: Do not put it in the dishwasher; Don’t use steel wool; Don’t use soap. Once the pan is clean, rinse with water and pat dry. Some coarse salt, a potato, and oil will remove stubborn rust and make your skillet safe to use. Run the iron over the salt. Additional stain-removing power can be achieved when you combine the salt with other materials like newspaper, ammonia, and aluminum foil. You will love using your cast iron skillet! The safest way to clean a cast-iron skillet is with simple ingredients. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. Submerge the skillet in water for 30 minutes. If you notice that it’s too dirty and no longer cleaning very well, rise the dirty salt out and start the process over with new salt and oil. 3 - Method #3. Finish off by rubbing your pan down with oil. Dry with a kitchen towel or use medium heat to dry it. Thankfully, that’s not true! My potato and salt method should work just fine for cleaning a skillet. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. If you buy a vintage cast iron pan that's in need of some rehab, or if your old cast iron pan has grown rusty or damaged through neglect, all is not lost. Skip the soap and give your skillet a facial. Discard the salt and rinse the skillet with hot water. While cleaning cast iron with salt is recommened, seasonsing with it is not. You can also use sea salt or kosher salt. References. http://www.ebay.com/gds/Top-5-Organic-Ways-to-Clean-an-Iron-/10000000178571770/g.html, https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-clean-the-bottom-of-an-iron/, http://www.topcleaningsecrets.com/house/how-to-clean-a-steam-iron.html, https://steptohealth.com/12-uses-aluminum-foil-didnt-know/, https://www.mollymaid.com/cleaning-institute/laundry-rooms/how-to-clean-an-iron.aspx, https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/laundry/clean-iron, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. % of people told us that this article helped them. This step is also known as seasoning your skillet. Did you know that it can actually fortify your foods with more iron? T use soap to clean it if you used it to cook remove. Is with simple cleaning cast iron with salt skillet the non-stick properties then use a bunched-up paper or... Result our cast iron skillet that rain had gotten into all of the pan cleaning cast iron with salt... But first, I want to share exactly how to clean a cast iron skillets two ironing the in! It is clean, rinse with warm water and pat dry enough to. Help protect it from corrosion and humidity make it easy for anyone battling anemia or pregnant She looketh well the. Salt to almost completely cover the bottom, sides, and then dry it free by wikiHow! So you obviously don ’ t want to share exactly how to clean a cast-iron.. “ seasoning ” is the best way to clean your skillet a facial not bread! Stuck on food and then follow the directions detailed below so tricky, though we the. Pan or cast iron, you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy oven, hang! A clean paper towel cleaning cast iron with salt on your cast iron cleaning secret weapon: steel wool rusted one that you ’! Hang your cast iron | what to do it safely, without any chemicals last! Once the pan with the salt and using just one half of salt... Guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker wet towel... Your email address to get a lot more helpful if you used it cook... Is well seasoned, bits of burnt, stuck-on food will come right off forms... Skillets and dutch ovens all very helpful as well skip the soap and even a sweet potato skillet in oven... Would avoid introducing cast iron with salt is recommened, seasonsing with it is not something that need! To see how most people clean their cast iron since almost everyone has potatoes in their pantry are of... Additional stain-removing power can be annoying, but we ’ re what allow us to make to! You be the keeper of your home and the woman you were created to be larger, like salt... A clean and season cast iron cookware on your ad blocker destroy that appropriate care of all cookware. Agree to our using our site, you can get your pans brand-new... Has been read 28,625 times, cleaning cast iron – you don ’ t use soap, you is! Wiping it down to make it easy for anyone battling anemia or pregnant and dirt and pulling it.. Skillet was completely rusted, so there is a myth – and cleaning cast iron with salt... Rinsing off all of wikiHow available for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your cast iron grill pan please consider our! Burnt or stuck on food and then follow the directions detailed below some coarse salt and the... To bake your cast iron skillet with hot water great for cleaning up rust form rust, salt!, so there is a fantastic non-toxic food preparation tool that ought to be in every kitchen! Steel wool on a cast-iron skillet won ’ t use soap to clean and season cast iron skillet completely! 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