Got a burnt on sticky mess? Here are our tried and true tips for cleaning your crock-pot! PLUS three easy tips for preventing a burnt on mess to begin with!
Tips For Cleaning Your Slow Cooker
It happens to the best of us. We over cook something in our crock-pot and we are left with a burnt or stuck on mess to deal with. But have no fear they can be cleaned up with a little time and perhaps some elbow grease.
These instructions are for cleaning the stoneware crock part of your crock-pot. Never submerge the base of your crock-pot (the part you plug-in) in water. To clean that part just use a squirt of household cleaner and a damp rag or sponge.
I think you should always start with the easiest and more natural methods first and then if the burnt on part is still there, move on to the next step.
Tip #1 – Throw it in the dishwasher
If your crock-pot is dishwasher safe and the mess inside is only a little stuck on you might be just fine by tossing the crock in the dishwasher. The detergents used in modern automatic dishwasher detergent is designed to cut through grease, and stuck on food. I find that with my large family however, that I don’t always have room in my dishwasher for the crock. So I usually hand wash it.
Tip #2 – Soak it in hot soapy water
I find that 99% of crock-pot messes can be cleaned up by soaking in hot soapy water. Put your crock-pot in the sink, squirt in some dish-soap and fill with the hottest tap water you can. Let it soak for 1 to 2 hours and wash as usual.
Tip #3 – Baking soda works wonders
If soaking your crock-pot for a couple of hours did not seem to do the trick completely. Pour out all the water from the crock and sprinkle liberally with baking soda and scrub. The baking soda acts as an all-natural scouring powder that is safe to use on almost all surfaces. I usually find this tip does the trick. However if scrubbing with baking soda does not work then my next suggestion is to dump about 1/4 cup of baking soda into the crock, fill it will water to cover all the burnt areas, squirt a tad of dish soap and put the crock into the heating base of your crock-pot. Cover and “cook” on high for 2-4 hours. The combination of heat, baking soda and detergent should do the trick.
Tip #4 – Use oven cleaner as the last resort
Oven cleaner….it is toxic and I really hate using it. The fumes are horrible to breathe in and it’s just some really nasty stuff. But as the last resort dry your crock off as much as possible with a paper towel or something and spray some oven cleaner on the burnt stuff and let it sit a few hours to over night. If you have REALLY burnt stuff on you may need to keep applying the stuff and waiting and washing and scrubbing till you get it all off. I usually purchase oven cleaner at the dollar store (Dollar Tree) because it is the cheapest place I can find it and it hardly ever goes on sale.
How to prevent a dirty Crock-Pot
There is a saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” (or manure if you ever watched Steel Magnolias) and there is truth to that saying. I find that preventing a burnt on mess is always easier than cleaning up one. Here a three tips for preventing a mess.
- Use a crock-pot liner. These a heat safe plastic liners that you can cook in. Much like an oven bag. Especially when cooking anything that has a sugary sauce base like BBQ sauce, as sugar burns more readily. Cheese is also a notorious item that burns in the crock-pot.
- Spray your crock with non-stick cooking spray. This will not help you from burning your dish but it usually helps release anything from the sides and bottom of your crock should you burn it.
- Follow the recipe and cook for the listed length of time. If a recipe has a time range, such as 4-6 hours. Cook for 4 hours and then check it to see if it is done yet. If not cook longer. Time ranges are given in many recipes because different crock-pots cook slower or faster than others. If your dish is done at the lowest time range turn it off or if your crock-pot has a “warm” setting put it on warm to keep it till time to serve.
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Do you have any great tips and tricks for cleaning your crock-pot? Leave a comment below and let us know!
This is a sure-fire way to clean any pan or bowl that has stuck-on food. Take a laundry dryer sheet (used or unused) and put it in the pan or crock pot with soapy water; let it soak. The stuck-on gunk comes right off!!
Really Shawn? A dryer sheet? I would never have thought of that! I am going to have to try that out next time I burn something! Thanks for the tip!
That is awesome. I’m going to try that one! I am a horrible procrastinator so I’m always leaving the crock-pot dirty and then struggling to get it clean the next day.
I keep a bottle of sudsy ammonia for this purpose. Tear a piece of plastic wrap and cover the top of the crockpot completely. lift one corner of the wrap and pour in about 1 cup of ammonia. tightly cover and set in garage or someplace out the way for a day. everything should just wipe out. This is how people used to clean ovens in the past – the ammonia fumes. Works great.
You can fill it with water had dishwasher powder, turn it on to high for about an hour that should clean it.
My favorite way to clean my crock pot is to use a crockpot liner. Love those things
Yes it works , but I wrrried about cooking in plastic.
The slow cooker liners are BPA free. But of course some folks are more worried than others about cooking in the bags. No judgement here.
For stubborn burnt-on foods on my crock pot or in regular pots, I sprinkle in some baking soda and pour about 1/2 C white vinegar over it, then set it to boil. You can add some water too if you need to be able to cover the bottom of the pan. Boil for just a few minutes and the scorched part will lift right off.
Correct
What I do is so easy, fill with hot water and drop in a dish washer tab for the machine. Let sit and everything comes off no scrubbing required! I also do this with frying and roast pans.
That’s exactly what I do — one Cascade Platinum tab, fill with hot water, swirl it around, go to bed. Get up in the a.m. dump it out, rinse thoroughly, It’s completely like new every time.
Sometime I poured hot water in my last crock pot and inmediately …….got scratch and started to leak (sorry for my english)
Denture cleaning tablets work well, too.
Heidi, I’ve never tried using baking soda! I’ve only used my crock pot for three times and it’s really frustrating me as my soup is a bit burnt and bitter. Thanks a lot for this.
I have a black crock pot that no matter how hard I scrubbed, soaked, clean would develop a white ring around it. I used a pumice stone and it looked brand new it about 10 minutes!
Thanx Joan , I have a black crock pot also with the same problem , I just found a pumice stone , So I’m going to try this , cause it’s getting scratched from those green scrubbies and looks like crap even after I scrub the Hell out of it
You don’t need to scrub it – just put a dishwasher pod in it with hot water. Leave it overnight and it will rinse out like new.
I used my black crock pot and it had white stains that simply wouldn’t come out (even with detergent and then some white vinegar. I really don’t care so much what it looks like but need to know if this will affect what I make in the slow cooker.
It probably won’t affect what you cook Jeanne. I would maybe try some oven cleaner as a last resort to see if that will take the white stains off.
Thank you!!!
I used a crock pot liner and this seems to be what is staining my crock pot….. and ideas?
Is liquid getting in between the liner and the crock and causing staining or do you think the liner itself is staining it Liz?
Thanks for the wonderful tips! Trying them now, because I fell asleep with the crockpot on, making little smokies, and oh what a mess!
Just a guy, who stumbled across this website looking for a fix,
Gavin
Hope your Crock-Pot comes out clean and I hope your little smokies turned out delicious!
Thank you so much! Before I stumbled across your site, I was ready to give it up as a loss. But two trips through the dishwasher, and it’s as good as new! The first trip through loosened everything, so I was able to easily dislodge big chunks of the burned on food. Big chunks were also in the bottom of the dishwasher, and I fished those out pretty easily. The second was pretty much took care of the rest, leaving just an easy final clean with a the rough green side of a wet, warm double sided sponge.
P.S. The little smokies were delish!
I’ve found that cream of tartar works better than baking soda for scrubbing.
Cream of tartar works nicely too. However it is much more expensive than baking soda. At least in my neck of the woods.
I can’t be the only person who over fills her crock pot (e.g. the bouilliabaise recipt calls for 3 of 6 seafoods – I put in all 6). Anyway, I have baked on stuff on the inside of the heating unit. Couldn’t find anything about cleaning that – so I contacted Crock Pot. They suggested vinegar (of course VINEGAR!!) Anyway, it works – very well. Mine lookslike new. Thought I’d share
Good to know Kristina!
You said vinegar, okay how do you apply it? My crust is on cooking element
spray it on or wipe it on with a cloth. Just make sure it is unplugged 🙂
Thanks, I’ve wondered how to deal with those burnt on splotches.
THANK YOU!
I’ve been scoring sites looking for cleaning tips for the aluminum heating part. Going to try the vinegar now.
I have no idea how the inside got so dirty.
Thanks for the ideas! I will definitely try them. I like to use baking soda as a cleaner and it always works great! I also like the soapy water cleaning idea!
Is it safe to clean with vinegar? As in pouring vinegar and water and letting “slow cook” for a couple of ours? I really want to know a safe and effective way to clean the lid. I have an Aroma (R) rice cooker. I cook a lot of chicken in it and worry that the lid is a Petri dish.
Any advice on safe disinfecting as well as odor removing would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
–BM
*hours
Please pardon my typos.
It is safe to to slow cook your crock-pot with just vinegar and water for a couple of hours. As far as the lid goes you should be able to wash it by hand with soapy water and/or put it in the dishwasher.
Now as far as a rice cooker…they are not the same as a slow cooker and I do not feel comfortable giving advice on cleaning the lid on a rice cooker. I know that the rice cooker I have spouts rice water out of the top and quite frankly makes quite a mess…but then again I don’t cook anything but rice in my rice cooker so I am not sure if chicken or meat cooked in there would cause a bacterial issue. It might be best to contact the manufacturer of your particular brand of rice cooker to ask for cleaning advice on it.
If your slow cooker however has an odor that seems to linger making a paste of baking soda and water and spreading it on thick all over the crock insert and letting it sit for several hours to maybe overnight should help.
My wife is doing the happy dance after whiping up the baking soda recipe to remove what she described as dremel tool worthy burnt cheese in the crock pot. After an hour of baking it washed right out! Thanks yall!
Awesome! So glad she was able to get that crock-pot mess cleaned with the baking soda method.
Thank you for these tips! I got a nice big crock pot as a gift form my mother and after few dishes cooked in it I just can’t clean it quite good, whatever I try. It’s not in it’s best condition and I’m not cooking in it now, because it seems to ruin the taste of my dishes. The tips you’ve shared seem to work in my situation, I’m definitely trying. Thanks!
You’re welcome Rose, I hope these slow cooker cleaning tips help you get your crock-pot in tip top shape!
Here’s another idea for cleaning the residue from black crock inserts, especially-no matter what I used or how much I scrubbed, it just didn’t look clean, even though I knew it was. The ceramic stove top cleaner gets the insert looking like new in no time. Just pour a small amount on a non-abrasive scrubby and you hardly have to use elbow greese. Wash with a bit of dish soap and water and you’re done. And it doesn’t really cost me any extra since I have a ceramic top & it’s on hand anyway.
Great idea Kyla!
I tried a lot of different techniques for cleaning my black liner of my crock pot. I had thought about the stove stop creme; it’s tough but non-abrasive, so I gave it a try! My crock looks BRAND NEW! Thanks so much for the idea !
Glad you got it looking like new again tpg!
I use Bar Keepers Friend when crock gets gummed up. It works wonders!
the crock pot liner melted on the inside rim of the pot. how can I get it off. the inside can’t be put in water help
Hey Helene, I am sorry to hear that about the melting crock-pot liner. I have never personally had that happen. But I have melted a plastic bread bag on my hot stove top on accident and I cleaned it off with acetone nail polish remover. While I have never tested this method on the outside of a slow cooker before I think it should work. If your slow cooker has a painted surface it may remove the paint though, so proceed with caution.
Thank you! I like the progression of tips. I sell caramel apples with caramel in a crock pot. Recently some employees ran the stand and and left the pot on. 11 days later I come into to find a crock pot of lava rock. Hopefully it works.
For caramel I am thinking that filling it with water and adding baking soda and a squirt of dishsoap (I like blue Dawn brand myself) and then turning the Crock-Pot on and letting it simmer for several hours with the lid on should loosen that burnt on caramel right up. If not progress on to something stronger.
I found this site after scrubbing a dirty crock pot every day for a week. I had made bread pudding with brown sugar and left it on high until it burnt. It seemed like black cement coated one area. Today I tried your method of using baking soda, and dish detergent in water while heating up the slow cooker. After 45 minutes I’ve been able to break up the black “cement”using a butter knife. The solution seems to be working. Thank you.
Oh no Bev! I am sorry your bread pudding burnt on so bad on the other hand I am so happy this article and the baking soda/dish detergent/heating the crock-pot trick worked. That is usually my go to method when I have something burnt on more than just regular soaking will take on.
How do I clean clean the inside of the cooker what gets hot the stainless steal part
Try a little paste of baking soda and dish washing soap (I use blue original Dawn) and give it a scrub. Make sure the Crock-Pot is turned off. Then wipe out with a damp rag. If that does not get it all…put a little dish of ammonia in the cooker part and cover it well with aluminum foil. Let it sit overnight. In the morning remove the dish of ammonia (beware of the fumes) and the baked on bits should scrub off easily as the ammonia fumes will loosen it all up. You may need to scrub the stubborn spots a little more with the baking soda and dish soap mixture again but that should clean it up.
Hi! I just wanted to thank you for these tips. I made a honey garlic chicken recipe from another site in the slow cooker last week, and came home to some pretty good chicken and a solid inch of charcoal in a ring around the bottom of the pot. I tried everything I could think of, but the tip about”cooking” a mix of baking soda, water, and dish detergent in the crockpot for a couple of hours finally did the trick. it took a few tries, but we salvaged our pot. So helpful!
That is awesome Molly! The baking soda/dish soap/water combo is my personal favorite and works pretty near all of the time for me. Works great on pots and pans and baking dishes too if I burn stuff on them.
Hello Lady Heidi. The white stains/residue building up on the inside of my Crock-Pot were driving me NUTZ. After trying some of the suggestions, I figured out the best combination was to sprinkle on baking soda for each spot and then add a couple of drops of vinegar. With some gentle scrubbing – voila! Crock-Pot nirvana. My advice for the this is to skip the Dawn and go directly to a baking soda sprinkle followed by vinegar. Then rub-a-dub.
Great tip Crock-Pot George! I am going to try that next time and see how it works for me!
I recently made a pot roast in my 4 quart travel CrockPot that has a lid with a non removable rubber gasket. There is now a very distinct, lingering beefy onion smell that is being stubborn to remove. I’ve tried soaking in vinegar with a mild dish detergent, baking soda paste, lemon juice soak…none worked. I’m currently “cooking” water/vinegar in it to see if that will be the remedy. I have also contacted the company. I really like this CrockPot for my husband and me, but not liking the lid gasket feature. Any other suggestions to try? Thanks!
There are a couple of things you can try to remove the odor from the rubber gasket on your slow cooker. Making a paste of baking soda and water and spreading it on and letting it sit for a good hours or more and then washing with dish detergent.
If that doesnt work you can try mixing a little bleach and water solution (1 tablespoon bleach to about 1/2 cup of water). Then dip a paper towel in the bleach solution and really wipe down the gasket. Let the solution sit on there for about 10 minutes then wash with dishsoap.
As a last resort spray with a enzyme cleaner such as Odo-Ban (I buy mine at Walmart or Home Depot) and let that sit on there for a few hours. Re-spraying a few times.
I made pulled chicken using two chicken breasts, store-bought bbq sauce and added brown sugar, vinegar and worcestershire sauce. I have my mother’s old Rival crock pot that I seldom use. The burned in sauce that turned black has been a 2-day job to remove. I could have kicked myself for not thinking to use a liner, which I have on hand. What a mess! I did baking soda, vinegar, cook on low for a few hourswhich I read somewhere. Didn’t do a thing; even soaking overnight – nothing, even scrubbing, would take it off. I’m so glad to come across your method with the water, baking soda, dish detergent and cook on high. It kind of boiled over a few times, so I had to remove some of the water. I let it soak for several hours after I shut it off and went out. Came home to have it all basically drained to the bottom….like magic! I really thought that I’d have to toss it out. I’m so happy to come across your method and website! Thank you!
I am so glad this article and tips worked on helping get that burned off mess off your slow cooker. I have done this myself several times, usually with sticky sauces like BBQ sauce.