we all know that baking trays are an essential part of any home but like ovens it doesn t take much for them to get greasy and grimy stained baking trays are one of the worst nightmares of cooking those caked on stains burnt bits of food and the layer of grease that just won t go away the solution to this is learning how to clean oven trays in the best way you can however this can be quite difficult to master try this cleaning hack to make your baking trays and oven look squeaky clean you will need paper towela soft sponge or cloth for non stick trays scouring paddishwashera kettleoven and grill sprayhot waterdishwashing liquidbaking sodahow to clean a greasy baking tray a lot of us assume that a dishwasher will do all the work for us rather than looking at these appliances as an addition to the kitchen dishwashers can t replace the sort of focused cleaning power of washing up manually when you re dealing with a greased baking tray the best way to clean it is unfortunately to use a bit of elbow grease how much elbow grease will largely depend on whether your trays are non stick or not it s a good idea to wear rubber gloves when cleaning baking trays to protect your hands from grease and grimeuse a paper towel and an oven and grill spray to wipe away any grease using a paper towel and oven and grill spray wipe away as much grease as you can from the baking tray fill a sink with hot water and dishwashing liquidfill the kitchen sink with hot water and add a small amount of dishwashing liquid soak the tray for at least one hourallow the soap to cut through the remaining oils and grease if your tray doesn t fit into the sink completely you ll want to turn it over at the one hour mark and allow the other side to soak use a soft sponge or cloth and wipe away the remaining greaseit s time for the elbow magic if you ve got a non stick tray use a soft sponge or cloth to wipe away the remaining grease the grease will relatively glide off easily if you re not using a non stick then you can use a harder scrubbing technique grab a scouring pad and let loose pop in the dishwasher this is when your fancy dishwasher comes into the picture pop your tray into the dishwasher for a final all over clean how to clean a burnt oven tray if your baking trays aren t particularly greasy but are covered in a thick coating of burnt on foods and meat juices then the best way of cleaning the trays is a little bit different the beauty of using soap or detergent for greasy trays is that they re specifically designed to break down oils so these products may not be as effective at removing burnt residues use a paper towel to remove any loose residueonce again you ll want to begin by using a paper towel to remove anything wipeable there s no point picking and scraping at this point and it could damage your tray so just keep it gentle put hot water and baking soda into a sink add the tray and leave to soak for about an hour boil some water in the kettle and pour it into your sink add a good cupful of baking soda and watch as it bubbles up put the tray in and leave it to soak for an hour for the solution to soften the burnt on stains drain the water and use a cloth or sponge to wipe any burnt residue after an hour drain the water and use a cloth or sponge to wipe away the now softened crust it should come away quite easily as the reaction between the hot water and the baking soda softens the grease breaking it down repeat the steps if the tray is too large if your tray is too large to fit entirely in the sink then it s suggested to repeat the steps for the other part of the tray put in a dishwasher or wash with dishwashing liquid to make sure your baking tray is as clean as it can be put it in the dishwasher for a quick once over or wash it in the sink with dishwashing liquid