chances are you ve had to deal with baked on food stuck to your favorite roasting pans these food stains can be tough to get rid of but with a little extra effort you can eliminate those stubborn areas and get back to using your roasting pan roasting pans are a useful kitchen tool for preparing thanksgiving meals a holiday turkey or simply roasting some vegetables as a sidedish but as time goes your pans will start to accumulate gunk and burnt junk that will stick around for what seems like forever especially if they aren t thoroughly cleaned every time they re used if you re not sure how to clean a roasting pan don t panic we ve got you covered follow these simple methods to have your roasting pan looking new and sparkling how to clean a roasting pan if you maintain a clean roasting pan by cleaning it after each use soap and hot water will be enough to keep your pans clean most of the time allow your pan to cool to room temperature shocking a hot pan with cold water is one of the fastest ways to ruin a perfectly good dish rinse your pan gently with warm water and a non abrasive sponge then let the pan soak in warm water for about an hour and start scrubbing again repeat until you ve blasted all those stuck on spots truth is even if you re cleaning your roasting pan properly after each use those burnt on black spots can still appear these tricky spots may seem impossible to get rid of but with a few pantry staples you can quickly knock them out after soaking rinsing and drying coat the tough stains in baking soda enough to entirely cover the stain how to clean a burnt roasting pan using baking soda and vinegar one of the best ways to get rid of tough stains on a roasting pan is to mix a cup of baking soda and a cup of white vinegar with hot water to do this sprinkle baking soda over to cover the entire roasting pan pour vinegar over the baking soda and watch the chemical reaction between the two bubbles leave for a few minutes this helps dislodge any pieces of food soak the pan in hot water for 15 30 minutes don t worry about removing the baking soda and vinegar first scrub the pan and rinse use a spatula to scrape any larger pieces and steel wool to scrub because we let the baking soda and vinegar do a lot of the hard work this shouldn t require too much elbow grease