If dish soap and cleaning products don’t work to remove burnt-on oil or burnt-on food, you have two options: baking soda solution or Bartender’s Friend. They work in a similar way, but here are the key differences we found in testing.
Baking soda: When we tested baking soda and Bar Keepers Friend at the same time, we found baking soda to be a decent substitute for powdered cleaner. For some spots the differences between the two methods were negligible.
For tougher stains, you may have to scrub more with the baking soda, and it won’t bring the pan back to that sparkling new silver hue. But the first step is to try baking soda, since you probably already have it in your kitchen.
If you decide to try baking soda, let the mixture sit for a few minutes and then wipe it off with a sponge—preferably a new one with a fresh, unworn hard side. We also like to use gloves when cleaning since baking soda can dry out your hands.
If the stains don’t go away, you can repeat these steps and leave the paste on longer (even overnight) or move on to Bar Keepers Friend or other more intense methods.
Bartender’s friend: If you really want to bring back that silvery shine to your pan and remove all the patina discoloration that naturally occurs over time, BKF (as some affectionately call it) is the way to go.
In our testing, removing the toughest stains with Bar Keepers Friend required less effort than baking soda. BKF gave our pans a shiny silver color, like new, and the baking soda left a subtle coppery sheen.
Bar Keepers Friend isn’t designed to last on the pan for long periods of time like baking soda—the manufacturer recommends wiping off BKF after a minute to avoid discoloration—but in practice, we often scrubbed dishes for longer than a minute and didn’t notice any discoloration (perhaps because we were using high-quality cookware).
BKF recommends waiting for surfaces to cool before using, so heating them up is probably not the best idea—and that means you can’t replace baking soda with Bar Keepers Friend using the methods we recommend below for particularly old and stubborn stains (seriously, please don’t do this).
Boil water and baking soda in a saucepan
For larger, stubborn stains that run up the sides of a pot or pan, Jeri Porter, Martha Stewart’s longtime kitchen manager, suggested this method: Add a small mound of baking soda to the center of the pan, add about a quarter cup of water (larger pans may need more) and bring to a boil.
As the water boils and evaporates, it leaves a film of baking soda around the sides of the pan, which can then be wiped off. When most of the water has boiled away, turn off the heat. Then use a long-handled brush or scrub sponge to scrub away the dirt (again, new pads work better).
It’s best to do this while the pan is still hot, so you can use gloves and hold it with a towel or oven mitt. We’ve had success with this method on newly scorched pans, but it’s not as effective at steaming away grime that’s built up over the years.
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