If you’ve burned food inside the microwave for the first time, this burnt smell will get into the food you eat and will last for weeks till it disappears if you don’t get rid of it fast. You should immediately deodorize it now or else you’ll have a bitter aftertaste from everything you reheat for many weeks.
Stinky microwaves permeate their stench into any food you heat up, especially beverages and soups. How to remove odor from the microwave is the topic we’ll be covering today. Pay attention and you might learn something.
How to Remove Odor from Microwave?
If you want to remove odors from your microwave, you should first wipe it down after every use. Also, microwave food using only dishes made from microwave-safe material. Finally, monitor settings and don’t let food get overcooked or microwaved for too long to reduce the risk of odiferous results.
Deodorizing a microwave that stinks to high heaven of burnt food or rotting fish typically requires you to microwave bowls of vinegar or lemon. Just mix any of the three into a bowl of water, microwave that bowl, and let it stand inside the microwave.
The steam should loosen the food debris and dampen the microwave cavity for an easy wipe-down with a paper towel or damp cloth. You can also reuse the lemon or vinegar solution for disinfectant cleaning of your refrigerator or glass windows.
Can Baking Soda Remove Microwave Stench?
Absolutely! You can choose two methods to go about it. First, you can turn baking soda into a paste that you should slather all over the microwave until it dries out.
Afterwards, using a wet cloth or damp paper towel, wipe the baking soda residue out along with the food debris. This results in a spic-and-span microwave when everything’s said and done.
Baking Soda Steam Bath
Alternatively, your baking soda odor remover could instead be a baking soda steam treatment. Just put 5 teaspoons of baking soda into ½ cup of water in a microwave-safe bowl.
Afterwards, heat the concoction on the highest power level for 6 minutes. Allow the baking soda solution’s steam to settle inside the microwave for an hour instead of just a few minutes like with vinegar and lemon solutions.
Thorough Cleaning for Good Measure
Instead of just wiping down the steamy microwave interior, use soap and water along with the cloth. You should also dip the cleaning cloth with baking soda and cleaning solution for further removal of unwanted stains and smells.
You can use the solution for the removal of unwanted conventional oven odors as well as stovetop cleaning. Baking soda offers amazing versatility as a cleaning product for sure.
Can You Use Essential Oils or Extracts to Deodorize Your Microwave?
Yes. You can use 3 drops of lemon essential oil in half a bowl of water in order to do a lemon steam bath on your microwave. The 3 drops of lemon extract represent 1 sliced lemon squeezed dry of all its citrus juices.
Another effective deodorizer or smell replacement treatment involves a vanilla extra solution. Again, use a microwave-safe bowl filled with ½ cup of water. Add 3 teaspoons of vanilla extra to it. Microwave the concoction on high until it boils (takes about 1-2 minutes on a 1-kilowatt microwave).
Let the steamy bowl of vanilla extract solution sit in the device for half an hour. Open the microwave and wipe the condensation clean. The smoky or bitter burnt smell should disappear, replaced by a vanilla scent.
Are There Non-Heated Methods of Eliminating Microwave Smells?
Cleanup with hot, soapy water effectively cleans the microwave interior until all odors disappear. Just put some elbow grease in it and make sure that every nook and cranny gets scrubbed. Remove the glass tray and put it in the dishwasher. Alternatively, you can hand-wash it.
Soap and Baking Soda Cleanup and Wipe-Down
If the stench reeks less badly than you anticipated, you can use the baking soda and cleaning solution on a cloth method to wipe down your microwave, first to foaming goodness then to rinse out the foam along with food debris.
The addition of baking soda makes the cleanup more thorough compared to just using dishwashing liquid alone. However, if push comes to shove, you can use dishwashing liquid as a serviceable solution if you lack baking soda on hand.
Clove or Activated Charcoal Odor Absorbers
Afterwards, put ¼ cup of cloves on a microwave-safe dish and leave it inside the microwave. The cloves serve as odor absorbers of rotten, foul, smelly, or burnt odors inside your microwave. Leave them there until the next time you need to use the device.
Alternatively, put activated charcoal in the microwave to absorb the smells. It might seem counterintuitive to put charcoal to get rid of the burnt smell or food turned into charcoal, but these coals amazingly suck up scents like no one’s business.
Can You Remove Microwave Odors with Coffee?
People know coffee as an excellent stimulant drink. However, it also has other uses and benefits aside from helping doctors and students stay awake in order to do their tasks overnight. Coffee grounds—something you can’t get from instant coffee—serve as excellent deodorizers.
To deodorize your microwave with coffee, gather the following ingredients.
- ½ cup of water
- Microwave-safe bowl
- 2 tablespoons of fresh coffee grounds
Mix the coffee grounds with ½ cup of water inside the microwave-safe dish. Microwave everything for 10 minutes like you’re heating up a watered-down batch of coffee. Check the container every 2 minutes to top off with water if required.
The aroma of the coffee grounds neutralizes the burnt odor. Keep doing this until your microwave smells like fresh-brewed coffee instead of burnt pizza or fish.
How to remove Microwave Odors with Lemon?
Step 1 – Add lemon slices to a bowl of water
Step 2 – Place bowl in microwave and heat for two minutes
Step 3 – Let the bowl sit in the microwave for 2 minutes
Step 4 – Remove the bowl from the microwave
Step 5 – Wipe away the residue with a cleaning cloth
Step 6 – Remove microwave plate and rinse with lemon
Step 7 – Good as New
Watching this video to know the details.
Never Forget This As Well
The baking soda method serves as your best bet for a one-size-fits-all odor removal solution. For the rest, it’s trial and error. Not all solutions work to remove the same smells. Baking soda paste or steam cleanup offers heavy-duty removal of stains, food debris, and burnt smells.
Lemon juice works best to remove chemical smells. Coffee effectively removes burnt food odors. Vinegar acidity loosens stuck food stains the best. You can also use a myriad of odor absorbers to suck up the stench unto themselves in lieu of airing out your machine.
References:
- Joan Clark, “How to Get Burnt Smell Out of Microwave“, TipsBulletin.com, Retrieved August 19, 2021
