How To Clean and Deodorize a Microwave with a Few Natural Ingredients

Today we want to share a basic cleaning idea for those of you with microwaves.

We tend to have a lot of microwave explosions, even with a loose lid or cover.  It just happens.

The best thing to do is to wipe and clean immediately…… but let’s be honest, you are usually using the microwave because you are in a hurry, not because you have loads of time on your hands.

So, you may end up like us on sometimes where we have evidence of a few explosions, spills and caked on foods.

These mighty fine and lovely pictures show the state of our microwave before cleaning it this time.  There are some nice butter and tomato sauce explosion evidence and a bit of mystery stuff too.  Honestly, the butter one had just happened after a child made a popcorn snack and over estimated butter melting time.  I don’t like butter splattered all over the microwave (other things can slide for a while :)) and so I got right on cleaning and thought I would share my simple process!

Since I use natural cleaning, I also like to clean and DEODORIZE at the same time.  Natural products aren’t as harsh and so the right combination of natural products can make a big difference to your results.

Here’s what you need to clean and deodorize at the same time:

• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1 cup of water
• a few drops of lemon essential oil (I use to also use real lemon juice, but since I have used essential oils for everything else, I have used lemon oil instead for the past few years – it’s a higher concentration of cleaning/deodorizing in a few steps.  Besides, a few drops of essential oil is cheaper than a real lemon and I can have that in my water, but you can use lemon juice instead!) *If you want to find out about the essential oils: check out this post HERE on the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning and how to get them for Less

How to Clean and Deodorize the Microwave:

• In a bowl, mix all of your ingredients.
• Then put it in the microwave for 3-5 minutes.  Basically until a light boil.
• Keep the microwave closed for another 3-5 minutes after to let the steam really soften the caked on mess so it is easy to wipe away.
• Remove the glass warming plate and rinse/wipe in the sink (with dish soap if needed).
• Then, wearing gloves, dip your rag or sponge in the bowl to dampen it and wipe your microwave down, including the inside and outside of the door and the outside of the rest of the appliance.

• I have a few edges and holes too, and so I dip a toothbrush or dish brush in the solution to get those areas as a rag just wipes over it, but can’t dig into those crevices.
• If your microwave is really dirty, you may have to steam again for a second time and follow the steps again.

Basically, the water provides steam that softens the caked on foods so they wipe away.  The vinegar and lemon oil deodorize, kill bacteria and make it smell nice! That’s it! Really quite simple, but yet I still seem to miss cleaning the microwave during my nighttime routine 🙂 I guess when it’s closed and not in use, I forget about it! But I just do this about once a week on my deeper kitchen clean and it works well for me!

See more Homemade Products and Cleaning Ideas