The Best Way To Clean BBQ Sauce Stains Out Of Clothes Using Essentials You Already Have

One of the best things about summer is being able to fire up the grill and enjoy a delicious barbecue meal nearly any time. But when you're enjoying a juicy plate of ribs, there may be one thing that can spoil your appetite in a hurry — looking down and seeing a barbecue sauce stain right in the middle of your favorite shirt. If you've ever tried to get barbecue sauce out of clothing, you know just how difficult it can be to remove. Most barbecue sauces are oil-based, so the greasy residue doesn't break down when rinsed with water alone. To make matters worse, the sauce usually has a reddish or brown pigment that leaves a colored stain behind, so cleaning your clothes isn't as simple as blotting at it with club soda.

But time is of the essence when cleaning barbecue sauce stains from clothing. It's typically easier to remove a stain that's just happened than one that's had time to set. As with some of the other toughest laundry stains, you'll also have more success removing a barbecue sauce stain if you pre-treat it. You don't need a special pre-treatment product, though. You can treat a barbecue stain with essentials you already have at home, like your favorite liquid laundry detergent — as long as you know the correct way to use it.

As soon as you notice a barbecue sauce stain on your clothing, get to work. Gently scrape the sauce from the fabric with a spoon or a butter knife. To avoid a common laundry mistake that can make stains worse, be careful not to rub the stain with a napkin or sponge. Rubbing a stain can actually push it deeper into the fibers, making it more difficult to remove. Next, rinse the stain with cold water from both the front and back to ensure that it's thoroughly flushed. When the clothing is fully rinsed, apply your favorite liquid laundry detergent to the stained area.

Liquid laundry detergent is the best pre-treatment for barbecue sauce stains because it works extremely well at breaking down the oil in the sauce. For it to be most effective, though, allow it to sit on the stain for five to 10 minutes to fully penetrate the fibers.  Rinse the clothing in cold water until the stain is no longer visible. Next, toss the clothing in the washer, and wash according to the instructions on its label. Even if it's dryer-safe, let it air-dry afterward. The heat from the dryer can help the stain set further if it hasn't been completely removed yet.

While ditching stain removers and using laundry detergent to pre-treat fabric instead is certainly effective, it may not work as well on set-in barbecue sauce stains. If the stain persists after pre-treating and laundering it, you have a few options. For light stains, you can repeat the entire process and see if another go removes the remaining spot. More obvious stains may require extra help, though, so it may be time to break out a bleaching product. However, be aware that even the mildest bleaching products can discolor clothing, so they are best used as a last resort and only on white or light-colored clothing.

You can opt for a stain-removing gel or spray, which typically contains a small amount of bleach. Other household staples, such as hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and lemon juice, can also work. With any of these products, though, test on a small, hidden area of the clothing before applying it to the stain. Allow your chosen bleaching product to sit on the stain for 10 minutes, then wash again according to the clothing's label instructions.