How To Easily Get A Sparkling Clean Microwave With One Cheap Kitchen Ingredient

From splashes of melted butter to splatters of sauce from that leftover pasta you reheated, the microwave sees its fair share of messes. Once you close the door, it can be easy to forget about the odd spill and before you know it the microwave looks more like a warzone than a kitchen appliance. And despite the myriad of kitchen cleaning products on the market, many of them are not safe to use in your microwave. Luckily, you don't need any fancy sprays or wipes, because a single lemon in a bowl of water can easily clean your microwave and keep it looking like new.

Lemons work great as a microwave cleaner because they're affordable, effective, and leave your appliances smelling lemony fresh. Moreover, lemons are a food-safe option so you never have to worry about harsh chemicals potentially coming in contact with your meals. The main reason this method works is related to the citric acid found in lemons and other citrus fruits such as limes, grapefruits, and oranges. Citric acid can loosen stuck-on grease and grime, so all you have to do is wipe the mess away with a microfibre cloth. And this is just one of many unexpected ways you can use lemons for a spotlessly clean kitchen.

Using lemon and a bowl of water to steam clean your microwave is one of the best household uses for lemon juice. You can use a real lemon or even bottled lemon juice from the store. When heated, the organic citric acid creates vapors that break down grease and loosen food particles. The bowl of water helps create steam and leaves behind condensation on your microwave walls, which makes everything easy to wipe off. In addition to removing grease and food build-up, lemons have antibacterial properties, which will leave your microwave sanitized as well.

To use this cleaning method, add roughly one cup of water to a microwave-safe dish. Then, slice your lemon into small wedges and add those to the water. Microwave for roughly three minutes, then let sit for about five minutes. Finally, open the microwave and use a cloth to wipe away the debris. For a microwave that's not been cleaned in a while, you may need to repeat this process. If you have extra fruit left over, try placing them in common areas around your kitchen that you can deodorize with lemons.