The other week, I had AMAZING results using peroxide and baking soda to clean a burnt pot. I was so impressed that I wanted to give it a try on my well used cookie sheets to see if it could bring some new life back into them! They are just the cheap ones you buy at the supermarket and I’ve had them for years.
Sadly, I really can’t say it had the effect I was hoping for!
So this post could also be called:
How to get your cookie sheets ummm… cleaner than when you started
It did clean them up a little bit, and they definitely feel ultra-sanitized, but I was really disappointed with the results.
This must work for some people though? Over at One Good Thing by Jillee, she did exactly the same thing, except her cookie sheets actually came out super clean. So maybe it depends on the material of the cookie sheet?
It’s definitely an easy enough experiment to try – who knows, maybe you’ll have Jillee’s success?
I started by pouring a generous amount of hydrogen peroxide onto the baking sheet:
Then I sprinkled on a generous amount of baking soda:
And swirled it around until it looked all mixed up:
After 2 hours you could see a few spots turning yellow, like in the picture below, so it must have cleaned off something:
After 8 hours had passed I used my kitchen scrub brush to check to see how things were doing, but you can see that the dark spots were still there. It’s like it permanently changed the colour of the cookie sheet:
I was disappointed with the results so I even tried the whole process a second time. I scrubbed it all off, added hydrogen peroxide and baking soda again and let it sit another 4 hours, but there was no change.
Maybe if I scrubbed like a mad woman I could have gotten rid of the dark marks, but that would have taken the whole top coating off – and I really didn’t need a miracle cleaner to do that!
So I scrubbed a little bit and called it a day. If nothing else, the peroxide and baking soda got rid of the caked on burnt stuff, so that was positive.
This one is not going to knock your socks off, but here’s the before and after:
There was definitely an improvement, but this cookie sheet is anything but sparkly and new. I’m still loving peroxide and baking soda for removing caked on burnt stuff from pots, but I can’t say it brightened up my cookie sheets.
So, should you try peroxide and baking soda to clean old cookie sheets? Well, it didn’t work for me, but if you are really determined to not buy new cookie sheets, it’s worth a shot!
Hey — it did not work for me either — because — apparently — baking soda and peroxide neutralize each other — with one being a base and one being an acid — i am usually smarter than falling for this stuff — who knew? its pretty much the hidden ingredient that does the work — the one missing from the label — (elbow grease)
From what I can tell from the pictures, you didn’t add enough baking soda. It should be a paste consistency, not runny. When it’s thicker, it works like a charm.
I noticed something that may have affected your results: all the pics I see of shiny pans are of pans that were shiny when they were new – stainless steel. Same with pans. Stainless steel. (maybe aluminum – I never could spell that!)
You should use vinegar and heat it up (if your sheets have sides it would be easier), then add baking soda (and it will react a little) keep the heat on, and keep adding soda and scrubbing. It will work.
Hey, I’d love to feature your photos in a cleaning hacks post on BuzzFeed. Let me know if I have your permission to use with proper credit. Thanks!