Tips to Clean Cooking Equipment: Commercial Oven

After having purchased your commercial oven, you’ll want to make sure that you maintain it in good condition to prevent costly repairs.

Always read the owner’s manual of your oven for the specifics on how to properly maintain the oven, but also, don’t be shy about approaching your supplier with questions about your new cooking equipment.  Most suppliers are happy to offer post-purchase information as they have an intimate knowledge of the products they sell and have likely dealt with faulty, broken, and ill-maintained products in the past.  

Spills 

Wipe up spills inside the oven immediately. Acting fast will prevent the discharge from becoming baked on the surface of the cooking equipment and more difficult to remove later. The spill can also affect cooking temperatures.

Interior

Clean the oven interior every day. Generally, commercial ovens can be cleaned with a mild detergent soap, check your owner’s manual for its recommendations. Soak oven racks in a sink while wiping out the oven interior. Clean and rinse the trays before reinserting them in the oven.

Exterior 

Once a week, clean the surface of the commercial oven. Use a mild soap and a soft bristle brush to clean stainless-steel finishes. Abrasive cleansers and scrubs can damage the finish and cause the exterior of the cooking equipment to corrode.

Perform a deep cleaning each month. Check your owner’s manual for recommended cleaning chemicals for your commercial oven. 

Cleaning Your Commercial Oven

The first thing to do is check to make sure the commercial oven is off. If it is off, you should be sure to check that it has been apart long enough for the inside of the oven to be cool enough to touch. If they are, you must first take the racks out of the cooking equipment. These will be washed separately and will only get in the way when you are cleaning the inside of the oven.

Next, you should spray the inside of the oven with cleaner. All surfaces of the ovens should get sprayed. Include all sides, the top, the bottom, the inside of the oven door, and even the coils. The oven cleaner that you have will have its instructions for how long it should set, so be sure to read the directions and follow them. While the oven cleaner sets in the oven, you can use warm soapy water to clean off the racks. Once the oven cleaner has set for the correct amount of time, you should wipe the soap off using the old and then put the trays back in the oven. As a finishing touch, you can use a damp towel to wipe off the outside of the oven, and then you are finished. 

It’s best not to let your commercial oven or any cooking equipment that is used regularly go without daily cleaning.