Question: do you wash your pans and skillets right after they have cooled or do you fill them with soapy water and leave them in the sink to let them soak for a few hours–or a few days?

If you are part of the first group, we certainly commend you! It sure takes a lot of diligence to get right back to work after cooking and enjoying a culinary masterpiece.

But good habits aside, though we like to think of ourselves as “domestic gods,” we’d be lying if we said that we weren’t part of the latter group. You see, spending five hours cooking Thanksgiving dinner for a group of 30 people seems to give us energy, but the idea of cleaning just one pan really tuckers us out. Funny how that works, huh?

But we digress– you’re not here to listen to us go on and on about our motivation, or lack thereof, in the kitchen chores department. You came here to get the scoop on how in the world you’ve been making mistakes when it comes to washing your pots and pans.

To put it bluntly, whether you are a steadfast scrubber or a lazy soaker, you aren’t giving your beloved cooking tools the cleaning they deserve!

Believe it or not, both techniques are WRONG, and you’re not doing yourself or your pans any favors by taking part in them. Just think about it; you end up scrubbing those crusty, dirty pans, either way, an abrasive chore that sucks up time and can add some unneeded wear and tear on your beloved kitchen tools.

All we have to say is, Martha Stewart certainly wouldn’t approve!

How to clean your pots and pans to perfection

A while back, we let you in on one of our all-time favorite pan-cleaning secrets that calls for swapping out sponges and scourers for dryer sheets! Remember that one?

It may sound like a bizarre way to make use of your laundry accouterments, but it is one of the best techniques around to banish that burnt-on, caked-on matter that so readily clings to metal pans.

Cookie sheets, in particular, benefit from this handy DIY. All you need to do is wet the pan and add your favorite de-greasing dish soap. Once the tool is covered in that soapy goodness, rub a dryer sheet against the pan’s surface as it sits under running water. We promise, even if you completely forgot to grease your pan prior to cooking, you will still be able to get it sparkling clean in seconds.

Pretty magical, huh?

Now, the dryer sheet trick is our go-to for cookie sheets and flat pans in particular, but we have an even better one for skillets and saucepans. Just watch the video below to get the full deets on how you can avoid the dreaded “soak.” Soon enough, you’ll be treating your pans the way they were meant to be treated!

We’d love to hear your take on these pan-cleaning methods. Have you tried the baking soda trick from the video before? If so, how did it work for you? Do you have any de-greasing tips of your own that you would like to share?