Yep, Barkeeper's Friend is the best product for this. The other suggestion (like if you're between paychecks, and can't afford to just buy some) is either Comet or something of that ilk- harder on your hands, but it works! Good luck- and don't worry. It will come off! At least your pan didn't get warped. ;o)
I have good luck using stainless steel scrubbers and Barkeeper's Friend. I think I bought my current two stainless scrubbers at Walmart. They last for years. don't rust and are very easy to rinse clean! I only have to replace mine periodically due to spouse or sons taking them outside to clean lawn tools, etc. and forgetting to bring them back.
If you have distilled vinegar and a soft cloth just soak a bit of the cloth in the vinegar and rub. It takes a lot of elbow grease but it will come of eventually. I also use a product called Bar Keeper's Friend. It is in a tall container like ajax. If it's it really bad it make take a combo of both techniques.
This pages has been archived 2 times. You can view older posts and feedback below.
Request: Removing Burn Marks from Stainless Steel Pot (10/23/2009)
My daughter used my stainless steel pan when I was out and used a high flame and now my pan is a dark mess. Is there anything that can restore the color?
Request: Removing Burn Marks from Stainless Steel Pot (06/11/2009)
I was cooking some tea on the range after dinner and completely forgot about it until the morning. By morning, my pot was completely scorched on the inside.
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Request: Removing Burn Marks from Stainless Steel Pot
Archived on 10/23/2009
My daughter used my stainless steel pan when I was out and used a high flame and now my pan is a dark mess. Is there anything that can restore the color?
Try soaking in pickle juice for about an hour then use a non abrasive scrub pad like those green ones, with a cleanser. I prefer baking soda. Maybe Comet Cleaner, just make sure there is no bleach or chlorine. (06/12/2009)
Editor's Note: The green scrub pads tend to be rather abrasive. I would recommend the blue ones sold for use on Teflon. There are even less abrasive ones available for glass and other surfaces you don't want to scratch.
Cover the outside with ketchup and let it sit for an hour or so, then scrub it off. Cook some rhubarb in it and it will sparkle. Worked for me after we had a house fire. The restoration people told me about this method. (06/13/2009)
Pickle juice is acidic and could make the steel darken. I would use something like Barkeepers Friend. It's a scrubbing powder, but something that is high alkaline would work. Drain cleaner is like that. They use sodium hydroxide to cut drain crud, but use the liquid kind. Use gloves with it and try just using half and half with water. I'm pretty sure this will work, but I'd keep an eye on it and don't leave it alone. Pickle juice would clean aluminum pans. The scrub powder you could put on the pan when it is really wet and let it sit for awhile. (06/13/2009)
Request: Removing Burn Marks from Stainless Steel Pot
Archived on 06/11/2009
I was cooking some tea on the range after dinner and completely forgot about it until the morning. By morning, my pot was completely scorched on the inside. Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me remove some of the scorch marks so I can use this pot again? By the way, this pot is stainless steel and pretty large. Any help is appreciated.
Esther from IL
Feedback:
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
Put some (a tablespoon or two) of automatic dishwasher detergent, (dry or gel) into the pot. Fill it with enough hot water to cover the scorched area. Let it soak for 1/2 hour or so. Then take a dish brush or scrubby and work on the scorched area. If it doesn't all come off, let it soak a while longer. It may take a while to clean, but each time you work on it you allow the detergent to get to new areas. I've restored pans this way and hopefully you can, too. If the scorching is on both the outside and the inside, either soak it in a sink using a little more automatic dishwasher detergent or find something large enough to hold the pot and soak it in that. Wear rubber gloves if you try to clean it with a scrubby, because it is much more caustic than hand dishwashing detergent and will dry your hands.
Susan (08/28/2004)
Cut a lemon in half and rub it with that. My friend uses a cut lemon on her restaurant hot plate and it removes all the burnt on grease. She just keeps rubbing and when the lemon is squashed, and all the juice is on the hot plate, rubs it with a green scouring pad. Every bit comes off back to the bare steel. Its like magic and no detergent smell left behind.
Jo (08/31/2004)
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
To remove burn marks from inside pots put baking soda over bottom of pot and add household vinegar (white), about 1/2 cup and let it sit for a few hours. The vinegar and soda will bubble and then help scrub off the burn. Use a pot scrubber after a few hours and it should come clean. Wonderfulone from Hamilton
Editor's Note: This works well, but "do not" use on Aluminum pans. (08/31/2004)
No! Bleach will cause stainless steel to become pitted. You may not be able to see them with the naked eye, but this will permanently damage your stainless steel cookware. (02/03/2006)
By Brian
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
Yes I found the dry dishwasher soap works the best. I deep fried my turkey and burned the outside of the pan. What I found to clean it the best is Cascade dry dishwasher soap with a little hot water and a green scrubber making the soap do the cleaning. Thanks for the help guys. (12/05/2007)
By the cleaning guy
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
I just tried putting dry dishwashing detergent and just enough water to cover the burnt areas. Then I put it on a stove to boil the water for a second and took the pan off the stove and let it sit for about 10 minutes and it came right off. My pot was severely burned with milk and I pretty much gave up and decided to buy a new one until I found this site. Be patient, it works. (05/28/2008)
By Jaime
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
I had a pot with rice burned to the bottom of it very badly. I tried all these suggestions, lemon juice, baking soda and vinegar, and I tried the dishwasher detergent for only a minute and letting it soak. Well it all helped a bit but there were some marks that wouldn't come off. Finally my mother-in-law suggested the dishwasher detergent and water and bringing it to a boil and letting it simmer for a long time. So I did that and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. Make sure it doesn't boil dry. Then used a pot scrubber and finally it came off. Yahoo! (09/17/2008)
By Finally
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
Glass cooktop cleaner removes all the black marks from the pot with no scrubbing. I used Cerama Brite, but there are many brands. First I soaked the pot with hot water, dish detergent, and some lemon juice for about 4 hours. Then once all of the stuck on eggs (yes, I exploded hard boiled eggs all over the kitchen) were dissolved I used the Cerma Brite. It cleaned my 35 year old Farberware pot like new. Good luck. My biggest problem was my husband laughing so hard he cried. Carole (10/26/2008)
By Carole
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
I am happy. I tired all these methods on this site, but they did not work. I cooked some peanuts last night and they burned (they tasted good though). I had some steel wool in the shed that is combined with a soap, so I used that. All the stains were gone in seconds it was really good and made me happy. (11/09/2008)
By Samuel The Delighted
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
A method I have found useful is to soak the cookware with detergent and water at least overnight and remove all surface and loose material. Then more than cover the material with water, drop in 2-3 denture cleaning tablets, and simmer for a few hours on top of the stove. When the water cools down, the material burned on can easily be removed by a nylon scrubbing cloth. The cookware is really left gleaming. This is a method to use "only" with stainless steel. (01/01/2009)
By Dave
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
I was in panic mode when I left some Pam non-stick spray on a little too long in a really expensive frying pan while babysitting once. I took some oven cleaner and covered the pan, then stuck it in the oven on 200 for about 10 minutes. Once I took the pan out it came right up without any effort. What a life saver. (01/11/2009)
By Taylor
RE: Removing Burn Marks From Stainless Steel Pot
Use Glass Top Stove Cleaner. My pot is like brand new. (01/16/2009)
