How To Clean Baked On Grease From Glass Pans

When you're shopping for quality cookware and bakeware, there are plenty of notable brands to choose from. But some brands have more name recognition than others, including Pyrex, whose brand name is often used to refer to any and all types of glass cookware.

The Pyrex brand has a well-earned reputation for producing extremely durable products, which commonly serve home cooks for decades at a time. There's even a dedicated community of people who collect and trade in vintage Pyrex products, particularly opal glass pieces with colorful designs that were produced throughout the 1940s and '50s.

But even with as durable as Pyrex can be, it isn't immune to messes, scratches, and other imperfections! So if you're looking for an effective way to clean Pyrex and other glass cookware, you've come to the right place, because that's exactly what we'll be covering in today's post! :-)

Related: Is Pyrex Oven Safe? Yes, But….

Below, I've included several methods you can use to erase stubborn stains and messes from Pyrex and other glass cookware and bakeware. No matter whether you're cleaning a vintage baking dish, a new pie plate, a casserole dish, or even a measuring cup, these tips will help you eliminate grime and restore its original clarity and shine!

How To Clean Pyrex

1. Scrub With Bar Keepers Friend

If you want to erase cutlery marks and scuffs from a glass dish, especially opaque vintage Pyrex, Bar Keepers Friend is your best bet. This cleaner makes short work of scuff marks on glass dishes and other surfaces, and I've had great success using it to remove scratches from my ceramic plates and porcelain sink.

Bar Keepers Friend works so well in part because of how acidic it is, so one thing you should always make sure to do when using it is wear cleaning gloves! After pulling on your gloves, sprinkle a bit Bar Keepers Friend into your Pyrex dish, then use a wet sponge and some elbow grease to give it a good scrub.

Depending on how severe the marks are, you may want to let it sit for a minute or two before rinsing. After cleaning your baking dish with Bar Keepers Friend and rinsing it thoroughly, wash it with hot soapy water to remove any remaining cleaner residue.

2. Use A Magic Eraser (And Some Dawn Dish Soap)

If it's baked-on grease that's marring your Pyrex, grab a magic eraser! These foam sponges act like super-fine sandpaper, making it easy to scour through the toughest messes on all sorts of surfaces, including glass cookware.

Magic erasers need to be wet in order to work properly, and I recommend going one step further and adding a drop or two of Dawn dish soap in addition to warm water. Between the grease-cutting action of Dawn dish soap and the abrasiveness of the magic eraser, even the crustiest grease clinging to your Pyrex won't stand a chance against this duo!

You can even save yourself a step by looking for the kitchen-specific variety of magic erasers in stores or online. These ones are come preloaded with Dawn dish soap, so all you have to do is dampen one and start scrubbing!

3. Soak With Hot Water & A Dishwasher Detergent Tablet

I recently discovered that dishwasher detergent tablets (the solid ones made of compressed powder, not the liquid-filled pacs) work like a charm for cleaning glass! I even wrote a whole post about how you can use one to clean the inside of your oven door, which you can read here.

And just as I suspected, detergent tablets work just as well for cleaning Pyrex and other glass cookware! To use this method, pull on a pair of cleaning gloves, dampen a dishwasher detergent tablet with a bit of water, then use the tablet and a bit of elbow grease to scrub at the mess. The cleaning ingredients in the detergent and the scouring effect of the gritty powder will help you scrub away the mess in no time.

4. Get Heavy Duty With Oven Cleaner

But what if you've tried everything and your Pyrex simply refuses to come clean? For your last ditch effort, consider trying a bit of oven cleaner.

If certainly wouldn't be my first choice, but many Pyrex devotees swear by it for removing really stubborn grime from their glass baking dishes. And the principle is a sound one, considering that oven cleaner is formulated to break up the stubborn grease stains that cling to the sides and floor of a dirty oven!

To use oven cleaner to clean Pyrex, start by pulling on a pair of cleaning gloves. You may also want to move outside or into your garage before applying the oven cleaner to avoid issues with the fumes.

Spray a bit of oven cleaner onto the grease stains you want to remove, then let it sit for about 30 seconds. Then wipe the area with a paper towel and the grime should lift right off. Wash your Pyrex thoroughly with hot soapy water afterward.

Which Method Is Best?

For me personally, I prefer to clean Pyrex and glass cookware using the combination of a magic eraser and Dawn dish soap. It works well by scrubbing off stains while also being relatively safe to use compared to the other methods that rely on harsher cleaners.

If I happened to own any opaque Pyrex, like the vintage pieces made of opal glass, I'd probably want to use Method #1, Bar Keepers Friend. It really does work like a charm for removing scuff marks and scratches from glass dishes!

If I need to clean a Pyrex dish and didn't happen to have any magic erasers on hand, I'd use Method #3, the dishwasher detergent tablet. And finally, if I had tried everything else and still hadn't had any luck, I'd try Method #4, oven cleaner. It's definitely the harshest option, but it is a tried and true method used by Pyrex fans!

There are all sorts of other methods out there that might work, from using a dryer sheet to soaking stains with white vinegar to scrubbing with baking soda. But the four I've covered here in this post are the ones I would recommend you try using, regardless of whether your Pyrex dishes are brand new or vintage. Give these a try, and let me know what works well—I would love to hear from you! :-)

Tips For Keeping Pyrex Clean

Once you've restored your Pyrex dishes to a sparkling clean state, here are a few extra tips that can help you keep them clean in the future:
Hand Wash Your Pyrex. According to experts, washing glass cookware and bakeware in the dishwasher can etch the surface over time. Washing it by hand with soapy water won't harm the surface, and will help prevent those stubborn grease deposits form forming in the first place.
Use Gentler Cleaning Tools. Metal scrubbers and brushes with super stiff bristles can damage the surface of your Pyrex glass. Instead, clean glass cookware with gentler tools like standard sponges, nylon brushes, or silicone scrubbers.

Do you use Pyrex in your kitchen?