The Easiest Way I've Ever Cleaned a Burned Pan

A few nights ago, I made a new dish that required a few pieces of crispy bacon. I found out the hard way that my burner was up too high and as soon as that bacon hit the pan, it was sizzling up a storm. I hurried quickly to continually turn it over so it could attempt to cook without burning, but I only partially succeeded. It was indeed cooked and crispy, but the edges were black and my pan was even blacker. It was such a mess!

I set the pan aside for a later cleanup, as the recipe required I keep moving with everything else. When dinner was done I decided to give that horrible burned saute pan a go. I filled it with water to begin the washing process, then I had a thought that led me to the simplest and quickest way I have EVER cleaned that nasty burned food off a pan:

1. Fill the pan with water.
2. Place the pan back on a heated burner and allow the water to come to a boil.
3. Leave the water boiling for about 5 minutes (or longer, depending on how badly your pan is burned). Then take it off the stove top and use a scrub brush or a sponge to wipe the residue away. In my case, it came right off! Give it a try!

Now because of the situation, I didn't think to take a "before" picture. This image above comes from howtocleanstuff.net (which is an amazing site, by the way!!) But the above image looks QUITE similar to my poor pan. And I was amazed at how easily all that burn came right off!

I'm curious if this works on all kinds of burned pan situations. If you happen to have your own experience with burning food in a pan and try this technique, let me know if it works for you! I'm not saying I'm excited to burn something again, but I look forward to trying this again if and when something else burns.

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