Tag: how to clean burned milk out of a pan

Argh! I burned the milk again! I know, I know, it’s my own fault–I have the attention span of a caffeinated fruit fly, and milk burns very easily. It’s a bad combination.

Lucky for my pots, I know how to get that stuck-on mess off the bottom of my pans.

And soon you will, too.

How to Remove Burned Milk From a Pan

What you need:

• salt
• a wooden spoon or similarly non-offensive scraping implement
• water
• dish soap
• a heating surface, like a stove

What you do:

1. Sprinkle the bottom of the pot with a layer of salt.
2. Add warm water to saturate the salt.
3. Let it rest for 20 minutes or until you remember it.
4. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon, scrubby, spatula–whatever is scrapy but won’t damage your pot.
5. Rinse out the pot.
6. If it’s clean. You’re finished. Have a cookie.
7. If it’s not clean, put a couple inches of water and several drops of dish soap in the bottom of the pan.
8. Heat it to boiling on the stove and then simmer on low heat for about an hour. This reeks to high heaven in my opinion (maybe not quite that high), so open the windows and pass out the barf bags.
9. If this doesn’t work, repeat ad infinitum.

Next time you heat milk on the stove, turn off the television, the radio, the the doorbell, the computers, your phone, your dog, your children, and your brain, and just focus. I know. I can’t either.

Print this up and keep it in your cookbook right by your favorite hot cocoa recipe. Ha ha! Only I’m not joking.

Here’s the printable version:

How do you get the burned-on milk out?