If I had to choose a favorite feature of my stove, it would definitely be the cast iron griddle that’s built into the center of it. It turns out that little griddle is very useful for a lot of different things, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t use it primarily to cook bacon. :-) (My youngest son loves bacon for breakfast, and I love BLTs for lunch, so you can imagine how much bacon we cook up on that griddle!)
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While it’s nice to have an easy and convenient way to cook up bacon on my stovetop, it doesn’t make it any less MESSY. There’s one big drawback to cooking bacon on my griddle, and that’s the greasy mess it leaves behind! I originally struggled to clean up bacon grease off my stovetop, but I knew there had to be a better way. I needed something specifically formulated to deal with a really greasy mess! And after some good old fashioned internet sleuthing, I came across just the thing: a homemade citrus degreaser!
This simple formula couldn’t be easier to put together, and it works wonderfully. The main grease-fighting ingredient is lemon essential oil. Lemons have a compound called limonene that cuts right through grease, as well as helping to clean and disinfect. When combined with a little baking soda and castile soap for added cleaning power, the lemon oil turns into a great degreasing spray, and the perfect cleaner for any kind of greasy mess! Here’s how you can make it at home.
Homemade Citrus Degreaser Spray
Ingredients:
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 Tbsp baking soda
- 2 tsp castile soap
- 20 drops lemon essential oil
Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together in a spray bottle.
Spray mixture on greasy messes and wipe with a damp towel (microfiber works wonderfully!) Once the surface is clean, shine it up with a dry microfiber cloth.
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I’ve been super pleased with how this cleaner works on my stove top. My husband has also used it to get a greasy spot out of the upholstery in his truck!
An added bonus of using citrus in your homemade cleaner? It makes everything smell clean too! :-)
Can this be used on stainless steel stove tops?
Yes!
That last photo with the pretty towel – where did you get that? I saw it once, several years ago but was unable to find the source and it is still a ig eye catcher and beautiful and I would love to get one for my daughter. Love the recipe since I have smoke/grease stains on my ceiling way up high (14′) and when I had my cataracts removed, saw it – was amazed at the dirt just in that area due to the grease from cooking. I think your recipe would be great to try on a long handled… Read more »
I found it at World Market a couple years ago :-)
Would this also be good to clean granite countertops?
The lemon could cause pitting. Personally I don’t use any citrus blends on granite
No, but here’s a link to a granite cleaner: http://jillee.co/2yjeFwo :-)
We don’t have castile soap in Australia. What can I use instead please
Any natural oil-based soap will work! If you can’t find one of those, then a dishwashing liquid will do the trick. :-)
Where can I find those too-cute-to-use towels?
Can you use this to clean hardwood furniture & wood kitchen cabinets?
Yes! :-)
Thank you for the reply!
How do you prevent the baking soda from forming a hard clump in the bottle? I recently made a toilet cleaning solution and the baking soda clogged up the sprayer and was a hard clump.
I mix the baking soda in batches and shake vigorously in between each addition
You can warm up the water in the microwave, and mix in the baking soda. Stir it well, and the baking soda should dissolve completely! Then you can add the rest of the ingredients :-)
love you ideas! Only wish at the end of the article you would put an easy to print summary of all you have written ~ you know like they do for recipes? !!
I usually take a screenshot of the “recipes” and save on my device (phone or tablet). Don’t know if that would help you.
There is a print friendly icon at the bottom of the articles
Thanks for the suggestion, Ice! You can actually use the green print button at the bottom of the post, and then remove any unwanted text. I’ll email you a copy so you can see what I mean. :-)
My new strategy for cleaning up greasing kitchen surfaces, is to wipe everything down with paper towels first. A lot of the gunk comes up that way and then I hit it with a cleaning solution. This keeps my sponges from getting really grody. You can also buy d-limonene in the gallon size direct from the maker in Florida. I use full strength to take labels off of jars, to clean paint brushes and to attack really bad grease. Diluted I use it in my cleaning solutions. Donna, I don’t think you have to worry about using limonene in your… Read more »
Thanks so much for the information about buying d-limonene from Florida! I checked it out and am going to order the quart size that sells for $30. The description for using sounds great so am hoping it works as well as they say.
Yes! Thank you for the info about d-limonene. Makes so much sense, I never thought to buy full strength. What is your recipe for an everyday cleaner using d-limonene?
Wendy, I I’m sorry, but I don’t have one. I guess I should work one out. I typically use it straight-out of a squeeze bottle into a paper towel and use it that way. And then use detergent such as Dawn, for the final cleanup. It occurs to me we might look at the manufacturer’s website to see if they have any recipes there. For the record, I’ve been buying Orange terpenes, from Greenterpene.com.
They have many products.
Great and easy idea, but can real lemon juice be substituted for the essential oil, and if so, how much? Although I love essential oils, I do not use them because I have cats, and their systems cannot tolerate the use of most oils, so I have eliminated using all of them.
Sure! It won’t work quite as well, but the lemon juice will still help cut through the grease. 1/4 cup of lemon juice should do the trick. :-) Although you might want to store it in the fridge.