Your waffle iron is easy to clean with a few tricks. Many people dread having to clean the iron after baking delicious waffles. To make sure this doesn’t stop you from baking waffles in the future, we have a few tips for you.
Cleaning a waffle iron – what to look out for
Once you have finished baking your waffles, it is time to clean the waffle iron. If your waffle iron is only slightly dirty, you can simply clean it with a piece of kitchen paper and a splash of oil. Read here what you should definitely consider before cleaning.
- Clean quickly: Don’t put off cleaning the waffle iron for long. It is best to clean it immediately after baking the waffles. This prevents the remains of the batter from burning in.
- Unplug the appliance: Unplug the waffle iron before cleaning. You should also let the iron cool down briefly if you want to clean it by hand.
- Avoid water: Do not hold the appliance under running water. Before purchasing a waffle iron, make sure that the waffle moulds can be removed. If this is the case, you can clean them under running water. The water should not be too cold, however, so that the warm metal does not warp.
- No sponges: Do not use rough sponges or other objects that cause scratches in the coating of the waffle iron. If the coating is damaged, the batter will stick to this area in the future.
- No sharp objects: Even if it is tempting to quickly remove the waffle with a fork or knife, you should absolutely refrain from doing so. Sharp objects will damage the coating of the waffle iron.
- Oven spray: It is often advised to clean the waffle iron with oven spray. You should not do this. The spray is very aggressive and destroys the non-stick coating of the waffle iron. In addition, it is not easy to completely remove the chemicals again.
Clean the waffle iron easily with the cleaning waffle
If your waffle iron is a little dirty, you can clean it in no time at all using a cleaning waffle.
- When baking waffles, you often end up with a small amount of batter left over. Add about 50 ml of oil to the batter and put it in the waffle iron.
- If you have no batter left, you can alternatively mix a tablespoon of starch with a little water and oil to make a batter. Bake this mixture like a waffle batter.
- Bake the waffle longer than usual. It should remain in the waffle iron until it has reached a dark brown colour.
- The cleaning waffle uses the grease to loosen burnt and caked-on areas. After removing the wafer, you can simply remove the wafer residue with a piece of kitchen paper.
Cleaning with vegetable oil
How to clean your waffle iron with a little vegetable oil and kitchen paper, read here.
- Soak your waffle iron generously with vegetable oil. Then place two sheets of kitchen paper inside and close the waffle iron.
- Let the oil soak in for at least 10 minutes. Then wipe out the waffle iron thoroughly with kitchen paper.
- Make sure that the waffle iron has cooled down a little before you start this cleaning method.
How to clean your waffle iron with a toothbrush
If stubborn dirt is left on your waffle iron, you can easily remove it with a toothbrush.
- Soak the toothbrush in a little oil and use it to gently clean the dirty parts of your waffle iron.
- Caution: Your waffle iron must not have a non-stick coating when you clean it with a toothbrush. The toothbrush would damage it.
- Once you have carefully cleaned all the spots, you can wipe the waffle iron with a piece of kitchen paper.
