The Easiest Way to Clean Your Microwave

Truthfully, the easiest way I have found to clean your microwave.

Here is the culprit:

And the players:

You will need:

• A glass receptacle of some sort. I like using a one cup Pyrex.


• A sponge


• A few drops of imitation vanilla extract.


• A cup of water

Fill your Pyrex with one cup of water, and add a few drops of vanilla. The vanilla helps eliminate any nasty odors that may be accompanying your messy microwave.  Place the Pyrex inside your microwave, and set the timer for 5 minutes.

Essentially, the water is going to steam clean your microwave. While your microwave does the hard work, take the five minutes to do a little cleaning in your kitchen, for example, wipe down the front of your cabinets. In this instance I swept the floor and filled up a bucket for mopping.

When the timer goes off, remove the Pyrex (hot!!!) from the microwave and pour the now boiling water down the drain of your kitchen sink. (The bonus is that the boiling water will clean your drain) Then, take a sponge and wipe up the now easily removeable gunk off your microwave.

You're all set! Here's the before:

And the happy after:

Oh, your microwave doesn't have a smile on it? Hmm. Well, maybe mine's cooler :-D