Cooking comes with a lot of guidelines. Above all, you should never pour leftover bacon grease — or any grease — down the drain. As it cools, grease hardens, creating blockages in your plumbing that only a professional can remedy.
Instead, it would be better to soak up the grease with something else and then throw it all away. One such method calls for using a staple pantry ingredient, baking soda. If your pan is full of bacon grease, add a lot of baking soda and let it sit for a while until it turns into a thick paste.
You can safely throw away the paste in the trash after the baking soda has soaked up all the grease and the paste has cooled enough that it won’t melt anything it touches. If your bag tears, you might also want to spoon the paste into a jar or can to keep it from spilling.
If you love cooking bacon, you know that it leaves behind a greasy mess in the pan. All that delicious bacon fat may add flavor while cooking, but it can be a pain to clean up later. You’ll want to remove the grease thoroughly without clogging your sink.
In this article, I’ll explain several methods for cleaning bacon grease off your pans using common household items. With a little elbow grease and the right techniques, you can keep your cookware sparkling clean after frying up everyone’s favorite breakfast meat.
Should You Pour Bacon Grease Down the Sink?
When faced with a pan full of leftover bacon grease, your first instinct may be to dump it down the drain and be done with it. However, this can lead to some serious plumbing issues over time.
As the grease cools, it will solidify and coat the insides of your pipes. Eventually, this buildup can block water flow, causing annoying slow drains and even pipe blockages. Sewage systems are also not equipped to handle large amounts of oil or grease.
To avoid clogs and keep your drains clear, it’s best to find other ways to dispose of bacon fat With the right methods, you can remove all that leftover grease without harming your plumbing.
How to Remove Bacon Grease from a Pan
Here are several simple techniques for cleaning up bacon grease after cooking
1. Let the Grease Solidify
After cooking the bacon immediately remove any remaining pieces from the pan. Pour off any excess grease into a heat-safe container to reuse or discard later.
Then, place the pan off heat and allow the residual grease to fully solidify. This only takes 10-15 minutes. The hardened grease is much easier to wipe away.
2. Soak It Up with Paper Towels
Once solidified, lay paper towels over the grease and press down. Let them soak up all that bacony goodness for a few minutes. Then, discard the greasy paper towels.
You may need to use several sheets to absorb it all. But this breaks up the fat quickly without scraping or scrubbing.
3. Use a Fat/Grease Remover Product
Specialty grease remover sprays and powders make cleaning fatty residue much easier. Apply the product to the pan and let it penetrate for 1-2 minutes. Then wipe clean with paper towels. The formulated agents break down grease on contact.
4. Mix Baking Soda and Water
For a natural grease-cutting solution, make a paste with baking soda and water. Spread this abrasive paste over the pan and let sit briefly. Scrub with a sponge or paper towels to lift off the bacon grease easily. Rinse clean.
5. Boil Water in the Pan
If there’s still a slight grease film left over, boil some water in the pan for 2-3 minutes. This heated water will help liquefy any remaining residue. Dump out water, then wash pan as usual with dish soap.
6. Use Salt as an Abrasive Scrub
For stuck-on grease, make a coarse scrub by sprinkling salt directly into the pan. Use a paper towel or sponge to vigorously scour the salty area, loosening up the fat. Rinse clean when finished scrubbing.
Extra Tips for Cleaning Bacon Grease
- Use hot water and dish soap first before trying other grease removal methods. Detergent helps dissolve oil.
- Allow pan to fully cool after cooking bacon before wiping out grease. Hot grease can scald!
- For hard-to-reach spots, use a small brush or cotton swab dipped in soapy water.
- Avoid immersing a hot pan in cold water or temperature extremes that can damage cookware.
- Grease stains on fabric napkins or towels should be pretreated before laundering.
- To clean a bacon grease mess in the microwave, place a bowl of water inside and microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot. Steam will help loosen grease from interior surfaces for easier wiping.
Storing Leftover Bacon Grease
Rather than tossing all that flavorful bacon fat, consider saving any leftovers! Here are some tips:
- Strain the grease through a sieve to remove food particles.
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
- Freeze for up to 6 months. Grease will solidify when chilled.
- Use small amounts to sauté veggies, brown ground meat or roast potatoes for added bacon taste.
- Add a spoonful to flavor baked goods like cornbread.
- Use refined bacon grease as part of a homemade candle or fire starter.
With the right techniques and a little strategic elbow grease, cleaning up bacon grease doesn’t have to be a messy ordeal. Remove it thoroughly after cooking to keep your pans and plumbing in top shape. Then find creative ways to use the leftovers instead of wasting all that liquid gold.
Additional ways to clean up grease without making a mess
You might be looking for other ways to clean up because you don’t have baking soda on hand or don’t want to waste it on a grease pan. Fortunately, you can use plenty of alternative methods that are just as easy.
For instance, you can use paper towels to safely get rid of cooking oil or grease. Wad up a few sheets and allow them to soak up the grease. After soaking up most of it, wipe the pan clean and throw away the paper towels. That being said, this particular hack could be considered as wasteful as the baking soda method. If you want to reduce waste, the best thing to do might be to put hot grease in a jar or can every time you cook. As soon as the container you were given is full, either freeze it to make the contents solid or throw it away.
How to clean and save bacon grease
How to clean bacon grease from Pan?
You can use any method below to clean the bacon grease from the pan. Warm Water, Dish Liquid, Baking Soda, White Vinegar, Sea Salt, Hydrogen Peroxide, Toothbrush, Paper Towel, Scrubbing Pad, Hand Gloves, Mask, Goggles. We will use popular cleaning agents like baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dish liquid in this method.
How do you treat a bacon grease stain?
Treating a bacon grease stain calls for something that was designed to treat food stains: dish soap. It’s great at cutting through the grease on the pan you used to cook the bacon, and it should be able to cut through that same grease on your T-shirt, jeans or other machine-washable fabrics.
Can you use baking soda to make bacon grease?
Instead, you’re much better off soaking up the grease with another material and throwing it all in the garbage. One such method calls for using a staple pantry ingredient , baking soda. If you’ve got a pan full of bacon grease, pour in a hefty amount of baking soda and let the mixture sit until it becomes a thick paste.
How do you clean a frying pan?
Baking soda: Sprinkle baking soda on tough grease stains and scrub with a sponge or brush. Vinegar: Mix vinegar with hot water to create a natural degreaser. Hot water: Use hot water to rinse the pan clean after scrubbing away the grease.
How do you dispose of bacon grease?
A paper towel soaked with a small amount of bacon grease can be placed in the trash—or in your compost. A disposable container filled with bacon grease can be placed directly in the trash, or solidified grease can be scraped out of a container and deposited in the trash. Package your bacon grease for future use.
Should you put bacon grease in a frying pan?
It’s sturdy, won’t impart plasticy flavors into the grease, and the wide opening is convenient for spooning out dollops of fat. As the bacon cooks, it will inevitably leave behind bits and pieces of meat. You don’t want those in your bacon grease; when you cook with it later, they’ll burn and impart a bitter flavor to your food.