My oven was covered in baked-on grease that had been sitting there for months, so I put the Mr Muscle and Elbow Grease oven cleaning spray to the test, which both claim to remove tough grease without scrubbing.
Giving your oven a good clean is one of those chores that are too easy to put off until suddenly you’re confronted with burnt-on grease that won’t budge. While there are a few natural oven-cleaning solutions, I needed something a little more heavy-duty to lift the stains that had accumulated over the past several months.
Cleaning the oven is one of my least favourite chores, as you could tell from how long I’ve put it off. In a bid to make my life easier, I decided to tackle the job with the two most popular oven-cleaning products – Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and Elbow Grease Oven and Grill Cleaner.
I’ve previously used two Elbow Grease cleaning products in the past on my stained oven racks and my greasy air fryer, and was impressed by how well they worked.
With both oven cleaning sprays claiming to be heavy-duty, I was eager to see how effective they really are.
Heading down to the shops, I picked up the 400ml Elbow Grease Oven and Grill Cleaner for £1.69 from Home Bargains and the 300ml Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner at Sainsbury’s for £4.
Given the stark price difference, I was thinking the Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner would be the most effective.
To test the oven cleaners, I started by doing some important prep work, given the strong chemicals in these sprays. I opened the windows and door and put on rubber gloves. When spraying the aerosols, I even had to put on a face mask as they were both pungent, and one spray had a very fine mist.
With the kitchen aired out, I heated the oven to the lowest setting before cleaning, as this allows any burnt-on carbon to heat up and soften, making it much easier to remove.
With the oven heated, I turned it off and began spraying the left side with Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and the right side with Elbow Grease Oven and Grill Cleaner.
As soon as I started spraying the oven with both cleaners, I noticed that the Mr Muscle sprays foam out quite thick, so it took longer to cover the left side, whereas the Elbow Grease has a finer mist, so it covered more ground, and I was able to go over it as well and quicker.
With both sprays applied, I closed the oven door and left them to sit for about 30 minutes, as that’s what’s instructed on both cans.
When the time was up, much of the foam had melted away. Before wiping anything away, I noticed that the foam on the Elbow Grease side had lifted more grease, turning it a darker brown shade than the Mr Muscle side.
However, more of the foam from the Mr Muscle spray had remained, particularly on the sides of the oven.
I then grabbed a bucket of soapy water and a sponge to wipe away the solution on both sides. While the grease was completely gone from the oven, the burnt-on stains remained on both sides. However, there were clearly more stains left behind on the Mr Muscle side.
On both spray cans, it says that for badly stained ovens, reapplication is needed, so I reapplied both sprays and left them to sit for 30 minutes.
After the second round, the burnt-on stains started to lift more. On the Mr Muscle side, the majority was gone from the bottom, but on the side, the stains remained. On the Elbow Grease side, all the stains disappeared, but some remained on the bottom.
I ended up doing five rounds of applying both sprays. The Elbow Grease side was spotless afterwards, but a few stains remained on the Mr Muscle side.
Both sprays effectively cut through grease on first use; however, if you have stubborn baked-on stains in your oven, they will need to be reapplied more than once.
Out of the two sprays, I’d say the Elbow Grease Oven and Grill Cleaner was the winner, as it’s the cheapest, contains more product, is faster to apply, and, although it requires multiple applications, it ended up removing all the stains.
