Non-stick Waffle Iron Owners..

[housewolf]

How do you clean yours? Mine is all covered with "gunk", looking for some ideas as to how to clean it since it says not to submerge it in water.

[Paper Roses]

1. So much for new-and-improved. I'd sell my soul for one

of the old type where you could remove the plate and wash it in the sink. One side for waffles, one for grilled cheese.,

I have two new Belgium waffle makers and both are a pain to clean. I' give them away in a flash if I could scrounge up an old (metal)one.

Now I let them cool a bit and brush them off with a clean old toothbrush, then sponge.

[grasswire]

2. are you talking about batter residue?

I agree that a brush ought to get that off. Now, the previous waffle irons would get some black gunk from oil brushed on and that was harder to get off.

[housewolf]

3. My batter has melted butter and oil in it

They're delicious but gunking up the grids.

[merci_me]

5. Possibly sop it out with bread???

I haven't had any problem with mine, but as I'm reading this, it occurred to me, if the time comes, I'd probably try lining the plates with crustless bread and turn the griddle on and see if the dry bread absorbs the leftover gunky butter and oil, to get the grids down to a reasonable cleaning job. I'd give it a few tries (feed the bread to the birds). I use bread to sop the grease when I brown hamburg/sausage in my big iron skillet, which I can't lift and tilt to drain. The dogs love the bread, lol.


My son thinks it's neat to put chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in the batter (yikes) and turns it up to the point the chips and mellows are candied. Still my grids (so far) haven't suffered. After the griddle is completely cooled, I just wipe the grids off with paper towels and use one of those black foam craft sponges to wipe between the grids.

[hippywife]

4. I don't wash mine.

Am I bad? Even tho it's non-stick, I still spritz it with a little oil for each waffle. I don't get any build up that isn't browned bits of batter that I can't just clear off quite easily.

:hi:

[Warpy]

6. Eventually even Teflon starts to get a build up

of sticky, dried on oil. It's a dust and grit magnet and feels nasty when you touch it. It's not dangerous, though, and as long as waffles aren't welding themselves to the iron, there shouldn't be that big a problem.

What hardens and turns into black seaoning on cast iron seems to stay sticky on Teflon, and that's what I think the OP was wondering how to clean.

I don't have a clue. Anything I could possibly suggest would likely harm the Teflon, although you might spritz the whole business with household ammonia and leave it in a sealed black plastic garbage bag out in the sun for a few hours. That might be enough to saponify the grease and make it easier to remove while being mild enough not to screw up the Teflon.

Manufacturers' instructions just never cover this stuff.

[hippywife]

8. Guess I'm just not having

a problem like this. But then when I'm done using it, I do store it back in it's original box and packing. That probably does help.

I wouldn't have bought this for myself, but Bill bought it for me several years ago and it only gets used about once every other month. Like Paper Roses, I'd rather have the real thing.

[Warpy]

10. I had a stovetop Belgian waffle maker with Teflon

and I used that thing at least once a week, Sunday brunch and the occasional weeknight dessert with ice cream. After the first couple of years, it got sticky. After the third year, it was pretty much unusable.

I turned it in to a thrift shop, hoping the next owner would know how to clean it. That was 35 years ago and I just didn't think of the ammonia and plastic bag treatment that might have saved its useful life.

It was a low tech hunk o junk that I just loved, requiring little storage space and no counter space, really my kind of gadget.

[surrealAmerican]

7. I'm thinking vinegar and q-tips might do the job.

It may also help if the iron is warm when you try this.

[hippywife]

9. You probably have the answer.

Vinegar is a good degreaser and all purpose household cleaner.