How to Remove the Smell of Burnt Food from Your Home

Co-authored by Guy Peters

Last Updated: September 28, 2021 References Approved

You're cooking or baking and lose track of time, forget to turn off the oven, or select the wrong temperature. Now you've burned your food and the smell of that burned food permeates your home. Luckily, this smell can be fairly easy to get rid of with a few common household items. You can clean the areas in your home that smell of burned food, make some solutions that will absorb the burned odor, and create your own air fresheners.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Cleaning the Area

1
Remove the burned food entirely. Once the burned item is fully cool, throw it away. Take all burned food, put it in a plastic bag, and put it in the garbage can outside of your house.^{[1]
X
Expert Source

Guy Peters
House Cleaning Professional
Expert Interview. 27 September 2021.} Remove it from your home - don't put it in the garbage disposal or in a garbage can in your kitchen. The smell will still continue to linger in the air.
2
Open your windows.^{[2]
X
Expert Source

Guy Peters
House Cleaning Professional
Expert Interview. 27 September 2021.} Open the windows to let the smell out and bring fresh air in. This is the quickest and simplest way to get the air in your house circulating. Open up all of your windows and outside doors, especially near the kitchen.^{[3]
X
Expert Source

Victor Belavus
Air Conditioning Specialist
Expert Interview. 6 May 2020.}

Advertisement
3
Turn on the fans.^{[4]
X
Expert Source

Guy Peters
House Cleaning Professional
Expert Interview. 27 September 2021.} To help circulate the air more quickly, bring out all of the electric fans in your home and plug them in beside open windows and doors. Turn them on to the highest speed possible in order to get the air moving. If you have a kitchen fan/stovetop fan, turn that on too.^{[5]
X
Expert Source

Victor Belavus
Air Conditioning Specialist
Expert Interview. 6 May 2020.}
4
Clean every surface. Wash down all surfaces in rooms where the odor is noticeable. Use bleach or a disinfectant to clean the surfaces and to mop the floor. If the smell is very strong, wash the walls.^{[6]
X
Research source}
5
Wash or discard items that smell. Launder all items made of fabric from the rooms where the smell is noticeable. This includes table cloths, curtains, and slip covers. Use bleach if that won't ruin the fabrics. If the smell permeated any cardboard boxes in the kitchen, move the contents of the boxes to plastic baggies and recycle the boxes.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Absorbing the Odors

1
Make lemon water. Put a pot of water to boil on the stove. Cut a lemon into multiple slices. Put the lemon slices into the boiling water and let sit for 10-30 minutes to freshen up the house.
- As an alternative, steep a handful of hot cloves in the water instead of lemon slices.
2
Put out bowls of onion water. Cut up an onion. Put the onion slices into a bowl of water and place the bowl of onion water in the middle of the kitchen.^{[7]
X
Expert Source

Guy Peters
House Cleaning Professional
Expert Interview. 27 September 2021.} If your entire house smells bad, consider placing bowls of onion water in different locations of the house. Let the bowls sit overnight to absorb the odors.
- While your kitchen may smell like onions at first, this will help absorb the burnt smell.^{[8]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Guy Peters
  House Cleaning Professional
  Expert Interview. 27 September 2021.}
3
Soak bread with vinegar. Use bread and vinegar to absorb the smell. Fill a saucepan with water and add 2 cups of vinegar. Bring the vinegar water to a boil, then allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Take some bread and dip it in the vinegar water. Put the bread on a plate and let it absorb the odors.^{[9]
X
Research source}
- You can simply put out bowls of vinegar to absorb the odors. Heat the vinegar to make it more effective.
4
Combine water and baking soda. Baking soda is a powerful odor absorbent, especially for kitchen smells. To clear the burned smell, put about four ounces (118.29 mL) of baking soda into bowls. Distribute the bowls around your kitchen and other areas of your home to absorb the smell.^{[10]
X
Research source}

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Covering the Smell

1
Create a fresh baking smell. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Put aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the cookie sheet along with a one tablespoon (14.78 mL) butter. Turn off the oven and let the cookie sheet sit in the oven for 2-4 hours. This will make the house smell like you've just baked something tasty.^{[11]
X
Research source}
- Another option is to bake a few tablespoons of vanilla extract at 300°F (148°C) for around an hour.^{[12]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Guy Peters
  House Cleaning Professional
  Expert Interview. 27 September 2021.}
2
Spray lemon water. Pour equal parts lemon juice and water into a spritzer bottle. Spray it around your home as needed. It will absorb the odors and leave a natural, chemical-free lemon scent.
3
Make an air freshener with essential oils. Combine ¾ cup (177.44 mL) of water and two tablespoons (29.57 mL) of vodka, rubbing alcohol, or real vanilla extract with 15-20 drops of any combination of essential oils that you enjoy smelling. Put these in an eight ounce (236.58 mL) spray bottle. Shake well and spray as needed ^{[13]
X
Research source}
4
Make an air freshener with perfume oil. Combine 2 1/2 table spoons of brandy (french brandy works best due to the caramel undertones), 20 drops of any perfume oil of choice, 5 drops of tea tree oil (for its antibacterial qualities), and ¾ cup of water. Put these in a 200ml (7 ounce) spray bottle. Shake well and spray as needed.
5
Bring out some aerosols. If you can tolerate them, spray a commercial air freshener like Lysol, Febreeze, Glade, etc. Use these carefully, because they can be overwhelming. They will mask odors more than the homemade methods.

Expert Q&A

Question

How do you get the smell of smoke out of your house fast?

Guy Peters
House Cleaning Professional
Guy Peters is the Owner of MOP STARS Cleaning Service, a complete house cleaning service for residential and commercial clients, based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2014, MOP STARS provides regular, move in/out, deep, and commercial cleaning services. Guy has a BA in Finance from the California State University - Sacramento and an MBA from Cornell University.

Guy Peters

House Cleaning Professional

Expert Answer

Open all the windows and turn on any fans nearby, including the one above the stove. Then, toss the burnt food into the outside garbage.