If you have bought yourself an electric griddle so that you can cook or fry yourself different kinds of food, then it is necessary for you to also know how to maintain these electric griddles.
Like every other griddle, the electric griddles also get dirty easily. However, they are a tad bit more sensitive than the regular griddles that run on gas burners.
There are a lot of things you need to consider if you want to know how to clean an electric griddle. Of course, you can just hire someone to do the cleaning work for you, but that just adds up to another cost. Instead, let us teach you how you can handle this mess by yourself!
How to Clean Electric Griddle
No matter which type of electric griddle you buy, no matter what brand or size, they will all more or less work the same way.
Thus, the methods for cleaning them will also be the same. So, you do not need to worry about the kind of electric griddle you own, because the below steps for cleaning is applicable for all types of electric griddles:
Step 1: Getting the Right Tools and Cleaning Materials
Before you start any sort of cleaning, you will obviously need the very tools and cleaning materials you will be cleaning with. Those include water, dishwashing liquid, rags or paper towels, scraping or cleaning spatula, a sponge, a handkerchief, etc.
Step 2: Unplugging the Griddle
The electric griddle is still the sort of machine or equipment that is meant to heat up to fry food. So, do not begin any sort of cleaning work on it without unplugging it or disconnecting its power source. You need to wait until the griddle is completely cold, and you are able to touch it and feel no heat coming from it.
Step 3: Preparing the Griddle
If there is anything like pots and pans on top of the griddle, then you will need to take it off. There might be dirt, oils, crumbs, or other liquids on the griddle, so make sure to use a rag or paper towel to clean it off so that you can begin cleaning the actual stains and dirt that are tough to wipe off and can be harmful to your griddle.
Step 4: Scraping off Hardened Debris
If, by any chance, you have really hardened greasy bits of food on the surface of your griddle, you will need to get rid of it before you can wash your electric griddle clean.
You will need to turn on the griddle for a while and let it heat up a bit. You can either turn it off when cleaning or keep it on a very low heat setting. This will make the hardened grease soften up.
It will be safer if you wore heat resistant gloves and kept a bit of distance from the griddle as you work on this since the griddle will be hot and could burn you.
And you can now take your spatula and carefully rub it all over the griddle to scrape off the hard food bits or greasy bits. Make sure the spatula you are using is either made of plastic or wood.
Metal spatulas or metal scrapers can damage your electric griddle’s surface. After you successfully get rid of the hardened debris, wipe off the griddle and turn your griddle off again and wait for it to cool down.
Step 5: Preparing the Cleaning Agents
Take a bowl and pour in a few spoons of dishwashing liquid and then pour in some hot water. Gently mix this until the water is soapy and slippery. Depending on the size of your electric griddle, you should pour in enough dishwashing liquid and hot water so that you can adequately and properly clean the griddle.
Step 6: Begin the Cleaning
Make sure the sponge you have is a large one. If you want to avoid getting your hands dirty, you can wear dishwashing gloves while you clean. Submerge the sponge into the dishwashing liquid mix and then rub it all over your griddle. Make sure you get the entire area of the griddle slippery and wet with the soapy water and foam.
Try to focus more on the parts where old, dried, or burnt food is stuck on the griddle. The soapy water should soften up all these stains, dirt, and gunk. Let the soap liquid sit for a while on the griddle. If the gunk still hasn’t softened, you can add another round of rubbing your sponge on the griddle with that soapy water.
Step 7: Wiping It off
After a while, wipe off the soapy water with the same sponge, and hopefully, all the dirt will peel off the griddle. Clean the sponge in the soapy water repeatedly as you wipe the entire griddle until no more dirt gets stuck to the sponge when wiping.
Step 8: Finishing Wipe
Throw away the dirty dishwashing water for now and clean your sponge completely. Now you need to directly pour some hot water on the griddle. Squirt on some dishwashing liquid directly on the electric griddle too.
Take your sponge and use circular motions as you rub in the water and soap liquid mix to foam up the griddle’s surface.
Wipe it down again with the sponge while washing the sponge in the sink and squeezing out any excess water. You will need to wipe the griddle until it is not slippery or soapy anymore.
Step 9: Drying the Griddle
The griddle may be free of any soap or foam, but it still isn’t dry. Use a clean and dry handkerchief or a small kitchen towel to wipe the griddle until it is dry. The surface of your electric griddle will look clean and shiny with no stains or bumps created by food bits sticking onto it.
Final Words
It is important for you to clean your griddle regularly, once before using it and once after using it. A good tip would be to soak a cotton ball with vinegar and wipe your griddle down.
This should be done every time you have finished using your griddle for the day. That way, it will get rid of bacteria and soften up greasy bits to make it easier to wipe off the next day when you clean the griddle before using it. But at least once a month, you should do a deep cleanse.
Knowing how to clean electric griddle through the steps above should make your maintenance work much simpler.