How To Clean Your Silicone Baking Mat

Let’s do some Spring cleaning and learn how to clean a silicone baking mat properly. In this post, I am going to show you three different ways to clean your silicone baking mats so they are sparkling like new again. 

Let me just state right off the bat, I loathe cleaning. But here’s the thing, I absolutely adore my silicone baking mats. And with all the baking I do, you can imagine that over time these silicone baking mats need a good scrubbing. So when I went searching around the internet for how to clean silicone baking mat, I found a few different methods to try.

Really they can be broken down into into 3 different approaches to cleaning your silicone baking mats. But before we get to how to clean those darling little mats, let’s first discuss why they get dirty in the first place. It might not be as obvious as you think.

Why Your Silicone Baking Mats Get Dirty

So silicone mats are meant to be non-stick. According to Food 52, when you use those mats to bake some super awesome chocolate chip cookies, the mats in the oven heat up and the silicone molecules expand absorbing fats (like the butter in those cookies), and also sometimes odors as well. And over time they can develop this greasy film on top.

So let’s say you bake fish on your mat one day, but then you want to use them for cookies the next day. What’s the best way to clean them? Well depends on really how dirty they are…

How To Clean Your Silicone Baking Mats

Method #1: Dishwasher 

Aww yes the good old dishwasher. So simple right? This method works for your everyday cleaning of them. According to Fat Daddio’s, just simply roll your silicone baking mat up and place on the top rack of your dishwasher. Just be sure to never fold them.

I found this worked fairly well, but there was still some leftover spots that need to be scrubbed. If you get in the habit of doing this after everytime you use them it should work great! But if you find it still has a greasy film, odor, or residue left on it it might be time for a deeper clean.

Update: I have been using this method now regularly and do this after each use so for me it works like a charm. But I’ve heard from some readers that hasn’t worked as well for them. If your hasn’t been cleaned in a long time or has some serious stuck on residue then this may take a few more attempts OR skip the dishwasher and try one of the other methods. 

Method #2: Hot Water Scrub

If you haven’t been regularly cleaning these, then you might need to try this approach. I’m calling this the hot water scrub. Because besides the hot water you are going to need to scrub it with something else- baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar, or a grease-fighting dish soap (like Dawn.)

First submerge the mat in hot water for about 15-20 minutes- as hot as you can stand. You might want to bust out those super sexy yellow gloves if you got them. If not, then try getting the mat soaked under hot water first, then scrub after. Then add either some grease fighting dish soap, lemon juice, or vinegar to the water. Then scrub with a non-abrasive sponge. Be sure to use a non-abrasive sponge, because otherwise you might damage the mat’s non-stick surface.

And be sure to use a dish soap meant for grease cutting- the natural dish soaps won’t work as well.

You can also try soaking the mat in hot water, the sprinkling it with baking soda to make a bit of a paste. Let it dry then scrub it.

Method #3: Oven

You can also try placing the mat in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes. Then submerge it in hot water and scrub as mentioned in method #2.

This method is a good one to try if you find your’s has developed a seriously funky odor. Remember that fish dinner you made a few weeks ago? Yup, that odor is still there. By letting it up heat up in the oven, it should help to loosen any dried on bits and help to expand those molecules to release those odors once and for all.

And there you go! One of the few times you will see me jabber on about cleaning on this blog 😉 But when it comes to my baking supplies I am all about keeping them in good working order. You know so I can get back to making a mess again!

If you like this tutorial, let me know and leave me a comment and star rating below! Happy baking!