Anyone have some good tips on how to remove that burnt popcorn smell from a microwave?

Numbers9000

Numbers9000

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Rather embarrassing, but yes, I burnt some popcorn over the weekend. My method of making microwave popcorn is to just slam the "+1 minute" button a bunch of times and just press stop when I hear the intervals between the popping sounds. Definitely going to rethink my method after what happened this past Sunday. I just got completely sidetracked and the dang popcorn got microwaved on high for about 11 minutes. The smell is unbearable and it's still there, 3 days later. Does anyone have any tips on how to get rid of that stench?
 
Mmmm, I haven't had popcorn in years and you have reminded me to pick some up as a healthy treat so thank you for that :P Wow, 11 minutes. I bet is was pretty burnt and I can imagine that is smelly bad.

In the past, my mum use to make a big bowl of water, lemons and baking soda and put this in the microwave and put it on for a few minutes. Ours use to smell lovely so it definitely worked. However, I would try doing this a few times with this method just to really get rid of the smell. Once and for all.

Good luck!
 
In addition to the tip that pipps mentioned, have you tried microwaving a wet dish sponge in there? You could saturate it with some dish soap/water or citrus juice. The microwaving will kill the germs in your sponge, and the moisture from the sponge may help with the smell. Just wipe it down afterward.
 
I would try cleaning the oven with a soapy sponge and while the walls are still wet, put inside a potato cut in halves along with the bowl of water as suggested by pipps, and complete rinsing the walls thoroughly with a damp clothe.

This should make the trick.
 
Vinegar can also be used to clear out odors of any variety. I'm sitting here debating whether or not to tell you to microwave a cup of vinegar, because undoubtedly that would probably smell pretty bad, but it may work just to wipe the interior of the microwave out with it. I use vinegar quite a bit in our home because its so effective at removing odors and when its used in small quantities and/or diluted it doesn't smell bad.
 
pipps said:
Mmmm, I haven't had popcorn in years and you have reminded me to pick some up as a healthy treat so thank you for that :P Wow, 11 minutes. I bet is was pretty burnt and I can imagine that is smelly bad.

In the past, my mum use to make a big bowl of water, lemons and baking soda and put this in the microwave and put it on for a few minutes. Ours use to smell lovely so it definitely worked. However, I would try doing this a few times with this method just to really get rid of the smell. Once and for all.

Good luck!
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I gave this a try, and it actually worked! Thanks for the suggestion! I actually didn't have any lemons so I used an orange and it worked like a dream.
 
The best thing for me has been baking soda. Just wet the inside and put some baking soda in it. Just clean the sides and the top as well. I found that baking soda is best for eating up odors. You can even get it to de-odorize stinky shoes.
 
I was gong to suggest cleaning the inside with baking soda as the last person said. Microwaving some lemons in water should help, but you can use just the lemon peels. Limes would also do the job. The yummy sounding curry would probably just cover the odor. I would suggest Indian curry.
 
Incidentally, save those lemons you used and put then down your garbage disposal - they will freshen that too as soon as you run it with some hot water until they pass through completely.

You could have, perhaps, stuck a box of baking soda in there too, like people do with refrigerators, and let it absorb the odors. But if the lemon thing worked for you, even better. I imagine some of the oils in the popcorn probably made their way onto the walls and into the vent on the microwave via the steam, which is probably what left that burnt smell behind.
 
Here are easy to steps to clean out the microwave!

1. Get a non-metallic bowl and fill with fresh lemon juice.
2. Put it in the microwave for more than 5 minutes.
3. Wipe down your microwave.
4.Get more fresh lemon juice and do it again.
 
I'm glad you found your solution already. I would've used vinegar and baking soda myself.

While you're at it, though, you may want to consider checking your smoke detector batteries. I have no idea how you managed to microwave popcorn for so long without setting off the alarms, which means your batteries may be low. :wink:
 
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