This £4 ultra-powerful cleaning spray is magic for banishing burn marks on pans - it's rescued my Le Creuset and my air fryer too
I was ready to write this spray off as just hype
Leaving a pan to soak is not something I enjoy. Not only does it extend washing up time but it makes my whole sink area unsightly and kind of gross, which is something I'm always trying to avoid.
So when I saw the chatter online about Fairy's Skip the Soak spray (£3.86 at Amazon) I was intrigued but also healthily skeptical. I've tried a whole host of cookware cleaning products that never quite cut the mustard, with my bank account suffering the consequence.
After giving this spray a whirl I have to say I'm a convert. Not only is it fabulous for saving you the mess of leaving baking trays and pans to soak, it also works on those awfully-hard-to-clean air fryer trays and on surfaces too, for a little added bonus. You can even use it before you pop things into the diswasher if you feel like they need a helping hand. Here's how I've used it to keep my sink area ship-shape all the time.
The way this spray works is simple: if you think that a pan or tray is about to cause you trouble when washing up or in the dishwasher, then scrape any excess food into the bin and spray this directly onto the surface.
It's important you don't rinse whatever you need to clean first as this spray won't work so well with water added into the mix. This is a mistake I made at first, but you really want this spray as concentrated as possible.
A few days after I picked this spray up I made the mistake of getting distracted while putting my treasured Le Creuset Round Cast Iron Casserole on the hob to pre-heat. A few minutes later and my pan was looking seriously worse for wear.
The burn marks from pre-heating for too long with my Le Creuset pan.
Luckily these burn marks are just cosmetic and the enamel surface wasn't affected, but I was still anxious to get them off once I'd finished cooking. I made my pasta as carefully as I could around the marks and left the pan to totally cool. This step, which requires a little patience, is essential with any pan to protect the surface and keep it working in your kitchen as effectively as possible.
Once cool, I liberally applied the spray to the areas I knew would cause me the most aggravation when scrubbing. Remember, you don't want to rinse before you apply – just get rid of any food you can scrape away.
I got on with my other cleaning tasks and returned to the burnt-on pan a few minutes later. In my impatience (before I had time to snap a picture!) I tried to scrape away the worst affected part with my sponge and was amazed to find it came right away with no effort at all.
The worst affected area wiping away after a few minutes with the spray applied.
So far, so impressed. I then proceeded to wash the pan as normal, armed with my trusty Scrub Mommy (£7.49 at Amazon)and found that those dark burnt on sections came off with very minimal effort.
There was a very small speck that still wouldn't budge even with a scrub, so I had to call in reinforcements which in my house is always (always!) my Magic Sponge (£3.99 for 10 via Amazon).
Almost as good as new! (I removed this final mark with the help of my Magic Sponge).
Once I knew that this spray actually worked, I set about tackling a task that I always seem to be just getting around to: deep cleaning my air fryer. I'm a strong believer in scrubbing my air fryer trays every time I use it, but the grime builds up so easily even if you miss one cleaning session.
It's for the purposes of research that I expose myself with evidence of the gross air fryer basket below.
Applying the spray to my Ninja air fryer basket.
While I was waiting for the spray to work its magic, I did notice the quite strong smell coming from the sink with the trays in it. So if you're sensitive to strong cleaning smells, it might be best to vacate the kitchen for a few minutes before rinsing the spray off.
The finished product - before scrubbing!
After rinsing the first round of spray off, my air fryer tray was looking in much better shape. The worst areas, including the middle section and the parts around the rubber inserts, did still need some TLC with the Scrub Mommy but the bulk of the dried-on grime was banished. Next time around I'm going to leave the spray on for even longer to see if it can affect those worst-affected parts too.
If it's not already obvious, this reasonably priced spray is my new kitchen saviour and I'm plotting exactly what I can use it on next. After reading Amazon's reviews of it (where it has a 4.6/5 star rating from over 300 reviews to date), I've been inspired to try it out on my oven too. Can you see yourself getting use out of this spray for your cookware or air fryer?
