Time to give your mats a spring cleaning!
The most used tool in my kitchen is a Silpat silicone baking mat. I own 6 of them and use them every single day whether I’m baking chocolate chip cookies, scones, chicken, bagels, potatoes, granola, vegetables, fish, caramel corn, candied nuts, or using as a nonstick surface for chocolate truffles, toffee, and mint chocolate swirl bark. I also use them for rolling out sugar cookie dough and baking homemade soft pretzels. These mats are extremely versatile, limit waste, and roll up for easy storing. You know I’m a huge fan!
But one of the most common questions I see is “how do I clean them?”
As you can guess, I have plenty of experience cleaning my silicone baking mats. If you own a mat, you know they can get pretty dirty and oily. Oil and flavor residue remain on the surface of these slick mats and it can be incredibly frustrating and off-putting, especially if you like keeping your kitchenware spick-and-span. I discovered 4 tricks and each one works every single time. I’ll list them in no particular order, though #1 and #4 are how I usually clean my mats.
How To Clean Silicone Baking Mats
- Dishwasher. Yes, silicone baking mats are dishwasher safe! Roll them up and place on the top rack of your dishwasher. Fill it up with your other dirty dishes and run a normal cycle. They’ll feel significantly less oily or completely oil-free. If there’s still a little oil residue, try any of the following.
- Lemon juice. Ahhh, refreshing and oil-fighting. Soak mat(s) in very hot water with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for 10 minutes. Wearing kitchen gloves, scrub clean under the water with a sponge or towel, then dry on a drying rack or with a towel. Repeat if necessary.
- Baking soda. A reader suggested this method to me and it works like a charm. Wet the mat(s) under running water. Turn water off. Generously sprinkle baking soda all over the top. Wearing kitchen gloves, rub the baking soda and residual water droplets together to create a paste, concentrating mostly on the tough stains. Let the paste sit on the mats for 20 minutes, then rinse clean with very hot water. Dry on a drying rack or with a towel. Repeat if necessary.
- Extremely hot water and grease-fighting dish soap. Soak mats in extremely hot water with a few squirts of grease-fighting or heavy duty dish soap for 20 minutes. Natural varieties don’t work as well for this; use soap designed to tackle tough stains. The water should be piping hot, not warm. Wearing kitchen gloves, scrub clean under the water with a sponge or towel, then dry on a drying rack or with a towel. If the stains are pretty bad, I’ll repeat this process.
These tricks also work to clean your silicone bakeware too.
Do you have any secrets for cleaning your silicone baking mats? 🙂
I place my silicone mats on the bottom rack of dishwasher standing them up on the long edge using cooling racks between each to keep them upright. Works great!
I’ve never used Silpats for anything but baked goods. If I did, there would be a dedicated mat used only for meat/potatoes/veggies etc. Thanks for the suggestions. I wash them with a strong dish soap and hot water, rinse, and air or towel dry. I’ve found that silicone products washed in the dishwasher, like spatulas, retain some of the smell of the dishwasher soap. I worry about that smell imparting itself into whatever I’m using the spatula to stir.
I stopped using mine because everything tastes like soap. I only have washed or put in the dishwasher. Both methods made my baked goods take like soap. This did not happen at first but after I washed them repeatedly. Is there any way to get that out? I have gone back to parchment paper.
Hi Tricia, we use these a lot, and haven’t had that issue. Have you tried using baking soda or lemon on them?
I just heard – I can’t remember where – that a woman was using silicone dishes for her toddler. He got so that he would take a few bites and stop eating. She took a scoop of his food and nearly threw up because the dish made everything taste like soap. She felt guilty because he was unable to eat..Here is a link to the information from google – https://otter.love/why-does-food-silicone-plate-suddenly-taste-like-soap/#:~:text=If%20you%20experience%20a%20change,residue%20from%20your%20dish%20soap.
I hand wash my silpat mats in warm soapy water. For drying I use paper towels. What I do is use paper towel as long as the mat, place on top roll the pat with towel together, next I follow the same procedure for the reverse side. I do this to keep thoroughly dry before storing.
Sally, thank you for the guidance on cleaning silicone baking mats. You have suggested rolling up the mats and placing them on the top rack of a dishwasher. I assume we would roll the mats like jelly rolls, but that would prevent the water from getting at the surface of the mats. What technique should we use to roll them?
Margaret, I don’t roll them. I just drape them over the dishes on the top shelf of the dishwasher and they come out clean every time. I hope this helps.
The dishwasher worked perfectly! Thanks so much for the tip….and all the wonderful recipes, of course!
Thank you so much. Can’t imagine why I didn’t think of bicarb soda as it’s called in Australia – I use it for everything from the toilet to my Corningware! Thanks again for the thought jog
I only use my mats for cookies. Then the smell, if any, is not meat in my cookies.
I also wash in the sink with hot water and Dawn but it only has to clean cookie dough.
Cleaning tip a friend gave me that’s super easy and really working for me:
Squirt dish soap on a silicon mat while holding them over the sink. Then under the running hot water, squish/rub/rough them up in my hands to get it all soapy and let it scrub itself. Then rinse off soap.
Thank you so much!! I scrubbed my mats with hot soapy water and they looked clean until they dried. Then they were extremely oily and gross. I will most definitely try these tips! I LOVE all of your baking tips Sally! Thanks again!
I soaked these in water and dish soap overnight! They look NEW!
Zoe, be careful soaking your Silpat in soapy water. They can absorb the soap scent/flavor. Lesson learned the hard way. Currently trying to figure out how to get the soap flavor OUT of them now because everything I bake on them tastes like soap.
Sarah, my advice would be to heat the mat in the oven to expand the silicone molecules (how scents get stuck in there in the first place is this expansion/constriction), then immediately douse in a water/white vinegar bath. From there, wash and let air dry. Hope that helps!
My understanding is that Silpat is made from special material so we are not to use any abrasive cleaning substances or scrub too hard, neither are we to cut on the mat as we are encouraged to discard the mat if it has been cut. Is this correct? I have several mats but t hey are all heavily stained and nothing I can do will take the stains off. Generally the mats are about 25-35 dollars so I hate to just throw it away but they look really dingy.
Hi Carol! I’ve used all my strength with a scrubber and still have not cut into the mat. So I suppose it depends how strong you are! Have you tried the dishwasher?
Thank you for this post! I wasn’t sure the best way to clean them. I’m so excited I can put my mats in the dishwasher
Thank you! I never thought to put them in the dishwasher, but I’m definitely doing that! Love this helpful baking tips!
Yes-dishwasher does not hurt them.lay wording side down on top rack. Pull out to lay on dish towel-or paper towel strip, but do not rub Silpat. Air fry for about 30 minutes then flip to air fry other side-looks like new …
Air fry??
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I used the mats once and they were sticky after I washed them and I never used them again, switched to parchment paper (from Costco so I have TONS of it). I don’t know where the mats are now, but as soon as I find them they are going right into the dishwasher and I’ll give them another chance. These tips are super helpful – I use your butter softening trick often – please keep them coming!
My best tip is to wash mat right on top of cookie sheet, it is much easier to handle & scrub on that hard flat surface, compared to scrubbing on it’s own.
I do that too the easiest way to clean them after every use.
I’ll have to try these! My current method is the double wash… wash by hand in normal dish water with natural soap, air dry, repeat again the next time I do dishes. By the second wash they don’t feel greasy anymore but it doesn’t get all of the stains. And if you need to use it again right away after the first wash you’re stuck with it being a little oily. I bet baking soda works really well for baked-on stains!
Your timing with these tips is perfect. I cleaned one of my silpat mats yesterday and when I was about to roll it up to put it away I noticed that it felt tacky and not really clean. I am going to put it in the dishwasher to try that method. Thanks!
Also, when drying the silicone mats, it’s best to shake dry/ or let them air dry – rubbing them with a towel can cause them to not be as “nonstick”. (They can collect the fibers from kitchen towels)
Thank you Sallly! These are great tips for cleaning silpats and I am definitely going to try them out! Just used three of my silpats yesterday and they could use a spring cleaning.