Cleaning the Toaster Oven

I love my toaster oven. I didn't grow up with one; we had a "regular" two slice toaster. I was introduced to the toaster oven in grad school. When Hubby and I were planning our wedding, we registered for one. Funny thing, we actually received three because the store didn't mark it off the list.

Flash forward to the present.

A few Saturdays ago, the crumb load in our toaster oven had reached maximum capacity. How do I know? A crumb was too close to the heating element and it caught on fire (an actual flame appeared!) when I was toasting some bread.

Fortunately, I was able to get the smoke dissipated enough that the smoke alarm did not go off.

I told Hubby what happened and he got the vacuum cleaner out of the closet (it no longer resides in the closet, but that's another post). I asked him what he was doing. His reply: "Something I've always want to try."

And he proceeded to use the vacuum to clean the crumbs out of the toaster oven. And it WORKED! No more crumbs to catch on fire. No mess trying to remove the crumb tray then dump it.

I shared on Twitter what Hubby was doing and someone said I need to blog about it. So I'm finally sharing this great shortcut to a clean toaster oven!

*Disclaimer: Remember to unplug the toaster oven before attempting to clean out the crumbs, no matter what method of cleaning you choose. I am not responsible for any damage to your toaster oven or vacuum cleaner that may occur (nothing went wrong for us, but I'm covering my rear end here).

For more great tips, visit Kristen at We are THAT Family.