How To Wash A Pizza Stone the Right Way

Learn how to wash a pizza stone properly so that it gets clean and lasts for years to come. See how we deep clean our stone!

One of the first kitchen gadgets my husband and I bought as a married couple was our pizza stone.

At the time, we often baked homemade calzones on Saturday night. Now we often use it for frozen pizzas or calzones or to reheat leftovers.

Although a pizza stone is fairly easy to care for occasionally, it may get kind of sticky and stained and need a little extra care.

With proper care, pizza stones last forever! The number one rule to remember is NEVER use soap on the stone. Because it's a porous material, the soap can seep into the stone and cause your food to taste odd and soapy.

How to Wash a Pizza Stone the Correct Way

What You'll Need

• baking soda
• spatula or chain mail

Everyday Washing

When it comes to daily or weekly cleaning of a pizza stone, you can simply wash it off with warm water and a clean dish cloth. Then let it air dry or dry it completely with a towel.

If you don't have any stuck food or black stains on your stone, just plain warm water should get it clean.

Deep Cleaning a Pizza Stone with Baking Soda

Sometimes pizza stones need a little extra cleaning.

If your pizza stone is sticky or has baked on food then you should soak it to help loosen before actually cleaning it.

You can see below my pizza stone has some sticky stuff plus baked-on food.

STEP 1: Start by filling up your sink with hot water. Place the pizza stone in the hot water and let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how dirty it is.

STEP 2: Once your pizza stone has soaked then drain the water and scrape off any food still stuck on the stone.

You can either use a spatula to scrape it off or chain mail. I love this chain mail scrubber from Amazon.

I use it on both my pizza stone and cast iron and it makes cleaning them so much easier.

When you get all the burnt-on food off the pizza stone you can then move on to any sticky stuff that remains.

STEP 3: Sprinkle a little baking soda over the sticky area and use a scrub brush or the chain mail to really scrub at it.

The baking soda should help remove any of the sticky residues. You can see below how the baking soda made a paste to remove all of the leftover debris.

STEP 4: Once all of the sticky stuff is off, then wash off the pizza stone and dry it. Your pizza stone still may be dark from the food, but all the stains should be off of it.

STEP 5: You will want to let it air dry for about 6-8 hours before you use it again.

Because it was soaking in water it will have absorbed some water and need extra drying time.

Tips For Keeping a Pizza Stone in Good Shape

• Make sure you keep soap away from it and clean it after every use.
• Unlike a cast iron skillet you never need to oil your pizza stone.
• Rinsing it off after each use will minimize how often you need to deep clean it.
• Avoid sudden temperature changes, which can cause the stone to crack. Always preheat and cool the stone gradually along with the oven.
• After washing, let the stone air dry completely before storing it.
• Transfer pizzas and other foods onto the stone using a pizza peel or a similar tool. Avoid dragging heavy or sharp objects on the stone's surface.
• If you're cooking particularly messy or saucy dishes, consider placing a baking sheet or parchment paper on the stone to catch any spills.

Common FAQs

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