How To Properly Clean a Pizza Stone? – Easy Steps

    Last Updated on August 27, 2022

    Jim Bob

    Jim Bob

    A long-time contributor to GrillBabyGrill. Jim has had a lifelong relationship with the art of grilling, passed on from his father and grandfather to him.

    how to clean pizza stone

    A pizza stone is a great addition to your outdoor pizza maker when you love pizza and want crispy crust, but don’t have a pizza oven. Pizza stones are the perfect way to make crispy pizza in the comfort of your kitchen, but they do require a bit of special care. 

    The great thing about pizza stones, is that like with cast iron pans, if well cared for a stone can last you for years and years. The more you use them, the better results they achieve. They are a great investment for your kitchen, and well worth the money, if you are willing to make the effort to maintain them appropriately.

    The bummer thing about pizza stones is that they rarely come with good instructions on how to care for them for best results. So, to help you make the most of your pizza stone, and to ensure that it is a long-lasting investment for your kitchen, we’ve put together this helpful guide to caring for your pizza stone.

    1. Tools You Need

    The great thing about cleaning your pizza stone is that you don’t need a ton of tools. This means that you can easily care for your pizza stone, with basic items you have in your kitchen right now. When it comes to caring for your pizza stone one tool you don’t need is dish soap. 

    Dish soap is the quickest way to ruin your pizza stone. Also, you definitely don’t need your dishwasher. Like with dish soap, your dishwasher can damage your stone, so just skip the automatic washing. Here are the tools that you do need when it comes to cleaning your pizza stone.

    Plastic Pan Scraper or Spatula – The key here is “plastic”. Only use plastic tools on your pizza stone. Using metal can scratch your stone, and harm the “seasoning” on your stone. The seasoning is what makes the stone non-stick and awesome for making crispy pizza, cookies or snacks.
    Damp Paper Towel or Washcloth – You may need to use a bit of water to get some foods off of your stone. The key here is a damp towel. You don’t want so much water that it permeates your stone. Just enough to remove crumbs or sauces.
    Hot Oven – You’re going to want to season your stone, especially before your first use, so a hot oven is a must.
    Vegetable Oil – Another part of seasoning your stone. We like vegetable oil, but any oil that doesn’t have a strong flavor will work.

    So, now that you know what you need to clean your pizza stone, here’s the process that you should follow, to clean your stone, and keep it working great for a long time.

    2. Step By Step Cleaning

    Let’s be clear about cleaning your pizza stone. A “dirty” pizza stone is the best kind of pizza stone. It may be challenging to grasp this concept, but once you understand the importance of oils from your foods when it comes to seasoning your stone, you’ll never want to “wash” your pizza stone again. 

    Here is our recommended process for cleaning your pizza stone.

    1. New stones need to be cleaned prior to use. If your stone is new, do take the time to clean your stone.
      • Wipe down your stone with a damp paper towel. Never submerge your stone in water or get it excessively wet. Too much moisture will crack your stone.
      • Set your oven to 350 to 400 degrees.
      • Apply a bit of vegetable oil to a paper towel and wipe down the stone.
      • Bake stone for 30 minutes to “season” the stone.
    2. Now that your new stone is “clean” you can use it for all sorts of foods. Don’t be afraid to use it for cooking gooey foods, cookies, pizza, rolls, you name it your pizza stone can handle it.
    3. When your foods are done, let the stone cool. Handling a hot stone can result in burns, and could cause your stone to crack.
    4. Using your pan scraper or spatula (plastic only, remember!), scrape any stuck on foods from the pizza stone. You may need to work a little at this, especially the first few times that you use your stone. Until the stone is fully seasoned and has a nice “non-stick” coating, you’ll have more remnants to remove.
    5. If you’ve made something with sauce you’ve got smears of cheese, chocolate or the like, use your damp paper towel or washcloth to wipe off your stone. Remember, don’t submerge your stone in water, or use a wet washcloth. Slightly damp will do and will keep excess moisture from soaking into the stone.
    6. If you want to “sanitize” your stone after it has been cleaned, heat it in your oven at 400 degrees for about a half an hour. This will allow any grease on the stone to soak in, and “season” the ceramic, and it will kill any bacteria that might be on the stone.

    3. Helpful Hints

    Here are some things to keep in mind as you’re learning to care for your pizza stone.

    A stone that is stained and discolored is the best kind of stone. Don’t worry if you can’t get grease off of your stone, or if cookies or breads leave a mark. This is how your stone becomes seasoned and creates a great surface for cooking. A well cared for, clean but seasoned pizza stone will be almost black after being used for many years.
    Water is enemy number one. Your stone is porous, and that is how it does so good at crisping crust. However, this also means that if it gets wet, the water will soak into the stone. When you heat a wet stone, the water expands and will crack the stone.
    Enemy number two is soap. No one wants their pizza or cookies to taste like soap. Soap, like water will soak into the stone and transfer its flavor to your foods. So skip the soap.

    So there you have it, the simple steps for cleaning your pizza stone so that it provides you many years of cooking enjoyment. Remember, and we can’t stress this enough, avoid soap and water when it comes to caring for your stone. 

    Don’t be afraid of a stone that is discolored and greasy, this is a perfectly cleaned stone, and will give you the most amazing, crispy pizza, straight from your oven.

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    ? Jump straight to each topic

    1. Tools You Need

    2. Step By Step Cleaning

    3. Helpful Hints