How to clean a cutting board: wood, plastic and bamboo

Step by step: how to clean a cutting board

Safety first. Use plain, unscented bleach and only mix it with water. Never combine bleach with vinegar, ammonia or other cleaners, which releases toxic gas. Wear gloves and keep the kitchen ventilated.

1. 1

   Scrape and rinse right away

   Scrape food scraps into the trash and rinse the board under hot water as soon as you finish. Juice and fat that dry into knife grooves are much harder to remove later.

2. 2

   Scrub both sides with hot soapy water

   Scrub the whole board, including both faces and the edges, with dish soap and a brush. A brush reaches into knife marks better than a sponge. Rinse with clear hot water.

3. 3

   Sanitize after raw meat, poultry or seafood

   Mix 1 tablespoon of unscented liquid bleach into 1 gallon of water. Flood the board’s surface with it, or wipe it on generously, and let it stand for several minutes.

4. 4

   Rinse and dry standing up

   Rinse the bleach solution off with clear water. Pat dry with a clean towel, then let the board air dry standing on its edge so both sides get air and water does not pool.

5. 5

   Lift stains and odors with salt and lemon

   For onion, garlic or stain marks, sprinkle a tablespoon of coarse salt over the board and scrub it in with a cut lemon half. Leave it 5 to 15 minutes, then rinse and dry.

6. 6

   Oil wooden boards when they look dry

   Once a month, or when the wood looks pale and dry, rub a thin coat of food-grade mineral oil or board cream over every surface. Let it soak in overnight, then wipe off the excess.

7. 7

   Replace boards with deep grooves

   Check the surface in good light. If knife grooves are deep enough to catch a fingernail and you cannot scrub them clean, sand a wooden board smooth or replace a plastic one.

How to clean wood, bamboo and plastic boards

All boards get the same hot soapy wash. The differences are the dishwasher and oiling. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service says wood and nonporous boards (plastic, glass, marble) are both acceptable, and that both can be sanitized with the same dilute bleach solution.

John Boos says its wood boards are not dishwasher safe and should never be soaked or submerged, because swelling and drying can split the glued rails apart.

How to clean a cutting board after raw chicken or meat

Wash, then sanitize. Soap and hot water remove most of the residue, and the bleach step kills bacteria left in scratches.

• Wash with hot soapy water first. Sanitizer works poorly on a board still coated in fat or juice.
• Use 1 tablespoon of unscented bleach per gallon of water and let it stand for several minutes before rinsing, as the USDA recommends.
• Keep a separate board for raw meat, poultry and seafood, and another for bread and produce. University of Maine Extension suggests color-coding them so nobody mixes them up.
• Plastic boards can go through a hot dishwasher cycle instead of the bleach step.

Vinegar and lemon freshen a board and help with odor, but they are not a substitute for washing and a proper sanitizer after raw meat.

How to oil a wooden cutting board, and with what

Use food-grade mineral oil or a mineral oil and beeswax board cream, never olive or vegetable oil, which can go rancid and sticky.

• John Boos’s care guide suggests oiling monthly if you use the board daily, and every two to three months for lighter use.
• Warm the board slightly with a towel from the dryer or let it sit at room temperature, then rub in the oil until the wood stops absorbing it.
• Leave it overnight, standing on edge, and wipe off any oil still on the surface in the morning.
• For deep knife marks, sand with fine-grit sandpaper, wipe off the dust, and oil again.

Store boards on edge and away from direct sun, as Boos advises, to prevent warping. For the rest of the room, see our kitchen cleaning checklist.

Mistakes to avoid

• Running a wooden or bamboo board through the dishwasher, which warps and cracks it.
• Leaving a board to soak in the sink, or drying it flat so one side stays wet.
• Oiling a board with olive or vegetable oil, which turns rancid and sticky.
• Using scented or splash-less bleach instead of the plain, unscented liquid bleach the USDA recommends.
• Using the same board for raw chicken and then salad without washing and sanitizing it between.
• Keeping a plastic board with deep, fuzzy grooves that no brush can clean.