Dawn Powerwash Recipe Calculator

The recipe, and why each ingredient is there

Dawn Powerwash is a dish soap spray, and the trick is that it is mostly water. The bottle you buy is a thin, alcohol-cut dish soap solution that sprays instead of squirting, which lets it cling to a vertical pan and soak into burnt-on food. Refilling it takes three ingredients and about a minute.

• Dish soap, 4 tablespoons for a 16-ounce bottle. This is the surfactant that lifts grease. Dawn Platinum and Dawn Ultra are the usual picks because they cut grease well, but any grease-cutting liquid dish soap works.
• 70 percent isopropyl rubbing alcohol, 1 1/2 tablespoons. The alcohol thins the soap so it flows through the sprayer, and it helps dissolve greasy films. Without it, the soap clogs the nozzle.
• Distilled water, about 13 1/4 fluid ounces. The water carries the soap and keeps the concentration low enough to spray. Distilled rather than tap, so minerals do not spot glass and bacteria do not grow in a bottle you keep for months.

Published versions of this recipe vary a little. Bob Vila's version uses 4 tablespoons of dish soap, 1 1/2 tablespoons of 70 percent rubbing alcohol, and distilled water to fill, which is what this calculator starts from. Other versions use 4 tablespoons of soap and 2 tablespoons of alcohol. Both work, and the extra-alcohol version is slightly stronger on baked-on grease but dries faster on the surface.

Two things matter as much as the ratio. Let the bottle sit for 4 hours before the first use so the alcohol and soap fully combine, and never mix this with bleach or ammonia. For safer cleaning products in general, the EPA Safer Choice program lists ingredients to look for, and the CDC's cleaning and disinfecting guidance covers when a plain soap spray is enough and when you need a disinfectant.

Worked example: a 16-ounce bottle

Start with an empty 16-ounce Dawn Powerwash bottle, which is the size the sprayer was designed for.

• Bottle: 16 fluid ounces
• Dawn dish soap: 4 tablespoons (2 fluid ounces)
• 70 percent rubbing alcohol: 1 1/2 tablespoons (0.75 fluid ounce)
• Distilled water: 13.25 fluid ounces (26 1/2 tablespoons)
• Cost at typical prices: $0.69
• The same bottle from the store: $4.96

Check the arithmetic. A 16-ounce bottle holds 32 tablespoons, and the recipe uses 4 plus 1.5, so 26.5 tablespoons of water is what remains. The cost comes from $0.26 per fluid ounce for Dawn, $0.09 per fluid ounce for rubbing alcohol, and about $1 per gallon for distilled water.

That $0.69 buys a bottle that behaves like the $5 refill on everyday grease, a saving of about 86 percent. If you go through a bottle a month, the difference works out to roughly $51 a year. Change the price fields in the calculator to your own store prices and the answer updates.

Worked example: a 32-ounce bottle

A quart bottle means fewer refills and a lower cost per ounce, because you buy the soap and alcohol in larger containers.

• Bottle: 32 fluid ounces
• Dawn dish soap: 8 tablespoons (4 fluid ounces)
• 70 percent rubbing alcohol: 3 tablespoons (1.5 fluid ounces)
• Distilled water: 26.5 fluid ounces
• Cost: $1.38
• The same 32 ounces from the store: $9.92

Nothing changes but the scale. Soap and alcohol both double with the bottle size, and the water takes whatever is left. The cost per fluid ounce stays at about $0.04, against $0.31 for the store refill.

One warning about big batches: the alcohol evaporates over time, so a quart you mix in January is weaker by summer. If you do not use a lot of spray, mix 16 ounces at a time and keep the ingredients on the shelf instead.

Recipe amounts at a glance

Every bottle size this calculator handles, at regular strength:

For extra strength, add 1 more tablespoon of dish soap and half a tablespoon more alcohol per 16 ounces, then top up with water as usual. That brings a 16-ounce bottle to 5 tablespoons of soap and 2 tablespoons of alcohol, and pushes the cost to about $0.84.

Whichever size you mix, use the original Powerwash bottle if you have one. Its sprayer is built for a thin solution, and a cheap dollar-store spray bottle often leaks or dribbles with this mix.

What it cleans well, and what to keep it away from

This is a grease and food-residue cleaner. Used that way it performs close to the commercial product.

• Great: greasy pans, baking sheets, air fryer baskets, stovetops, range hoods, microwave interiors, stainless steel sinks, glass and ceramic.
• Fine with a wipe and rinse: sealed granite and quartz, painted cabinets, tile, vinyl flooring.
• Keep it off: marble, travertine and other natural stone, which the alcohol can etch; bare aluminum; non-stick coatings you do not want stripped; and screens, glasses and camera lenses.
• Do not use as a disinfectant: it kills some germs by lifting them off, but it is not a registered disinfectant. For that, follow the label on a product approved for the job.

Spray, wait 1 to 5 minutes, then wipe. The waiting does more work than scrubbing, because the surfactant needs time to get under the grease. On burnt-on oven grime, no DIY version matches a dedicated oven cleaner, so use one of those instead.

Safety, storage and shelf life

Three safety rules cover almost every accident with this mix.

• Never combine it with bleach or ammonia. Mixing cleaners can release chlorine or chloramine gas. Use one product at a time, and rinse the bottle thoroughly before switching.
• Keep it out of reach of children and pets, and store it upright. The soap and alcohol are low in toxicity, but swallowing either is still a problem, and alcohol-based sprays sting if they get in eyes.
• Do not spray it near an open flame or a hot burner. The alcohol in the mist is flammable while it is airborne.

For storage, keep the bottle sealed and out of direct sunlight. A batch lasts about 3 to 6 months, and the alcohol content slowly drops as it evaporates, so an old bottle feels weaker. If the liquid turns cloudy or smells off, dump it and mix fresh.

Rinse food-contact surfaces with water after wiping, especially cutting boards and countertops where you will put food directly. That is good practice with any cleaner, not just this one.