How to Get Rid of Lingering Cooking Smells in Your Kitchen

Posted By: Truly Free Home|Posted On: 8/21/2026

Quick Start Guide: How to Get Rid of Lingering Cooking Smells

Maintaining good ventilation during and after cooking is the biggest thing you can do to cut down on lingering aromas. Use your range hood and open windows to keep air circulating.
Tidy as you go to minimize the amount of time smelly messes sit in your kitchen.
Clean up thoroughly. Make sure dishes are completely washed, counters are wiped down, and food scraps are tossed away.
Scent the room to your liking. Use an ingredient-conscious room spray or a simmer pot on the stove to fill the air with pleasant scents.

Simple Methods to Minimize Odors While You Cook

Maintain Good Air Flow

Air circulation is the most important factor when it comes to keeping odors under control. If possible, open windows and use the fan in your range hood. Just like it keeps the fire alarm from going off when something gets a little too crispy, opening windows helps let out the kitchen air and let in fresh air. For an added boost, set a fan in your window and point it outward.

Especially if you’re cooking on the stove, using your range fan is crucial for eliminating odors. Depending on the type of range hood in your setup, the way it operates differs. If you have a ducted, or vented, hood, it works by pushing the inside air through a pipe and out of your house. If you have a ductless hood, it works by cleaning the air through filters (generally metal mesh and charcoal for grease and odors) and then recirculating it back into the kitchen via vents.

Air purifiers are another tool that can help with unwanted smells. They help eliminate smoke and other odors by pulling the air in, cleaning it with its filters, and then recirculating the clean air back out into the room.

Tidy as You Go

Cleaning while you’re cooking is a great way to ensure that odor-causing messes don’t stick around too long. Put dirty dishes you’re no longer using directly into the dishwasher. Scrape food trimmings into your compost or garbage bin. Wipe up spills and splatters immediately, and, if you’re frying something, consider using a splatter screen to prevent those messes in the first place. If you’re too busy chopping and sauteing to clean while you cook, clean up as soon as you’re done eating—but not before! The chef deserves a hot meal too.

Simple Methods to Minimize Odors After You Cook

Clean Up Thoroughly

Cleaning up the kitchen after making a meal—especially if you’re cooking for a crowd—can be overwhelming. Between all the dishes and drippings and dirty towels, it can be easy to miss odor-causing messes and areas where unpleasant smells can accumulate.

Start by tackling the dishes. For any really stuck-on messes, soaking the dishes is helpful, but it can also cause food smells to hang around longer than we’d like. Instead, opt for Truly Free Home Heavy Duty Pot & Pan Spray to cut through stubborn messes faster and with less scouring. And when you’re done with the dishes, don’t forget to run and clean your garbage disposal.

Next, wipe down surfaces, taking care to remove any crumbs or food particles. Cleaning sprays like Truly Free Home Everyday Cleaner are great for gently getting rid of food residue and leaving your counters and stovetop looking fresh and clean.

Finally, take out food waste. Just because we can no longer see the food scraps and packaging doesn’t mean that they aren’t still there—and emitting smells. If you keep a compost bin in your kitchen, make sure to clean the container with hot, soapy water regularly and consider using a charcoal filter to keep unwanted aromas to a minimum.

Scent to Your Content

Get rid of lingering cooking smells by replacing them with other (more pleasing) smells. Use an air freshener like Truly Free Home Space Freshener to quickly and easily add a light, refreshing fragrance to your kitchen. You can also make a simmer pot with your favorite aromatic herbs, spices, and citrus and let it simmer on your stovetop for long-lasting natural fragrance.

Our favorite way to get rid of unpleasant cooking smells, though? Start baking dessert!

SHOP TRULY FREE HOME