If your fridge has started to smell a little strange, you might not need an expensive deodorizer or some complicated cleaning trick. A small box of baking soda can often help. You’ve probably heard the advice before: put baking soda in the fridge and leave it there overnight. It sounds almost too simple, but there’s a real reason the trick works. Baking soda can absorb some of the odor-causing compounds floating around inside your refrigerator, helping make the air smell fresher.
That’s why it can be useful in a refrigerator. Fridges are enclosed spaces, so food odors can hang around, especially when you’ve got strong-smelling leftovers, cut onions, cheese, fish, or an opened container that wasn’t sealed properly.
Because a container of food has gone bad, putting baking soda next to it won’t solve the problem, if your fridge smells. If your refrigerator has a mild, lingering food smell, leaving an open container of baking soda inside overnight may make a noticeable difference by the next morning. The longer it sits, the more opportunity it has to interact with odors in the enclosed space. The shape of the container matters a little, too. A wide, shallow dish gives more baking soda exposure to the air than keeping the same amount tightly packed in a deep container. You don’t need a huge amount. A few tablespoons spread across a small dish can be enough for a simple test. Baking soda can help with odors, but it doesn’t remove the source of those odors. You’ll still need to find and throw out the spoiled food. The same goes for spills. Milk that has leaked underneath a shelf, juice that has dried around a drawer, or food residue stuck in a corner can keep producing smells even after you add baking soda. Don’t put baking soda directly on food, and don’t expect it to make an unclean refrigerator smell fresh. Think of it as an odor helper, not a substitute for cleaning. Putting baking soda in your fridge overnight isn’t a miracle cleaning hack, but it isn’t completely pointless either. It can help reduce mild food odors, particularly when the refrigerator is already reasonably clean.