TikTok hasn’t just entertained us while we’ve been hunkering down at home, the wildly popular platform has also been a source of genius kitchen hacks. We learned how to fill an ice cube tray the right way (yep, there is a right way), and how to clean your dishwasher filter. (Who knew your dishwasher had a filter, right?)

Thanks to TikTok, we just got a lesson in pot-scrubbing without all the elbow grease. We’ve all been there. Maybe you forgot about the stew that was re-heating on the burner, and you ended up with a hopelessly burnt pot that no amount of soaking or scrubbing gets clean again.

What’s the Secret?

According to creative_explained, a tips and hacks account with close to one million followers, the secret to getting your pots and pans looking like brand new is a dryer sheet. Yes, really!

All you need to do is fill the pot up with water to a couple of inches, give a few squirts of dishwashing soap, then lay one or two dryer sheets in the water and let it soak for one hour. That’s it! All of the crusted on food will have dissolved, leaving you with the simple task of wiping and rinsing the pan out.

TikTok is such a rich trove of kitchen hacks, we even learned an alternative method of cleaning burnt pots. Hint: grab a dishwasher tablet.

What Is This Magic?

Clearly, we’re not scientists, but no one seems to be really sure why dryer sheets work on stubborn stuck-on food. We would guess it has something to do with the sheet’s conditioning properties. All we know is that it works!

If the thought of dryer sheet chemicals in your cookware gives you pause, you can also check out our favorite tried-and-true products for tackling tough-to-clean pans.