Here's How to Properly Sanitize Your Dirty Dishes—Whether You Have a Dishwasher or Not

Cleaning your dishes properly can help prevent foodborne illnesses in the kitchen. However, almost the entire kitchen—from the sink, sponges, and towels to dishwashers—can harbor harmful bacteria.

E. coli and other germs can survive on kitchen sponges for up to 16 days and microfiber towels for up to 13 days, according to research conducted in commercial kitchens. Bacteria can also live and thrive in a dishwasher, especially if it stays moist for a prolonged period.

But with good hygiene practices, you’re much less likely to get sick from harmful germs.

“If you wash your dishes with warm, soapy water and rinse thoroughly, you’re doing a really great job,” said Janet Buffer, MPH, RD, a food safety expert and senior institute manager at the Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University.

Do You Really Need to ‘Sanitize’ Your Dishware?

People often use the terms “cleaning” and “sanitizing” interchangeably, but these have different meanings in the food safety world.

Cleaning physically removes visible debris, like leftover food. Scrubbing a plate with soap and hot water might not kill the germs, but it will help remove some—if not all—of them. Sanitizing is an additional step after washing and rinsing. This requires very hot water or a chemical sanitizer like chlorine bleach to reduce the number of germs to a safe level.

Dishwashers accomplish this with detergent and jets that spray hot water on the dishes.

“Dishwashers are better [at sanitizing] because they can reach temperatures as high as 160°F where hand washing is only 120°F max,” Larry Ciufo, senior test project leader in the dishwashers lab at Consumer Reports, told Verywell in an email.

Most dishwashers also have a sanitizing cycle, which can eliminate 99.9% of food soil bacteria, but you don’t need to use this cycle on a daily basis, according to the home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool.

Once a month, run your dishwasher with only two cups of distilled white vinegar to help remove debris buildup. After the vinegar cycle, sprinkle one cup of baking soda and run a hot water cycle to keep it smelling fresh.

If you don’t have a dishwasher, the best way to clean dishes is with a two-basin method.

Fill your sink with hot, soapy water, and fill another sink or a container with cooler, clean water. Remove any leftover food, scrub the dish in the first container, and then rinse the dish in the second container.

To sanitize without a dishwasher, you can use a chemical solution. Fill a container with a chlorine bleach solution: Chlorox recommends using 2 teaspoons of bleach for one gallon of cool water, but check the instructions on your specific sanitizing solution to determine the right ratio. Let the dishes soak in the solution for about two minutes before letting them air dry.

Since most plates and utensils are not porous, you don’t necessarily need to sanitize these dishes after every use, according to Melissa S. Wright, MS, an associate extension specialist and director of the Food Producer Technical Assistance Network at Virginia Tech.

"If you're using a knife and a plastic cutting board and you're cutting raw chicken, you should think about sanitizing that cutting board every time you use it and then keeping it only for raw meat," Wright said.

Don’t Forget to Clean Your Dishwashing Tools

Kitchen sponges have pores where bacteria can live, so it’s good practice to sanitize sponges frequently in the dishwasher or in a bleach solution. It’s also important to replace your sponge about once a week, but before throwing it away, use it to clean the inside of your dishwasher.

“Wipe down the inside of the walls to get any debris or hard water stuff off, and then run a sanitizing cycle on the dishwasher,” Wright said.

You should also clean your sink after doing dishes or preparing raw food. A recent USDA study found that the kitchen sink was the most often contaminated surface after study participants prepared a meal with raw sausage, eggs, and fruit.

Buffer said to use a dishcloth and dish soap, or a cleanser like Comet or Bar Keepers Friend, to scrub the sink and reduce the buildup of debris.

“Cleaning your sink after doing dishes will be beneficial, especially if you just washed a cutting board that had raw product,” Buffer said.

If you want to dry your dishes, it’s best to let them air dry rather than use a dish towel. Studies have found that cloths and towels in home kitchens can harbor bacteria and potentially cross-contaminate, or transfer the bacteria to another source.

“When you’re putting them away, make sure your hands are clean,” Buffer said. “You don’t want to do all that work and then use the restroom and then handle your dishes right away.”