The Best Dish Soap

Buying Guide

There’s nothing worse than spending money on a bottle of dish soap that doesn’t get your pots and pans nice and clean. You want a quality dish soap that can tackle everything from grease to stuck-on foods. That way you can spend less time at the kitchen sink and more time with your family and friends.

As you search for the best dish soap, look for a brand that has been dermatologist tested if you have sensitive skin.

You’ll also want to consider specialty dish soaps made for families with infants and toddlers if you have small children at home. For example, you’ll want a bottle that is free of fragrances, dyes, phosphates and phthalates. This formula is safer to use when washing your baby’s bottles, pacifiers and sippy cups. They also tend to be cruelty-free and never tested on animals.

Determine how effective the dish soap is against grease and stuck-on foods. Dawn Platinum Liquid Dish Soap & Sponge, 3-Pack is one brand that is well-known for tackling these issues. In fact, it’s listed as being four times more powerful at lifting away grease and able to release stuck-on foods in just a few seconds.

MORE: The Best Kitchen Soap Tray

When you’ve narrowed down your search for the best dish soap to a few choices, go with the one that has a pleasant scent. Some dish soaps use a mixture of floral and fruit notes to create a sweet-smelling dish soap that will make you look forward to cleaning up after a meal.

• Most dish soaps leave hands feeling dry afterward. It’s good practice to keep a bottle of moisturizing lotion next to your dish soap. After you’ve finished washing the dishes, you can rehydrate your hands with the lotion.
• Some dish soaps have a potent smell that may not be ideal for individuals who have an aversion to strong odors.

MORE: This dish soap dispenser eliminates clutter on your kitchen counter

• Store bottles upright or in a leak-proof bag. Reviewers report that the bottles leak when placed on their sides.
• Concentrated soaps may require additional rinsing to be fully free of any soap residue.
• Dish soap can be used to pre-treat stains on clothing, as well as a laundry detergent substitute if you run out and can’t get to the store right away.
• Amaze your children with a fun magic trick using dish soap. Place some water in a bowl and decorate the surface of the water with black pepper. Coat your child’s finger in dish soap and have them stick their finger in the center of the bowl. The pepper will scatter like magic.
• If price is a factor in your selection of dish soap, you’ll need to compare the price per ounce. To get to this figure, you need to divide the total cost by the total number of ounces being sold. The Dawn Platinum Liquid Dish Soap & Sponge, 3-Pack is pretty affordable.