---
title: "Can you mix baking soda and vinegar?"
description: "Baking soda and vinegar: you can, but it achieves nothing. What actually happens, and what to do instead."
url: https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/baking-soda-and-vinegar/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Can you mix baking soda and vinegar?

**Baking soda and Vinegar: You can, but it achieves nothing**

Safe, dramatic, and it leaves you with salt water.

## What actually happens

Sodium bicarbonate is a base and vinegar is an acid, so they neutralise each other. The fizz is carbon dioxide escaping, and what remains in the bowl is a dilute solution of sodium acetate — salt water. Baking soda cleans because it is a mild abrasive and a base that cuts grease; vinegar cleans because it is an acid that dissolves limescale. Combining them destroys both properties and produces a cleaner weaker than either.

## How people end up doing it

It is the single most shared cleaning tip on the internet, and the visual drama of the fizz is doing all the persuading.

## What to do instead

Use them separately for what each is good at: bicarbonate as a gentle scouring paste, vinegar on limescale and glass. The one place the reaction is genuinely useful is mechanical — the gas can shift a light drain blockage by agitation, not by cleaning.

## Cleaning products

| Combination | Verdict | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bleach and ammonia | Toxic gas | No. This is the classic household poisoning and it produces chloramine gas. |
| Bleach and vinegar | Toxic gas | No. Any acid plus bleach releases chlorine gas. |
| Bleach and toilet cleaner | Toxic gas | No. Most toilet cleaners are acidic, so this is the bleach-and-acid reaction. |
| Bleach and rubbing alcohol | Toxic gas | No. It produces chloroform and other chlorinated compounds. |
| Hydrogen peroxide and vinegar | Do not | No — mixed in a bottle it forms peracetic acid, which is corrosive. |
| One drain cleaner and a different drain cleaner | Toxic gas | No. Drain cleaners come in strongly acidic and strongly caustic types, and combining them is violent. |
| Bleach and hydrogen peroxide | Do not | No — it is exothermic and destroys both, and can spray hot liquid. |
| Vinegar and castile soap | Pointless | Safe, and it curdles into a white mess that is worse than either. |
| Vinegar and ammonia | Pointless | Not dangerous, and they cancel each other out. |

## Common questions

### Can you mix baking soda and vinegar?

You can, but it achieves nothing. Safe, dramatic, and it leaves you with salt water.

### What happens if you do?

Sodium bicarbonate is a base and vinegar is an acid, so they neutralise each other. The fizz is carbon dioxide escaping, and what remains in the bowl is a dilute solution of sodium acetate — salt water. Baking soda cleans because it is a mild abrasive and a base that cuts grease; vinegar cleans because it is an acid that dissolves limescale. Combining them destroys both properties and produces a cleaner weaker than either.

### What should I do instead?

Use them separately for what each is good at: bicarbonate as a gentle scouring paste, vinegar on limescale and glass. The one place the reaction is genuinely useful is mechanical — the gas can shift a light drain blockage by agitation, not by cleaning.

## Related pages

- [Bleach and ammonia](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-ammonia/)
- [Bleach and vinegar](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-vinegar/)
- [Bleach and toilet cleaner](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-toilet-cleaner/)
- [Bleach and rubbing alcohol](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-rubbing-alcohol/)
- [Hydrogen peroxide and vinegar](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/hydrogen-peroxide-and-vinegar/)
- [One drain cleaner and a different drain cleaner](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/two-drain-cleaners/)
- [Bleach and ammonia](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-ammonia/)
- [Bleach and vinegar](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-vinegar/)
- [Bleach and toilet cleaner](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-toilet-cleaner/)
- [Bleach and rubbing alcohol](https://atoneplace.net/can-you-mix/bleach-and-rubbing-alcohol/)
- [Hazard symbols](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/)

## Sources

- US Environmental Protection Agency — EPA (https://www.epa.gov/) [Public domain (US Government)]