DIY Homemade Dish Detergent

This DIY homemade dish detergent is a simple powdered dishwasher soap made from five inexpensive ingredients, and it gets your dishes sparkling clean for a fraction of what you pay for name-brand pods. It takes about five minutes to mix, makes enough for roughly 48 loads, and keeps for months in a jar under the sink.

Why Make Your Own Dish Detergent?

Homemade household cleaners have been around forever, and making your own lets you go green in two ways: saving some green and doing a little less damage to the environment. Sounds like a win-win to me! A batch of this powder costs a few dollars, you know exactly what is in it, and there is no plastic pod wrapper or bulky tub to throw away every couple of weeks. Once you see how easy it is, you may want to mix up a batch of homemade laundry detergent while you're at it, since it uses some of the same ingredients.

All of the ingredients can be found in the laundry aisle at Target, Walmart or most grocery stores. In my experience they are usually hiding down on the bottom shelf, because retailers want you to spend money on the brand names at eye level. Who can blame them, right? The citric acid is usually with the canning supplies at grocery, department or hardware stores.

Key Ingredients & Substitutions

Washing soda. Washing soda (sodium carbonate) is the heavy lifter here. It cuts grease and softens water so everything else works better. It is not the same thing as baking soda, although you can make washing soda by spreading baking soda on a sheet pan and baking it at 400°F for about an hour, stirring once or twice.
Borax. Borax boosts cleaning power and helps lift stuck-on food. If you would rather skip it, replace it with an equal amount of extra washing soda or baking soda; the detergent will still work, just a little less aggressively on baked-on messes.
Kosher salt. Coarse salt acts as a gentle scrubber and helps soften hard water. Plain table salt works too, or use a dishwasher salt if you have it.
Citric acid. Citric acid is what keeps glasses from coming out cloudy. It breaks down hard-water spots and mineral film. Unsweetened lemonade drink mix is a common swap, but pure citric acid is cheaper and leaves nothing sticky behind.
A sprinkle of rice. Rice absorbs moisture and keeps the powder from clumping in the jar. It is optional, but it helps a lot in humid kitchens.

How to Make DIY Homemade Dish Detergent

You will need 2 cups washing soda, ½ cup borax, ¼ cup kosher salt, ¼ cup citric acid and a small sprinkle of rice. This makes about 3 cups of detergent.

Add the washing soda, borax, kosher salt and citric acid to a plastic tub or a half-gallon jar with a lid that seals well.
Stir everything together until it is evenly mixed, breaking up any lumps with the back of a spoon.
Add a small sprinkle of rice, seal the container and give it a good shake.
Use 1 tablespoon per load in your dishwasher's detergent cup, and shake the container each time you pull it out.

Helpful Tips

Shake it before every use. The trick with citric acid is that it pulls moisture from the air and can make the powder stick and clump. That's why I store my detergent in a jar and shake it every time I use it. It probably doesn't need it every time, but it keeps the detergent clump-free and the ingredients well dispersed.

Keep the rice out of the dishwasher. Scoop from the top so the rice grains stay in the jar rather than ending up in your dishwasher filter. If that's a bother, tie the rice into a small square of cheesecloth and tuck it into the jar instead.

Add white vinegar as a rinse aid. Fill the rinse-aid compartment with plain white vinegar. It works hand in hand with the citric acid to prevent spots and leaves glasses streak-free. Vinegar is a great all-around cleaner, too; check out these oddball cleaning hacks that actually work for more ideas.

Adjust for your water. If you have very hard water and still see a white film, add another tablespoon or two of citric acid to the batch or use a heaping tablespoon per load. If you have soft water, you may find that a level tablespoon is plenty.

Scrape, don't rinse. Scrape large bits of food into the trash, but skip the full pre-rinse. Detergents work best when they have a little grease to grab on to.

Variations

Borax-free. Use 2 ½ cups washing soda (or 2 cups washing soda plus ½ cup baking soda) and leave out the borax.
Lemon-fresh. Stir in 10 to 15 drops of lemon essential oil for a clean citrus scent.
Detergent tabs. Mix the powder with just enough water or white vinegar to make it feel like damp sand, press it into an ice cube tray, let it dry for a day, and pop out one tab per load.
Extra-strength. For really greasy pots and casserole dishes, add ¼ cup of oxygen bleach powder to the batch.

Safety & What Not to Wash

These are all common household cleaners, but they aren't food. Label your jar clearly, store it up high away from kids and pets, and wear gloves when mixing if you have sensitive skin, since washing soda can be irritating. Don't use this detergent (or any dishwasher detergent) on items that shouldn't go in the dishwasher in the first place: cast iron, wooden utensils and boards, fine crystal, hand-painted china or aluminum pans. Those are still best washed by hand, along with small appliances (here's how to clean a waffle maker the easy way). If you have a newer dishwasher, check that the manufacturer's warranty doesn't require a specific kind of detergent.

Storing Homemade Dish Detergent

Keep the detergent in an airtight container, like a glass canning jar or a plastic tub with a snap-on lid, in a cool, dry spot. Under the sink works fine as long as there are no leaks. Stored this way, it keeps for several months without losing its cleaning power.

Don't leave the container open or store it next to the dishwasher vent where steam can reach it. Moisture is the enemy here: it makes the powder harden into a solid brick. If that happens, break it up with a fork or pulse it in an old blender that you use only for cleaning products, then add a fresh sprinkle of rice.