Begin cleaning a bad-smelling blender bottle by rinsing it with warm water and mild dish soap. Then, pour a foaming mixture of baking soda and vinegar into the bottle and lid and allow it to soak overnight. Once the bottle is done soaking, scrub it thoroughly with a bottle-cleaning brush to remove residue from the lid grooves and mouthpiece. Then, dump used coffee grounds into the bottle, put the lid on, and allow it to sit for 2–3 hours. Once the coffee grounds have finished absorbing any bad smells, dump them in the trash. All that’s left is to rinse out the bottle, allow it to dry, and then reuse it.
Table of Contents
Why Does Your Blender Bottle Stink?
Your blender bottle smells bad after it’s held a protein shake because of the plastic it is made from. BPA-free plastics are safe to use, but they absorb small molecules, including the foul-smelling compounds that grow in old protein shakes.
- Bacteria that feed on old protein shakes produce a foul smell.
- The BPA-free plastic that most blender bottles are made from can actually trap foul smells.
- A good deep cleaning can remove the smell from your blender bottle.
Protein shakes contain several compounds that bacteria love to feed on. A byproduct of bacteria feeding on the remains of an old shake in your blender bottle is a bad smell. So, leaving your blender bottle until it begins to stink means the smell can actually enter the plastic of the bottle. However, you can fix this with a few cleaning steps.
Are Blender Bottles Machine-Washable?
Almost all blender bottles are safe to wash in your dishwasher. However, you should check the manufacturer’s guidelines before putting your bottle in the dishwasher. Bottles and lids should be placed in the top rack of the dishwasher. The wire ball in the bottle should be placed in the silverware tray.
- Most blender bottles are machine washable, but it’s best to check the guidelines for your product before machine washing.
- If you put a blender bottle in the dishwasher, place the cup and lid on the top rack.
- Wash the wire ball in the silverware tray of your dishwasher.
In many cases, washing your blender bottle in the dishwasher will help to eliminate foul odors. However, in some cases, the spoiled protein smell will stick around. To solve this problem, follow our steps for cleaning your blender bottle.
6 Steps to Clean a Foul-Smelling Blender Bottle
If your blender bottle has a bad odor that won’t go away, you can fix it overnight. Here’s how to get your blender bottle back to smelling like new:
Rinse with Soap and Water
Begin by using warm water, dish soap, and a sponge or scrubber pad to clean the bottle thoroughly. This will remove loose debris and start to combat the smell of a spoiled protein shake. If there is stubborn residue in the grooves of the lid or the bottle (where the cap screws on), don’t worry about this just yet. We’ll tackle tough residue in later steps.
Soak with Vinegar and Baking Soda
Fill the shaker bottle one-fourth full with water. Then, add 1 tablespoon (15 grams) of baking soda. Next, add a small amount of white vinegar to the bottle. This mixture will begin to foam. Keep adding vinegar until the bottle is full of foam, but not overflowing. Then, add the metal shaker ball to the bottle. Allow this mixture to sit overnight.
Treat the Lid
While your blender bottle is soaking in a baking soda and vinegar mixture, turn the cap upside-down on the counter. You can place a dish towel or other cloth around the lid to keep it stable. Then, fill the lid with vinegar and allow it to soak overnight, along with the bottle.
Scrub Grooves with a Bottle Brush
Once your bottle and lid have soaked overnight in vinegar and baking soda, empty them and scrub the inside of both the bottle and lid with this cleaning brush. Pay special attention to the grooves and mouthpiece inside the lid. Then, scrub the grooves on the bottle where the lid screws onto the top.
Give Your Bottle the Coffee Ground Treatment
To kill any lingering odors that survived the vinegar and baking soda soak, dump used coffee grounds into your blender bottle. Coffee grounds will absorb and kill foul odors, but won’t leave a persistent smell themselves. After making a cup of coffee, simply dump the grounds into your blender bottle, screw on the cap, and allow it to sit for 2–3 hours. Once this time has passed, open up the lid and dump out the coffee grounds.
Rinse, Dry, and Use
Once you’ve finished all the previous cleaning steps, rinse out your shaker bottle with warm, soapy water to remove any coffee ground residue. Do the same for the bottle lid and wire shaker ball. Then, place the bottle, lid, and ball on a drying rack. They won’t have any lingering scent and will be ready for use as soon as they’re dry!
How Do You Clean a Smelly Shaker Bottle?
The best way to clean a shaker bottle that has a persistent bad smell is to:
- Rinse the bottle and lid with warm water and dish soap.
- Pour baking soda and vinegar into the bottle and allow this foaming mixture to soak overnight.
- Set the lid upside-down on the counter, fill it with vinegar, and let it soak overnight next to the bottle.
- Scrub the grooves in the bottle and lid with a brush designed for bottle cleaning.
- Dump used coffee grounds into the bottle, put the lid on, and let it sit for 2–3 hours.
- Rinse and dry your blender bottle.
With these steps, you can transform a smelly shaker cup back into a usable bottle. To prevent bad smells in the future, rinse out your bottle right after you get home from the gym. Protein powders that are left inside the bottle can produce bad smells overnight.
