Shaking the ketchup bottle over your burger can lead to rogue ketchup landing somewhere that isn’t on your plate. A ketchup stain on your t-shirt or sofa may be embarrassing, but it doesn’t have to be upsetting if you treat it properly. Here are the tricks to stress-free ketchup stain removal.

Upholstery

1.  If you’ve got fresh ketchup on your sofa, don’t touch it! If you wipe or smear it around, it’ll only force the ketchup through the fabric of the couch. Don’t even swab off any thick globs.
2.  Wait at least 72 hours, and in the meantime don’t sit on or touch the stain. Leaving the stain alone is the hardest step, but it’s important to let the stain “dry.” This seems counterintuitive, but ketchup is predominately sugar, so as it sets it congeals and turns into a vegetable-flavored Fruit Roll Up (one that we wouldn’t recommend eating).
3.  After a few days, when the stain has congealed, you can simply pick at it with your fingernail or a plastic utensil and pull the ketchup off. If it’s difficult to remove, you can use an ice cube to cool and stiffen it.
4.  After that, if there is any slight discoloring of the fabric, you can use a stain remover stick, gel, or spray. Allow it to sit for a few minutes while it works its magic.

Carpet

1.  Act as quickly as possible, and don’t rub or smear the stain. You don’t want to push the ketchup into the carpet backing.
2.  Use a wet/dry vacuum or plastic utensil to remove as much excess ketchup as possible. Spray a pre-laundry stain remover on the carpet, and let it sit for about 20 minutes.
3.  If the carpet is still discolored, mix one part ammonia to four parts warm water. Put it in a spray bottle and spray the solution over the stain. Use a toothbrush to scrub circles into the carpet for a few seconds, then use your wet/dry vacuum to remove the stain solution. Repeat until the stain is gone.
4.  To remove the ammonia from the carpet, pour warm water over the carpet and vacuum up immediately. For more in-depth details about cleaning ketchup from carpet, check out our previous blog article.

 

Clothing and Fabric

1.  Again, the trick to getting ketchup off clothing, as with other surfaces, is to not smear it. Run it under cold water as soon as possible and allow most of the stain to rinse off. Then gently rub laundry detergent into the stain, starting at the outside edges and moving inward to prevent the stain from spreading.
2.  Add a stain remover stick, gel, or spray to the wet stain. Allow it to sit for a few minutes to soak into the fabric.
3.  Repeat the first step — run the clothes under cold water and apply additional laundry detergent.
4.  If you see ANY discoloration still in the garment, let the clothing soak in cold water for a half-hour, then repeat the steps above.
5.  Once the stain is completely removed, launder as usual. Double-check the stain before you put the clothes in the dryer, because once it’s heated in the dryer the mark will be permanent.
6.  If you still see discoloration after washing the clothing in the washing machine, reapply the stain remover.