How to get curry stains out of the carpet quick 

It’s Saturday night. The mood is set. You’ve nestled into a cosy corner of the sofa while your other half unpacks the spicy feast in the kitchen, aromatic scents wafting through the lounge straight up your nose. Yum. The perfect night in is off to a flying start – until, what? Actual flying curry! You take cover under a cushion to protect your date night PJs, and laugh as a fork goes flying and naan bread catapults bright curry sauce across the floor. 

But fluorescent orange curry on the carpet? Not a problem. When you’re busy enjoying a quality romantic evening with your other half, there’s only one way forward: keep calm and curry on. Cleaning it up is pretty simple anyway when you know how to get curry out of carpet surfaces and fibres. 

How to get curry stains out of carpets 

Getting as many of the surface-level curry stains out of the carpet as you can is your first job, and the better you do here, the easier the rest of the task will be. Grab a spoon and scrape up the wayward curry that’s sitting on top of the carpet.  

The key is to be very gentle and contained, as you don’t want to spread the curry on the carpet further. Work from the edge to the centre. Next, dab a bit of warm water or sparkling water over the area, and then carefully blot with dry kitchen towel to soak up the liquid (and hopefully lots of the stain). Avoid rubbing, as that can push the stain further into the fibres. Why sparkling water? It doesn’t leave a residue, which is very handy, and makes it perfect for rinsing off other cleaning solutions. 

Tip: As Plenty kitchen towel absorbs quickly it makes it perfect for cleaning a curry stain on carpet surfaces and in the fibres, and its 40% more absorbent. Bonus. 

The kit you need to remove curry stains from carpets 

Learning how to get curry stains out of carpet materials is partly about the things you need, and partly about the method you use. We’ll cover the former here: your handy kit to get curry stains out of carpets. You might not need all of these items, but it’s useful to have them to hand.  

You’re only as good as your tools, so make sure you’ve got the following ready to successfully remove a curry stain from the carpet: 

• Spoon 
• Washing up liquid 
• White vinegar 
• Warm water 
• Sparkling water 
• Kitchen towel 
• Rubber gloves 
• Rubbing alcohol 
• Ammonia 

How to remove a curry stain from carpet fibres step by step 

Once you’ve got the gear, you can move onto the process. Bear in mind that with any new cleaning solution you’ll want to check your carpet doesn’t have an adverse reaction by doing a spot test on a small, inconspicuous area first. This is particularly important if you try the ammonia solution.  

Here’s our method for how to get curry out of the carpet: 

1. Start with tidying up the surface by scraping off the excess curry with a spoon, dabbing the stain with warm or sparkling water, and then blotting gently with kitchen towel (see above).  
2. If there’s still a curry stain on your carpet (which is likely), mix one tablespoon of washing up liquid and one tablespoon of white vinegar with 500ml warm water.  
3. Dip a piece of strong kitchen towel into the cleaning solution you’ve made and dab the stain. Blot it with a dry piece of kitchen towel.   
4. Dab the stain with a kitchen towel dipped in plain water (sparkling or warm). Blot with dry kitchen towel to absorb the liquid.  
5. Stain still there? You can now try sponging the stain with some rubbing alcohol, then dabbing with plain water, and blotting dry again afterwards – as before.  
6. If that stain’s still visible, you can try a solution of one teaspoon of washing up liquid and one tablespoon of clear ammonia in 500ml of warm water. You’ll want to wear gloves when working with ammonia, and only try this on a very light coloured carpet (after a spot test). Sponge the stain with the solution and leave for 30 minutes (blotting every five minutes with a clean piece of kitchen towel and more solution), before sponging with cold water and blotting dry. 
7. Leave the carpet to fully air-dry. 

With this advice on how to remove curry stains from carpet surfaces and fibres you can enjoy your date night feasts safe in the knowledge that you can handle it when that Korma becomes a Floor-ma.