The mistake most advice makes is treating "dish towel" as one category. In practice, a towel that dried your hands after washing up and a towel you used to wipe down a cutting board after raw chicken are not the same laundry risk and shouldn't be treated the same way.
The Three-Question Test
Before you toss a dish towel in with regular laundry, ask:
1. What did it touch? Water, clean dishes, or dry hands → low risk, fine to combine. Raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs → high risk, wash separately in hot water. General food prep, sauces, counters → moderate risk, use your judgment based on visible soil.
2. How does it smell? A musty or sour smell means bacteria have already had time to build up. Odor is a reliable signal that a towel needs its own hot wash, even if it looks clean.
3. What's it about to go in with? Pairing dish towels with other kitchen cottons (aprons, other dish towels, and cotton napkins) is lower-risk than pairing them with delicate clothing, bedding, or anything you can't wash in hot water.
If the answers land on "low risk" across all three, combining is fine. If any answer lands on "high risk," separate the load.
Why the Research Gets Cited Both Ways
You'll often see the same University of Arizona finding that a large share of sampled kitchen towels carried coliform bacteria used to argue both "always wash separately" and "regular washing handles it fine." Both readings miss the actual point of the research: it's an argument for washing towels frequently and at a high enough temperature to kill bacteria, not a verdict on which laundry basket they belong in. A dish towel washed every few days in hot water is safer than one washed weekly, regardless of what load it's in.
How to Do It Safely Either Way
If combining with regular laundry:
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Stick to a warm or hot water setting; cold water won't reliably kill bacteria.
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Group with similar fabrics (cotton with cotton, linen with linen) so nothing gets damaged by a hotter cycle than it's rated for.
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Skip fabric softener; it coats fibers and reduces absorbency, which matters more for towels than most laundry.
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Pre-treat visible stains before the cycle, not after.
If washing separately:
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Use the hottest water your towels' care label allows.
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Add bleach (in the dispenser, not directly on the fabric) for heavily soiled or odorous towels. Check that your towels are bleach-safe first, since embroidery or trims sometimes aren't.
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Run a small, dedicated load rather than waiting to fill a full one; waiting means the towels sit soiled longer.
A Simple Rotation Keeps This From Being a Daily Decision
Most of this debate disappears with a decent towel rotation. Keeping three to four cotton dish towels in circulation one in use, one drying, and one or two clean and ready means you're never scraping by on a single overused towel, and you naturally wash more often, which matters more than which load you use.
Know More: The Different Uses of Dish Towels
You don't need a strict rule you follow every single time. You need a quick read on what the towel's been doing. Clean, lightly used towels can absolutely join a regular wash. Anything that touched raw protein, grease, or has picked up an odor deserves its own hot-water load. Get that distinction right, and the rest detergent, water temperature, and fabric softener matters far less than most laundry advice makes it sound.
For more on keeping your towels in good shape between washes, rotation, drying, and when to replace them, see our guide on keeping dish towels fresh for their right-term use.
