A method for cleaning a machine for liquid or semi-liquid products, said machine comprising: - a first container intended to contain a liquid or semi-liquid basic mixture or finished product and also provided with related means for thermal treatment of the liquid or semi-liquid basic mixture or finished product, a mixer, and a second container connectable to said first container for feeding said basic mixture to the first container, the method comprising, in time sequence, the following steps: - a) emptying the basic mixture or finished product contained in said first container; the method further comprising the following phases, in combination: - b) washing said first container with a washing fluid and emptying of the washing fluid from the first container; - b1) activating the mixer inside the first container, for a predetermined time during said washing of said first container; - c) at least partly filling said first container with a cleaning fluid and subjecting said cleaning fluid in the first container to a pasteurising thermal treatment between 65°C and 85°C carried out by recirculating said cleaning fluid contained in said first container, that is to say, by continuously extracting the cleaning fluid from the first container and introducing it into the first container, thereby making said cleaning fluid travel along a closed path including the first container, said method being characterized in that it further comprises a further step of emptying the basic mixture contained in said second container and a further step of washing said second container with a washing fluid and wherein it comprises a step of recirculating said cleaning fluid between the first container and the second container, that is to say, a step of transferring said cleaning fluid from the first container to the second container and vice versa, continuously and along a closed path including the first container and the second container, the method further comprising, during the phase of recirculating said cleaning fluid between the first container and the second container, a phase of activating, at predetermined time intervals and for a predetermined time, a pump for transferring the product from the first container to the second container and activating the mixer of the second container, to allow a recirculation of the cleaning fluid between the two containers (3, 2), wherein a cleaning cycle comprising the set of said steps from a) to d) is carried out at a predetermined time interval between 65 and 80 hours. - a first container intended to contain a liquid or semi-liquid basic mixture or finished product and also provided with related means for thermal treatment of the liquid or semi-liquid basic mixture or finished product, a mixer, and a second container connectable to said first container for feeding said basic mixture to the first container, - a) emptying the basic mixture or finished product contained in said first container; the method further comprising the following phases, in combination: - b) washing said first container with a washing fluid and emptying of the washing fluid from the first container; - b1) activating the mixer inside the first container, for a predetermined time during said washing of said first container; - c) at least partly filling said first container with a cleaning fluid and subjecting said cleaning fluid in the first container to a pasteurising thermal treatment between 65°C and 85°C carried out by recirculating said cleaning fluid contained in said first container, that is to say, by continuously extracting the cleaning fluid from the first container and introducing it into the first container, thereby making said cleaning fluid travel along a closed path including the first container,