A method for cleaning a machine for liquid or semi-liquid food products, with said machine comprising: at least one container forming a processing chamber intended to convert a basic mixture into a finished product and provided with a mixer inside said processing chamber; thermal treatment means intended to exchange heat with said processing chamber, said method being characterised in that it comprises, in combination, the following steps: - a) pasteurising said basic mixture or finished product in the container at each predetermined first time interval by extracting said basic mixture or finished product from the container and reintroducing it into the container, thereby establishing a recirculation of the basic mixture or finished product in the container through a closed path, wherein the extraction and reintroduction of said basic mixture or finished product in the pasteurising step a) are performed continuously by activating a pump to cause recirculation of said basic mixture or finished product contained in the container through the above-mentioned closed path; - b) performing the following sequence of operations at each predetermined second time interval,: - emptying the basic mixture contained in said first container; - washing said first container using a washing fluid; - at least partly filling said first container with a cleaning fluid and subjecting said cleaning fluid in the first container to a heating thermal treatment; - c) disassembling and cleaning at each predetermined third time interval at least part of the components of which the machine consists and which are intended to make contact, in use, with the basic mixture or with the product, wherein the first time interval is less than the second time interval and the second time interval is less than the third time interval and wherein the predetermined third time interval is between three months and twelve months, the predetermined second time interval is between 3 and 43 days and the predetermined first time interval is less than 30 hours. - a) pasteurising said basic mixture or finished product in the container at each predetermined first time interval by extracting said basic mixture or finished product from the container and reintroducing it into the container, thereby establishing a recirculation of the basic mixture or finished product in the container through a closed path, wherein the extraction and reintroduction of said basic mixture or finished product in the pasteurising step a) are performed continuously by activating a pump to cause recirculation of said basic mixture or finished product contained in the container through the above-mentioned closed path; - b) performing the following sequence of operations at each predetermined second time interval,: - emptying the basic mixture contained in said first container; - washing said first container using a washing fluid; - at least partly filling said first container with a cleaning fluid and subjecting said cleaning fluid in the first container to a heating thermal treatment; - c) disassembling and cleaning at each predetermined third time interval at least part of the components of which the machine consists and which are intended to make contact, in use, with the basic mixture or with the product, wherein the first time interval is less than the second time interval and the second time interval is less than the third time interval and wherein the predetermined third time interval is between three months and twelve months, the predetermined second time interval is between 3 and 43 days and the predetermined first time interval is less than 30 hours. - b) performing the following sequence of operations at each predetermined second time interval,: - emptying the basic mixture contained in said first container; - washing said first container using a washing fluid; - at least partly filling said first container with a cleaning fluid and subjecting said cleaning fluid in the first container to a heating thermal treatment; - emptying the basic mixture contained in said first container; - washing said first container using a washing fluid; - at least partly filling said first container with a cleaning fluid and subjecting said cleaning fluid in the first container to a heating thermal treatment; - c) disassembling and cleaning at each predetermined third time interval at least part of the components of which the machine consists and which are intended to make contact, in use, with the basic mixture or with the product, wherein the first time interval is less than the second time interval and the second time interval is less than the third time interval and wherein the predetermined third time interval is between three months and twelve months, the predetermined second time interval is between 3 and 43 days and the predetermined first time interval is less than 30 hours.