How To Clean Grill Grates With Vinegar And Baking Soda

When Is The Time To Buy New Grates

BBQ cleaning with vinegar and baking soda

No matter how it can happen, grates will eventually wear out if you dont take care of them. The issues of rust, wear-n-tear, and rough cleaning can end them sooner for all the wrong reasons. When you see that the grates are getting too pitted from scraping too hard will be a sign. Rusted to the point they are nearly falling off is another! Perhaps you forgot that the weather damaged them through water and rusting.

When you see these signs, its time to get a new grill surface that fits onto your grill. Since this is your cooking table, you better buy a quality metal. If you take good care of that grill, it will last longer without needing a replacement for many decades.

How To Clean Stainless Steel Grates Quick Tips

Stainless steel grill grates can handle 800+ degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than any residential grill will get. Unlike cast iron, stainless steel is somewhat rust-resistant.

The easiest way to clean the grates is to simply brush them. Well go over this method below.

With stainless steel grates, you can use a nylon brush or wire brush, but nylon is the safer bet. You always run the risk of scratching the grates using a wire brush if you press too hard.

Also, the bristles can break off in your grill and cook into your food, which is a health hazard. So just be mindful of how much pressure you use when cleaning your stainless steel grill grates.

Now lets get into eight different methods you can use to make them look nice and shiny.

How To Choose A Best Way To Clean Grill

And if your barbecue is coated with burnt oil and dirt, you dont need to use a professional grill product or harsh chemicals to scrub it. You may use a nylon-bristled pad, scourer cloth, a ball of aluminum foil, or even a paper towel or rag to scrub the interior of your grill with baking soda, depending on what you have on hand. Heat your grill to high heat to burn off and loosen any extra food, then let the grates cool before scrubbing. You may also miss this stage and proceed to the scrubbing right away.

Cleaning a barbecue is simple just follow these steps:

  • Remove all of the pieces from the grill by opening it up. If youre using a gas grill, please ensure the gas is turned off before turning it on.
  • Cleanse the trays.
  • Remove the burner tubes and clean them .
  • Before reinstalling the racks, clean the interior.
  • To keep the grill plates in good shape, brush them with grease.
  • To accumulate fat and avoid fat fires, place a fat absorber in the drip tray.
  • Clean the barbecues exterior.

Now that we know how to do it, check out these tips for keeping your grill spotless.

Also Read: How To Remove Rust From Stainless Steel Kettle

Read Also: How Long Will A Traeger Grill Last

Can You Use Oven Cleaner On A Grill

Spray the grill grates with oven cleaner, coating them thoroughly. You can also spray the interior of the grill with the cleaner, but do not get oven cleaner on the exterior of the grill because it can damage the enamel finish. Leave the cleaner on the grates for 20 to 30 minutes so it can soften the grime buildup.

Can I Use A Brillo Pad On My Grill

Get Your Grill As Good As New With These Easy, Efficient ...

Give your grill a thorough cleaning at least once a year.

Remove the heat deflectors, located over the burners, and scrub them with a Brillo® Heavy Duty Steel Wool Soap Pad and a bucket of warm water. Ceramic, stainless steel, and painted outer surfaces can be cleaned using a Brillo Estracell® No-Scratch Sponge.

Also Check: Do You Keep The Grill Open Or Closed

What Household Items Can You Use To Clean A Grill

Baking Soda

Baking soda is a great natural exfoliant. The small grains gently scrub away build-up on any household item. Sprinkle with a generous amount of baking soda on your grill grate, dip your grill brush in water, and scrub away. The baking soda will lift baked-on residue and leave your grill sparkling like new.

Also Check: Where To Dispose Of Old Gas Grill

Why Is Vinegar Good For Cleaning

The Acidic acid in Vinegar eats through grease and oil left behind after grilling.

The chemistry in the good, old-fashioned household, vinegar turns out to be just the thing for cleaning off the built-up gunk and goo on your BBQ grill.

It takes a little while for the acid to eat through the grime but it not only helps the grill look like new, it also kills any bacteria or germs left over from the last cookout.

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How To Clean A Bbq With Coffee

Having some coffee in the morning is the best way to start your day off right but did you know that you can use this beverage to clean your BBQ?

Coffee is good on your grill grates the acidic nature of coffee loosens the grease on mildly dirty grills.

Cleaning a BBQ with coffee is easy, brew some coffee and pour it in a basin. Soak the grill grates, grilling utensils and oven burners in the coffee and let them sit for one hour.

Scrub and rinse with warm water and your grill grates should be sparkling.

How Do You Clean Grill Grates With Lemons

Here’s How You Clean a Grill Using Vinegar and Aluminum Foil

The lemon rub

Fresh lemon fruit cut in half. Grab a good sized lemon and a good sized knife and make lemon halves. Heat the grill up to a high temperature. Once the grill is heated dip the juicy end of the cut lemons in a plate of salt to add some abrasiveness and use the lemons to wipe the grill clean.

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Hacks To Clean Your Grill

  • Steam: Fill a regular, metal tin from your kitchen with water and boil it on the grill. Push the tin to the side and begin scrapping with a bristle brush. The steam helps the grime come right off!
  • Beer: Pour half a bottle of beer over the top of greasy grates on a warm grill. The beer will break down the oil and grease, and it will come right off when clean with a bristle brush.
  • Vinegar: Put regular, household vinegar into a spray bottle. Spray vinegar all over the grill, then take a balled up piece of aluminum foil and use that as a bristle brush to scrape the grime right off.
  • Onion: Cut an onion in half, put it on the end of your grilling fork and rub it all over the grill grates, then scrub with a bristle brush. The enzymes from the onion will help break down the oil and the grease.

And remember to be extra careful about loose brush bristles left behind on the grill a huge safety hazard. Barbecue brushes have caused an estimated 1,698 emergency room visits from 2002 to 2014, according to a study published in 2016 in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Experts suggest replacing your brush regularly, and inspecting both the grill grates and your food for lose bristles.

Will Baking Soda And Vinegar Clean A Grill

Deep cleaning a BBQ with vinegar Take out the grills and put them in a large plastic bag. Mix one cup of vinegar and half a cup of baking soda in a bowl. Pour the mixture on the grills inside the plastic bag and leave it overnight. Rinse the grills first thing in the morning to get rid of the loosened grease.

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Velesco Wooden Scraper Paddle

For those worried about the abrasiveness of metal scrapers, go with a wooden one like the Scraper Paddle from Velesco. Where metal scrapers can damage certain grate materials , this oak paddle will keep the integrity of your grill intact, molding itself to the shape of your grill with each use. Coated in a food-grade mineral oil for preservation and made from sustainably harvested red oak, this grill cleaner is one you can feel good about using for years to come.

Where to Buy:

Choose Tools That Wont Scratch Your Grill

How to Clean Grill Grates

Whether youre giving your grill a once-over cleaning or a deep clean, youll need a few easy grill cleaning tools. Just make sure they wont hurt your grills finish or function.

Our team likes to use soft sponges and wooden scrapers. Plastic tools are OK as long as your grill is cooled down. In some cases, you may be able to use rougher scrubbing tools like a premium quality grill brush to scrape away debris from grates.

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How Do You Clean A Grill With Baking Soda And Vinegar

How do you clean a grill with baking soda and vinegar? Mix one cup of vinegar and half a cup of baking soda in a bowl. Pour the mixture on the grills inside the plastic bag and leave it overnight. Rinse the grills first thing in the morning to get rid of the loosened grease.

How do you clean a grill with baking soda? Grill Grate Cleaning Method: Vinegar + Baking Soda

Put them in a garbage bag and add 2 cups of vinegar and 1 cup of baking soda. Close up the bag and let the solution soak for 8 hours or overnight. Then, rinse the grates and scrub off any remaining food bits, using a ball of foil or a scrubby sponge.

What is the easiest way to clean a BBQ Grill? Vinegar: Put regular, household vinegar into a spray bottle. Spray vinegar all over the grill, then take a balled up piece of aluminum foil and use that as a bristle brush to scrape the grime right off.

How do I clean a dirty grill? Mix a solution of 20 percent dish soap and 80 percent water in a spray bottle, then open the lid of your grill and spray down the inside of the upper cookbox. Leave the solution to dissolve the grease for a few minutes, then brush it thoroughly with a stainless steel brush.

How To Clean Cast Iron Grates Quick Tips

Cast iron grill grates are incredibly durable. They can tolerate any temperature that youd be able to generate. Even though cast iron pans are durable, water is not their friend. It can cause rust.

So, avoid soaking your cast iron grill grates in water to clean them. Instead, use a brush or burn off the food. Well go over these methods a little later.

To help prevent rust, wipe your cast iron grates with vegetable oil after youre done cleaning.

Like with porcelain grates, avoid wire brushes or steel wool. These tools are too abrasive and may damage the finish.

Recommended Reading: Cleaning Stainless Steel Bbq Grates

Can You Clean A Bbq With Wd40

WD-40 is suitable for cleaning and protecting your grill during the winter months, and it also acts as a rust repellent. The manufacturer recommends spraying WD-40 on any of the barbecue units moving parts and coating its interior before seasonal storage. Always wash the grill again before using.

Best Scraper: Chargon Ultimate

How to Get Your Grill Sparkling

Its the perfect alternative to using a wire brush. Its also handy to hang up with your other BBQ cooking tools. This design comes with a leather strap for hanging on your grill when you need to use it. It has an angled blade design that wraps around of the grate for better coverage on your grates.

Read Also: How To Season Cast Iron Grill Grates Weber

How Do You Clean A Disgusting Grill

How To Clean A Dirty BBQ Grill

  • Wait until the grate cools completely.
  • Spray it with oven cleaner and put it in a garbage bag to sit overnight.
  • The next day, use the scraper and a garden hose to give the grate a good scrub. The gunk should come right off.
  • Dry the grate thoroughly to prevent rust.
  • 22 . 2020 .

    How To Clean Porcelain Grill Grates

    For occasional grillers, the benefits of porcelain grill grates are obvious: They dont require as much care as cast-iron grill grates, but they can still handle high heat and dont rust. That said, porcelain grill grates do require a little TLC every now and then. Heres how to clean porcelain grill grates in four easy steps.

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    Unicook Nylon Bbq Brush

    Love the ease of a brush, but dont want to risk biting down on one of those wire bristles gone rogue? Then the Unicook grill brush is your perfect alternative to a wire bristle brush. Made with thick and difficult-to-break nylon bristles, this brush not only makes stray bristles easier to spot, it also gives you a better clean thanks to its angled design. Complete with a scraper attachment for added cleaning capability, this brush is the multifunctional cleaning tool youll need every grilling season.

    Where to Buy:

    Should You Grease Your Grill

    Can You Use Vinegar To Clean Grill Grates?

    Oiling your grill grate helps prevent food from sticking when cooking. To to this, dip a wadded paper towel in a little oil and, using tongs, wipe the oil evenly over the grate. Be careful not to use too much oil, because thats a sure fire way to start a good flare-upa little goes a long way here.

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    Cleaning A Bbq With Baking Soda

    Take out the grates and sprinkle some baking soda on them. Work on the grills using a scouring pad until they sparkle. You can also dip the scouring pad into some baking soda and scrub the racks until theyre clean. Rinse them off with warm water and your BBQ is spotless and ready for the next grill party.

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    How To Clean Cast Iron Grill Pan Parts With Vinegar

    Vinegar is something of a miracle product. You can use vinegar as a DIY aluminum polish or to wash your clothes, and vinegar also works well as a preservative. Vinegar is particularly adept at cleaning oxidized aluminum patio furniture and eliminating mold and mildew from all kinds of surfaces.

    Because of its acetic acid content, vinegar is an active cleaning agent that eats away at grime and dirt its a great way to clean a rusty grill and sanitize it at the same time. You can harness that cleaning power to get your cast iron grill looking beautiful again and ready for cooking your next outdoor meal.

    This section looks at how to clean a cast iron grill using recipes with vinegar. When you need a little extra oomph for cleaning gas grill grates and other cast iron pieces, vinegar is a time-tested and proven winner.

    We show you a fantastic recipe for cleaning cast iron with salt and vinegar, and youll also learn how to clean cast iron grill pan parts with a long vinegar soak for the worst cases.

    If you dont have a grill but use your oven to grill without a grill, you can also use vinegar to clean the interior of the oven, as well. This miracle product cleans almost everything in the house and sanitizes it at the same time.

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    What Are The Three Major Steps In Cleaning The Gas Stove

    Whether yours is gas or electric, follow these three simple steps to clean and make it look like new. For gas stoves, take off grates and soak them in hot, sudsy water. Remove stains with a sponge, then rinse and towel dry. For electric stoves, remove the coils and wipe with a sponge do not submerge them in water.

    How To Clean Bbq Grill Grates With Vinegar

    Cleaning Hack: How to Clean Rusty Grill Grates

    Every time you use the grill it gets messy.

    Bits of food and grease get stuck to the grates and some even fall down below into the grill.

    If youre using a charcoal grill, then its even dirtier because of the ash.

    Ash is not that big of a deal. You just scoop it up or if youre clever suck it up with a vacuum cleaner.

    The real problem is the burnt food residue on the grates.

    If you dont clean them after every cooking session, it will get layers of dirt and grime, and fat.

    Thats not only unsanitary but also detrimental to your health.

    The most simple solution would be to just scrub the grates with a wire brush. Hold on. This stuff is burnt on pretty badly, kind of like glue.

    Instead of spending hours scrubbing your ass off, why dont you try a different approach?

    In this guide, Ill show you one of the most simple and effective ways to clean grill grates by using vinegar.

    Its natural, cheap, every household and store has it, and its super effective.

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    How To Clean Rusty Grill Grates With Vinegar

    White vinegar is an extremely adaptive natural cleaning agent that can be used to clean just about anything, including rust. It is inexpensive and can be found almost anywhere. A spray bottle can be made by mixing two parts vinegar to one part salt. Cover the grates completely with the vinegar solution and place them in an old plastic bag to cure overnight. The next day, after the grill grates have been wet overnight, wipe the grates down with an old towel to eliminate any remaining rust residue.

    How To Clean Your Bbq With Lemon

    The bigger your lemons, the better . Slice the lemons in half and dip them into salt crystals. Heat up your BBQ, and then rub and squeeze your lemon halves all over the hot charcoal grill. You’ve got abrasive action from the salt, and cleaning and antibacterial action from the citric acid.

    Lemons are useful all around the home take a look at these ways to use lemon to clean your home.

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