Clean Your Grill Directly After Each Use
We know its a pain, and youd rather listen to the siren call of beer and hot dogs, but cleaning your grill of grease and burnt-on food directly after use is both hygienic and an excellent way to stop rust forming.
If you have a stainless steel grill, avoid using a wire brush to clean it as this will strip the coating off the steel and leave it vulnerable to corrosion.
How To Clean Hot Plates
Cleaning the plates while theyre still hot will make your job much easier and maximise the results.
Hot plates have a flat surface and tend to get food stuck in them. To make them clean again, remove the food from the plate and leave the BBQ turned on for a while. The heat will burn off anything left on the plate. After that, take a spatula and scrape the residue left from the food. You can also use a newspaper for scrubbing. Just make a ball from it and scrub it on the plate.
Once the BBQ has cooled off, pour a bit of cooking oil on the plate and wipe it up with a brush. After that, use a microfiber cloth to dry it up.
Before the next use, repeat the procedure. Pour some cooking oil and distribute it evenly with a brush until the BBQ gets too hot.
How to clean greasy plates?
Hot temperatures kill the bacteria, but you can still get sick if old fats go into your food. Its not the bacteria that may cause diseases, and its the toxins they contain.
To get rid of the grease from your plates, turn the BBQ to a high temperature and let it warm up. Scrape off the surfaces with a spatula or a scraper until the residue is removed.
Turn off the BBQ and sprinkle salt on top of the surface. Let it absorb the excess grease. When the BBQ is cool enough, use paper towels and wipe up the surface.
How to clean rusty plates?
Step 4: Pour regular cooking oil on the BBQ plate and rub the surface with the grill stone. Pay extra attention to the rustiest spots.
Warning:
Seasoning method:
What Happens If You Dont Clean Your Grill
If you dont clean your grill, it will continue to accumulate grease, baked-on food, and charcoal. Your food will start to taste like the inside of your grill, which is not pleasant. Also, with enough baked-on food in your grill, it may catch fire. It will also start to smell of old food if you dont clean it consistently.
That wraps up our guide on how to clean your gas grill with minimal effort. Hopefully one of these strategies works well for you. Have fun barbecuing!If you liked this article, check out our other articles below!
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Inspect All The Parts
The annual cleaning is a good time to inspect all the parts and replace any that are worn or damaged. Grill burners can eventually wear out, as can the heat deflectors and other parts. Hardware stores sell many of the parts necessary to tune up a grill, and the grill manufacturer may offer them for sale online.
Soak The Grill Grates And Metal Pieces In Hot Water And Dish Soap Soak Them In Your Sink Or A Large Plastic Bin
At this point, youre probably hoping that you dont have to scrub the grill grates vigorously. Luckily, you dont. Just fill your sink with hot water and dish soap and let the grates soak. Some grill grates will be too big to fit in your sink. In that case, set your grill grates in a shallow plastic container with hot soapy water.
If you dont have a plastic bin handy, you can try the strategy we used to clean stove top grates. Learn more right here.
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How Do Youdeep Clean A Propane Grill
Deep cleaning your gas grill is when you will need to remove and replace certain parts to clean them.
Clean the burner valve with soapy water, running water through the inside of the valve.
Clean the inside surfaces of the grill using a nylon-bristle brush dipped in warm soapy water. Rinse with clean water.
When all surfaces are dry, reinstall the burner valves, burners and heat tents.
HOT TIP: To protect your gas grill from rusting, its very important to thoroughly dry the inside surfaces as well as each and every part thats washed or rinsed with water before you reinstall them.
Check your operating manual before cleaning the outside of your grill. Certain materials may be sensitive to harsh cleaning agents. For a stainless-steel exterior, use a specially-formulated stainless-steel grill cleaner and micro-fiber cloth. Ceramic, porcelain and painted steel surfaces can usually be cleaned with a sponge using a solution of mild dish soap and water.
A Painless Way To Clean Stainless
Its safe to clean your grill when its cool to the touch. For regular cleaning, Weber and Char-Broil, both big sellers of gas grills, suggest using a dedicated stainless steel cleaner. But Char-Broil agrees with other manufacturers that you can also use a mild liquid dish detergent mixed with warm water. Avoid harsh cleaners such as bleach.
Use a soft cloth or microfiber cloth. Paper towels can be rough and scratch the surface. And never use steel-wool pads or steel brushes, which can permanently damage the finish.
Go with the grain of the stainless finish, which is usually from side to side rather than up and down. Wiping against the grain can scratch the surface.
Rinse with clean water if youre using soapy water.
Dry with a clean soft cloth to prevent water stains that can occur from air-drying.
As for polishing your stainless grill, several manufacturers recommend against polishing the lid or other parts that get really hot. While not all polishes will discolor with heat application, many leave a film that can, says Kyla Camick, a spokeswoman for Napoleon. But she says its okay to use it on cooler parts of the grill. Using outdoor stainless polishes on components such as the side shelves, doors, and control panel will help ward off surface discoloration and corrosion, she adds.
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After Each Use: How To Clean Grill Grates
If your food did touch the grill grates, you have a few options to clean your grill.
The first option is with a natural cleaner that doesnt have harmful chemicals in it. Let the grill cool, then remove and spray the grill grates with a natural cleaning solution. Scrub the grates with a nylon-bristle brush, a disposable cloth, or heavy-duty paper towels.
If you dont have a natural cleaning solution, you can use an onion or lemon to clean your grates. While the grill grates are still hot, rub half an onion or lemon along them. If the grates are especially dirty, dip the lemon half in salt to help it scrape food particles off, or spray the grill grates with distilled vinegar before scrubbing.
Grease Food And Moisture Can Take A Toll
Keeping stainless steel kitchen appliances smudge-free and shiny is hard enough. Keeping a stainless steel gas grill pristine requires even more time and attention. Its outdoors, exposed to the elements sometimes year-round. That exposure is just one reason stainless steel becomes tarnished. Grease, food particles, and moisture all take their toll on stainless, says Cindy Fisher, who oversees grill testing at Consumer Reports.
If youre going to do just one thing for your stainless grill, keep it clean, says Kevin Kolman, a spokesman for Weber, which makes grills with both stainless and porcelain-enameled lids. In addition to helping the stainless hold its shine, regular cleaning helps preserve its resistance to corrosion.
The more you use your grill and the harsher the environmental conditions, the more youll need to clean it. Salt air speeds up corrosion and rust, so regular maintenanceat least weeklyis especially important if you live near the ocean. Chlorine from a nearby swimming pool can also damage a grills finish if its not cleaned regularly.
Stainless steel varies in quality, and manufacturers may use different grades for different parts of the grill. That explains why maintenance advice may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and grill to grill. Be sure to check your manual or the manufacturers website for how to handle discoloration, tough stains, and rust on your grill.
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Clean All Parts Once Each Year
At the beginning and end of each grilling season, or at least once a year if you grill year-round, give your charcoal grill a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water and a stiff nylon brush or fiber scrub pad.
For complete cleaning, perform this work systematically, beginning with the surfaces up under the hood and moving down to the side walls and bottom of the cooking chamber. Make sure to thoroughly clean the drip pan.
Conclude by wiping down the outside of the grill from top to bottom, using warm water. Wipe dry to prevent rust.
How To Clean Grill Grates
You dont have to clean every part of yourgrill every time, but you should always clean the grate. Food, grease and watercan build up on it quickly, causing corrosion in some cases. Steel grates canbe particularly vulnerable to damage as their coating wears off, but evenceramic-coated high-quality cast iron grill grates can be damaged byimproper handling, causing the coating to chip, and making the whole gratesusceptible to rust. Frequent cleaning will help ensure that it has a longlife, and keep your food tasting great, every time.
Before you clean your grill, its a good ideato check the manufacturers recommendation for which brush to use. Stainlesssteel and uncoated cast iron grates generally wont be damaged by a wire brush,but any grill grate that is porcelain coated may be vulnerable. If youre unsurewhether your grill might be damaged, use a nylon grill brush rather than asteel one. It may take a bit more elbow grease, but youll still be able to getyour grill sparkling clean.
Not quite sure how to clean your grill grates?Heres the basic process to get you started:
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Donts Of Bbq Cleaning
- DONT remove all the greaseWhile you might want to clean your BBQ, you also wouldnt want to remove all the grease and leave it like that. Oils protect the BBQ from rust and prevent dirt from sticking.
- DONT use harsh chemicals for cleaning a BBQHarsh chemicals will affect the taste of the food afterwards and can harm the finish of the BBQ and its components.
- DONT use abrasive scrubbers BBQs with stainless steel finishTo preserve the perfect finish of a stainless steel BBQ, avoid abrasive materials when cleaning. A detergent or a wool cloth will scratch the surface, and it will never look as new. Cleaning in circular motions is a no-no. Test on one little spot before you continue cleaning the whole BBQ.
- DONT disassemble gas componentsWe strongly suggest you dont try to disassemble the gas components of a BBQ because its a safety hazard. If not assembled right, you might have a trip to the hospital instead of having a BBQ party. So its best to leave the gas components as they are.
Benefits Of A Clean Bbq
We all know many health benefits of cooking your food on the grill, from the fact that you use and therefore eat less fat through the fact that the meat retains its nutrients and all the way to the fact that grilled vegetables are better for your health, as they have more vitamins and minerals. However, a few people consider the even bigger benefits of grilling on a clean BBQ.
Its good for your health.
The most important benefit, of course, is the healthy one. Regularly cleaning your BBQ removes build up bacteria in your grill, which can be transferred to your food. More importantly, it removes harmful carcinogens.
A clean barbecue is a safe one.
Another crucial reason is the safety one. A clean BBQ reduces the chance of fire. When youre cleaning the BBQ, youre also inspecting its parts, and thus, you can prevent dangerous gas leaks from worn out parts.
It smells better.
The same goes for the smell. Just as you wouldnt want your vegetables to taste like steak, you wouldnt want them to smell like a stake, either. Even worse than a stake smell is that smoky, rancid grease smell. Dont you think that your family and your guests deserve better than that?
It tastes better.
It prevents pest infestation.
A dirty grill attracts bugs and rodents. Considering that Australia is a country well-known for its many pests, we suppose you wouldnt want to attract even more. prevents an infestation, always keep your grill clean.
Improves the look of the BBQ.
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How Do You Clean A Neglected Grill
If you have neglected cleaning your grill for years, you probably dont want to spend hours scrubbing away at your grill making no progress. Instead, try mixing baking soda and water to make a strong paste. It will break down grease and baked-on food with ease. If youre going to clean your whole grill, you might need a lot of paste. Heres what you need to do.
Use Tin Foil To Wipe Clean
While you can use a specialist BBQ cleaning pumice stone, you can do just as good a job with the leftover tin foil youve been cooking with. If youve been using tin foil on your BBQ, screw it into a ball and just scrub away, says Lynsey Crombie. That will start to lift off the food. a good budget alternative to buying a cleaning tool.
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Every Few Weeks: How To Inspect And Clean Your Smoke Stack
Every few weeks, you should do a deeper clean. Dispose of the old foil or drip tray liners and remove the drip tray and heat baffle. Vacuum the inside of the grill and firepot with a shop vacuum, and scrub the inside of the chimney with cloth or paper towels. Spray the inside and outside of the grill with your cleaning solution and let it soak. Wipe away with a disposable cloth or paper towels.
Finally, return the heat baffle, drip tray, new liners, and the grill grates. It may seem like a lot of work to do every few cooks, but if you take care of your grill, itll take care of you for years to come.
Clean Grates And Racks After Each Use
Cleaning chores are much easier if they are done often, after each use of the grill. This is critical with gas grills since the high temperatures can bake on grease and foods, making it challenging to clean the grates and racks once they cool and the grease hardens.
Make sure to clean these parts after every cooking session.
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Good News: Grilling Season Is Almost Upon Us Before Firing Up Your Gas Grill Take Some Time To Learn How To Clean It
If your gas grill is a workhorse during the warm weather months, its worth learning how to clean it. Follow any of these options to get your gas grill clean, which will help your food taste great and keep your grill in good shape for years to come. Be sure to tune up your grill at the start of the season, too.
For grilling safety, always make sure your grill is cool and both the grill and its gas supply are turned off before you start cleaning.
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Read This Before Using Oven Cleaner On Your Grill
There are few chores worse than scrubbing down the grill before a big backyard barbecue. Of course, it was great fun and great food that put it in its dirty state in the first place, but all that burnt, caked-on food from grilling meals during weeks past can be downright gross. Obviously, you should be cleaning your grill between uses with your grill brush, but every so often, you need a deep cleaning the type of cleaning that revitalizes your grill to its youthful glory days and makes it feel as clean as it did the first time you used it.
For Your Grill recommends you do your grill’s deep clean once a year if you are a seasonal griller and twice if you use it year-round. The cleaning generally should be done at the end of the season so there is little prep work that needs to happen when you go to fire it up the next year. That said, when it does come time to clean your grill, your first instinct might be to reach for the oven cleaner, after all, it works so well to clean up your oven grime. But before you do, SF Gate shares that if you don’t use the oven cleaner properly, you risk damaging your grill.
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How To Clean A Gas Grill
While gas grills dont require the level of cleaning required of charcoal grills after each use, they should be thoroughly cleaned at the beginning and end of each grilling season in order to keep them in top grilling condition. These steps can be followed using either natural gas or propane-powered grills.
After each use:
- Cleaning grill grates is easier with a long-handled stiff-wire brush. If you dont have a brush, ball up some aluminum foil and hold with long-handled tongs.
- Use a rag or folded paper towels to apply vegetable oil to the clean grill grates. This will help prevent rust and food build-up.
- Clean the inside of the grilling lid using mild dish soap and a steel brush.
- Remove the heat deflectors located over the burners and wash with dish soap and water. Dry with a rag.
Before and after each grilling season:
