How to Clean Your BBQ Grill – Keeping The Grill Clean

With grill season nearly upon us, now’s the time to get your equipment primed and ready for another season of backyard cookouts, burgers, and barbecue. Before you start planning your barbecue, you need to clean the entire grill first, which is good for your health. And cleaning your grill regularly will prolong its life, prevent dangerous outbreaks and simply make your food taste better.

How Often Should You Clean Your Grill?

A monthly maintenance and cleaning schedule will help prolong the life of the grill depending how often you use it. Gas, charcoal, and electric grills should be cleaned once or twice per month. Pellet grills, however, should be cleaned after every use. 

How to Clean Your Grill Grates

Cooking grates definitely do the heavy lifting in high grill season. Recommends cleaning the grates of any food residue when the grill is hot, right after pre-heating. It's easy to make it part of your grilling routine. The best way to clean any surface you grill on is to heat the grill up to 500 to 600 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes and use a grill brush. Brushing all the excess debris down and out of the grill helps prevents any future food from sticking. All other cleaning should be done when the grill is cool to the touch.  

How To Clean a Grill Like a Pro

• Bring on the Heat

If you have a gas grill, turn it on and fire up those burners with the hood closed. Let it heat for at least 15 minutes to help burn off any residual grease or food. If you have a charcoal grill, make sure to throw out any leftover briquettes and just scrape away the grime. Then, take off any removable parts like grease trays, knobs, and racks.

• Soak Away

Turn off your gas grill, make sure it’s completely cooled down. Remove all the grates and flavorizer bars and totally submerge them in a tub of warm, soapy water. Let them soak for at least 30 minutes. Remove anything else from the grill that you can easily take off, such as burner-control knobs, warming racks, and grease trays. The burner tubes on most gas grills are removable, too; look for a single screw or cotter pin on one end of each tube. Stripping down the grill in this way will make it much easier to clean.

• Use a Vacuum

With the grill grates and flavorizer bars removed, the inside of the firebox is exposed and ready to be cleaned. Start by putting an empty bucket underneath the firebox, directly below the grease tray opening, to catch the soapy water and debris you flush out. Use a plastic putty knife to scrape off any caked-on gunk from inside the firebox.
Use your shop vacuum (if you have one) to remove any remaining debris from the burner tubes and lower cookbox. Once the firebox is clean, rinse it out with a garden hose. 

• Scrub and Rinse 

Once your grates have had time to sit, go ahead, and give them a quick scrub with a bristle-free or stiff nylon Grill Brush. Grab your hose and rinse thoroughly until all suds are gone. Then, wipe down with a paper towel or clean cloth, allowing them to air dry.

• Clean the Outside

Fill the bucket with clean water and a few squirts of dish soap. Scrub down the entire outside of the grill using a large kitchen sponge. Be aware that steel wool, metal sponges, and coarse scouring pads can cause scratches, so avoid using them on finished surfaces. After washing the outside of the grill, use super absorbent micro-fiber towels to wipe down and dry all surfaces.

• Burn It

Once the grill is sparkling clean and thoroughly dry, reassemble all the parts you removed. 
If you have a gas grill. Fire up those burners with the hood closed for about 20 minutes. This step helps to burn off any residue that may have been left over during the cleaning process. Plus, it can help confirm that you’ve reassembled your grill correctly.