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Yay! It’s finally grilling season. It’s time to uncover your grill, clean it and get your grill on. After we go through the steps on how to clean your grill, I’m sharing a few of my favorite grilling recipes. So keep on reading.
How to Clean Your Grill
If you keep your grill in tip-top shape, getting your grill ready for grilling season shouldn’t be hard. In a perfect world, you should do a simple cleanup of your grill after every use. But let’s be real. We have good intentions but sometimes we forget to clean up the grill after we’re done.
Always check your grill’s manual to check for special cleaning instructions.
Cleaning After Grilling Saves Time & Effort
If you have a gas grill, get in the habit of cleaning your grates after every grilling session. After cooking. turn the grill to high to burn off any food residue. After the food has burned off, use a grill brush to make sure all the ash particles are removed.
Once the grates are cleaned, apply a light coating of high smoke point oil (peanut or grapeseed oil) to the grates with a brush or a cloth. This will keep food from sticking and help keep your grates from corrosion.
Spring Clean Your Grill
You’ll need a bucket of warm, sudsy water, paper towels, soft cleaning cloths, and a good grill brush. Toss your old one out if it’s seen better days.
Grates
If you’ve been cleaning and oiling your grates after every cook, your grates just need a quick spring cleaning with a grill brush.
If you haven’t cleaned it lately, turn on the grill and heat on high for a few minutes to burn off food. While the grill is slightly warm, make sure all the dials are on off and disconnect the propane tank. Remove the grates (I suggest wearing work gloves) and soak them in hot, soapy water (Blue Dawn is my recommendation).
Catch Pan & Other Parts
The pan on the bottom of the grill needs to be kept clean as well. Remove the bottom tray from the grill and use a putty knife to gently scrape the debris into a trash can. Deep clean the tray using warm, sudsy water.
Use a commercial grill cleaner to clean other interior parts of the grill.
Exterior and Under the Lid
Clean the inside edges and under the lid with warm, sudsy water. Make sure to wipe again with just water to remove any soap residue.
Repeat by wiping down the outside of the grill with warm, sudsy water. Wipe down with warm water to remove soap residue. Dry with a clean, soft cloth.
To keep your stainless steel grill shiny, use a good stainless steel cleaner for grills.
Helpful Hint: Invest in a heavy-duty, waterproof grill cover and keep it covered when not grilling.
Give Your Grill a Checkup
Your grill needs a checkup from time to time to make sure everything is working perfectly.
Check for Leaks
Inspect your fuel system by checking for leaks. Make sure the hoses are not brittle or crimped. The propane tank should not be rusty or bulging.
Igniters
Make sure the igniters on your grill are in working order. If you don’t hear a clicking noise, change the battery. You should probably change the battery every spring while you’re cleaning the grill.
Clogged Burners
Remove grill grates and baffles. With the lid raised, light your grill and check the burners to make sure they’re not clogged. If a few holes are clogged, use a thin piece of wire to unclog. If there are lots of clogged holes, you may need to replace the burners.
Propane Tank
Nothing ruins a good BBQ like an empty propane tank. Invest in a tank gauge level indicator. They are inexpensive and lets you know when your tank is almost empty.
Now that the grill is clean, let’s have a BBQ! Check out my favorite grilling recipes below.
Blackberry Glazed Grilled Ribs
Cherry-Apple Glazed Grilled Ribs
Peach-Chipotle Grilled Ribs
Ginger and Sweet Tea Infused Ribs
Best BBQ Chicken
Ginger Lime Grilled Ribs
Grilled Marinated Pork Chops
Chipotle Grilled Ribs
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About Alli
All of these recipes look scrumptious! We’ll be trying them out over the summer. You’ve also reminded me we need to clean the grill. It’s looking pretty ick at the moment.
I need to do this! My grill could use a really good cleaning. I would love to try all these recipes that you have put in here too so this just might happen soon so I can grill everything.
Such great tips to keep in mind. We got a new grill last year so we want to keep it looking nice and clean for sure.
I definitely need to do this, we usually grill and then leave it for later cleaning.
These tips are so helpful. I can’t wait to start grilling as soon as it starts to get warmer.
I am so excited for grilling season. This post was really helpful and so timely!
I have to do this over the weekend. We need it badly. For some reason that has become my job. Why???
Those recipes all look great! We haven’t grilled since last summer, so I’m sure our grill needs a thorough cleaning.
We are hoping to get a new grill in the next coming weeks. This post will be really helpful in maintaining it.
This post couldn’t have come at a better time. My daughter is graduating this weekend and we are having a barbecue to celebrate! Appreciate the tips!
This reminds me that I need to clean our grill too. I gotta try one of those recipes.. they all look delish!
Oh I need to do this! I am not sure but I think ours is still dirty because no one wants to wash it.
We sure do all those things before we start grilling. And we are planning to have our first grilling of the season this weekend.
The grilled food season is on and I love it! Thanks for all these fabulous recipes! I will try some of them!
We need to do a thorough spring cleaning because the weather is just starting to warm up now. We like to BBQ in the summer, I am definitely looking forward to it!
This post has it all: general grill cleaning steps, new tips and a few recipes too! It’s all too sweet. Thanks for sharing this, you are a Godsend! All the best!
These are great ways to clean your grill. My husband uses a plank and a brush. They do come in hanndy to remove the grease.