How to Clean Your Grill, According to Experts

I live in Florida, where we have two grilling seasons: when you sweat while grilling and when you sweat a lot when grilling. I’ve heard rumors that people who live north of me sometimes put their grills away to protect them from cold, wet winters. The closest I come to that is when I sometimes put mine away if a hurricane is on its way. So, I’m unfamiliar with the ritual of taking my grill out of storage for grilling season, but many of you aren’t.

Because your grill has sat around collecting dust and (probably) moisture, spiffing it up for this thing you call “grilling season” will help you get the best performance and flavor out of it, be it charcoal, gas, or pellet. Plus, a little care, cleaning, and routine maintenance can help prolong its lifespan.

To get the scoop on how to refresh your grill after a season in storage, I reached out to Dustin Green of Weber and Jared Pippin of Traeger. They filled me in on deep-cleaning best practices so you can break out the tongs and start grilling some brats in no time.

Before You Store, Empty the Grill Out

You didn’t put your grill in storage with a full ash pan, some leftover charcoal, or a hopper full of pellets, right? These moisture magnets can cause rust and create unnecessary gunk for you to clean out (and pellets can rot—ick). Even if you don’t store your grill for the off-season, it’s good to empty your grill, hopper, or ash pan regularly, particularly if you won’t cook on it for a few weeks. 

Pippin recommends storing pellets in an airtight food storage container, like a Cambro, to minimize dampness and exploded pellets. This guidance is also good for keeping charcoal dry.

Breaking Out the Grill? First, Break It Down

Green recommends breaking your grill down to the bare elements at least once a year. For a gas grill, that means removing the grates, the radiants (the heat-diffusing bars that sit above the burners,) the burners, and the drip pan or other grease management system. For charcoal grills, that’s the cooking grates, the charcoal grate, and the ash collection system. Pippin says you’ll want to do the same with pellet grills, removing the grates and grease trap.

Once you’ve removed all the components, scrub off any buildup in the firebox (to prevent corrosion or grease fires) with a nylon or silicone scraper. Metal scrapers will probably remove the buildup quicker, but you’ll risk damaging the firebox’s metal sides and bottom. Do the same with the lid, ensuring you don’t damage the built-in thermometer probe if your grill has one. Greene points out that many charcoal grill owners will think the lid’s interior paint is flaking off onto their food when it’s really creosote buildup from burning charcoal, which a light scraping removes easily. Finally, empty and scrape out your drip tray and grease trap.

Vacuum It Out

After scraping the sides and lid, use a wet/dry vacuum to clean up the debris you’ve knocked loose. Pippin recommends paying extra attention to the area around a pellet grill’s ignitor, as that’s a prime place for creosote collection. This can interfere with reliable pellet lighting, giving you inconsistent temperatures and off-flavors.

Use a Grill Brush to Clean the Components 

Now is the time to grab your favorite grill brush and clean the components. I like the GRILLART Grill Brush and Scraper for its metal bristle design and wrap-around cleaning head. (However, follow your manufacturer’s recommendations on the brush type and material to comply with any warranty stipulations.) Pippin and Green recommend thoroughly scrubbing the cooking grates with a brush to remove any food remnants or carbon buildup. 

When detailing a charcoal grill, use your brush to clean the charcoal grate in the same manner. For cleaning gas grills, use your grill brush to clean your radiants, removing any buildup or rust. The next gas grill component is the burners, which may need some extra attention. First, Green advises brushing each burner’s surface lengthwise, not across, to avoid stressing the metal and bending the burners out of shape. Then, examine the holes in the burner where the flames come out, looking for any carbon deposits that may clog them. If you find any clogs, poke them out with a toothpick. Don’t use anything harder, as it may damage the burner. 

Now is a good time to mention that using oven cleaner or other caustic cleaner on a direct cooking surface is best avoided. Not only is it a food safety concern, but it may void your warranty.

Give It a Bath

Reassemble your grill, then, as a final step, give it a quick bath before using it. Close the lid and splash the exterior with mild dish soap and water. Then rinse it off with some clean water and a sponge, let it air dry, and you’re good to go. 

Should You Clean a Grill Hot or Cold?

You’re in the heat of grilling season and after cooking a particularly messy rack of barbecue ribs, need to give the grill a little touch-up cleaning. Do you let the grill cool down or strike while it’s hot? 

The hot or cold is a debate best settled by your grill manufacturer and the type of grill brush you like. Pippin says Traeger recommends a cold cleaning to preserve the life of your cleaning accessories. Green (and I) believe nothing cleans like fire. A hot grill is easier to clean after you let the stuck-on food carbonize from burning for a bit. Some grill brushes, like one of our favorites from OXO, are specifically made for use on cold grills. 

Some grill brush makers recommend dipping your brush in soapy water to clean your grates when they’re hot, but that’s not great for two reasons. First, Green points out, is that you’ll leave a soapy residue on your cooking surfaces. Second, he continues, is that introducing moisture to your grill also invites rust. Dry, hot brushing is the best method, in my opinion. 

The last consideration is whether to clean before or after cooking. When cleaning the grill after cooking, you turn up the burners to incinerate any stuck-on food before brushing it off. This method requires a bit of extra gas, charcoal, or pellets. 

If you want to clean your grill before you throw on some hot dogs, let the preheating process burn off gunk from the last grill sesh, then brush it off before cooking. In my humid, Florida environment, I’ve found that this method allows for mold growth and can eat away enamel-coated cast iron burners faster than necessary. Given that, and the possibility of dirt, fungus, lizard tracks, or hornet’s nests finding their way into the grill between uses, I’m a before-and-after cleaner.  

FAQs

How often should you clean a grill?

According to Pippin and Green, you should follow three cleaning phases at different intervals.

• Every Time: Clean your cooking grates every time you use your grill. Also, dump ashes from charcoal grills with the same regularity. But let them go out first, please.
• Monthly: If you’re a heavy griller, clean your drip tray and grease collection system monthly, if not more frequently.
• Annually: Deep detail your grill as I described above at least once a year, and even more for humid environments or with heavy use.

How do I remove buildup from my grill?

Remove gunk on your grates with a grill brush. Buildup in your firebox, lid, or drip pan is best handled with a plastic or silicone scraper so as not to damage the grill’s metal components. When you’ve scraped the buildup off, use a wet/dry vacuum to clean up. 

Why We’re the Experts

• Greg Baker is an award-winning chef and restaurateur-turned-food-writer who grew up camping and learned to cook on a scary, zero-safety-features grill before he could verbalize properly.
• For this piece, Greg interviewed Dustin Green, the head grillmaster at Weber, and Jared Pippin, the vice president of product management at Traeger. 
• We’ve extensively reviewed grills—pellet, charcoal, gas, and even portable offerings.