Best Way To Clean Grill Grates Without Brush (Easy 6 Ways)

I am a grilling enthusiast and like to organize a BBQ party with my bosom friends and family. Even sometimes, I arrange BBQ parties twice or thrice a week. 

That’s why my friends call me a grill man instead of my name. But, I don’t like to clean my grill after enjoying the yummy grilled food. So I used a wire brush to clean the grill quickly.

One day one of my friends who was invited to my party told me cleaning a grill with a wire brush isn’t hygienic, and there are many disadvantages. 

So, He told me about 6 organic ways how to clean grill grates without a brush. Let’s see what are they. Shall we?

What Are The Best Ways To Clean Grill Grates Without Brush

My friend said the organic cleaning tools are just near your hand. So it takes less time to clean the grill organically. 

• Using Steamer 
• Using a Half Onion
• Oil the Grill in Advance
• Snag a Nylon Scouring Pad
• Clean up With Aluminum Foil
• Cleaning BBQ Grill With Baking Soda and Vinegar

Let’s go further discussion 

Clean Up With Aluminum Foil

• First, remove the lid of your grill. 
• Check how much rust is on your grill grates. 
• Put your hand gloves and crumple up the aluminum foil like a tennis ball. 
• Now, line the grill with aluminum foil to remove the rust and dust. 
• Scrub the foil for some time until the grill grates clean properly.
• After scribing the grates with aluminum foil, wipe the grill with a dry cloth. 
• So the grill grates’ remaining dust will fall with the dry cloth. 
• Then enjoy the delicious food.

Precautions: The aluminum foil is soft, and you use it as a scrubber on the hot grates, so carefully rub the grates. You may burn your hand if you can’t manage the foil properly while rubbing. 

Snag A Nylon Scouring Pad

• Take a nylon scouring pad from your kitchen to clean the grill grates. 
• Through the pad, gently rub your grill grates for quick and easy cleaning. 
• After cleaning by nylon pad, take the grill stone, 
• Softly rub the grill stone over the grates, forth, and back. 
• Try to notice when all the rust and dust are coming to loosen from the grates. 
• In the meantime, mix some drops from the dishwasher with the bucket of water and rinse the grill. 
• After rinsing the grill, pat it dry with a soft dry cloth.  

Precautions: Grill stone is very hard. So when you rub the grates, be careful about your hand. Once the stone hurts you, it will suffer you a long time.

Also Read: How To Keep Grill From Rusting Out (7 Secrets)

Clean Grill Grates Using Steamer 

• First, heat your grill to 600°F, and 
• Make the grill hot enough to quickly clean the grill. 
• After turning off the heat, place a small bucket of water into the grill grates. 
• Close your grill lid to steam the water. 
• When the grill gets enough steam, take a silicone sponge to scrub the grill grates to remove the rust and other fatty deposits. 
• When you finish cleaning the grates, wipe the grates with a dry cloth to make them dry. 

Precautions: Steaming means performing your job with warm water. While cleaning your grill with warm water, be aware of burning your hands.. 

Using a Half Onion

Yes, the first organic way is to use a half piece of onion. You have to apply this when the grill grates are hot. 

So you can clean your grill grates after finishing grilling because, at that time, the grates remain hot. 

• Take an onion and a sharp knife. 
• Cut the onion in half with the knife. 
• Hold the onion piece with the tong by cutting the side down. 
• Now, rub the onion on your grill grates to remove stuck food debris. 
• Onion has enzyme acids, which help to bring out the food debris from the grill grates. 
• After completing the cleaning process, dispose of the remaining onion piece. 
• When you do the job, be careful about your hand as you perform the job when the grill is still hot.

Precautions: While you cut the onion with a sharp knife, carefully handle the knife. Otherwise, you may cut your fingers if you become a little careless about holding the knife.

Also Read: Essential Tools To Upgrade Your Backyard Grilling

Cleaning BBQ Grill With Baking Soda And Vinegar

Baking soda and vinegar are beneficial to clean the grill grates. The chemical reaction of these two elements quickly removes the iron’s rust. 

So to clean your grill 

• Mix up the vinegar and baking soda properly with the bucket of water. 
• Wet the grill grates into the water for at least 30 minutes. 
• When the grates are getting wet, the gunk debris and rust come to loosen from the grates. Now, rub the grates with a soft scrubber to remove the gunk and rust. 
• After that, rinse the grates with clean water and wipe them to dry. 

Precautions: You must ensure the ratio of baking soda and vinegar when you mix them up. It helps to get maximum performance from the cleaning process.

Also Read: How To Clean George Foreman Grill (Basic & Advance)

Oil The Grill In Advance

If you spray or wipe some oil on the grill grates before starting cooking, there is a high chance not to stick foods with the grates. To do the job, 

• Pour some drops of oil into a small bowl. 
• Wet a soft sponger into the oil and rub the oil over the grates. 
• If you oil the grates, then the foods don’t burn while cooking. 
• So it doesn’t develop any stickiness, and you can cook the grilled food properly. 
• And the grates don’t get messy too much while cooking. 

It will be easier to clean oily grates than clean the burner grates. Don’t forget to use oil from time to time when you cook the food to avoid food debris and getting food stickiness.

Precautions: When you use oil on the grates, be aware not to fall the oil on the floor. If oil drops on the floor, it makes the floor slippery, so quickly wipe them with a dry cloth.

Which Way Do I Follow Most And Why

Actually, I was also falling into this confusion when my friend suggested it to me. Then I decided to apply all the ways one after another to detect the easiest and fastest way. Once I used one method, and another time I applied it another way. 

By changing the procedures one after another, I can detect that the most straightforward, painless, and fastest ways are using half piece of onion and aluminum foil.

Why Those Are The Easiest And Simplest Way

The onion and aluminum foil process takes only two to three minutes to clean the grill grates, whereas all the other methods take more time to finish all the steps. 

But, applying the onion process and aluminum foil isn’t the right way to clean the grates. 

It would be better when you have some time in your hand you have to use baking soda and vinegar or adopt the steamer process to clean the grates. But when you have limited time on your hand, then you apply the fastest ways. 

Advantages Of Cleaning Grill Grates Without  Brush

Here, cleaning your grill is essential, but the cleaning process isn’t less important. If you adopt the right way to clean your grill, it will mitigate the cleaning hassle. 

You will get some advantages if you clean your grill by following some organic ways instead of using a wire brush. The advantages are

Easily Manageable Equipment: The 6 organic ways all need straightforward elements to clean the grill. Even everybody keeps them at their home. So you don’t need to worry about collecting these tools.

Save Money and Time: If you clean your grill with a wire brush, you have to buy a brush after some months because the brush will lose its sharpness after using it sometimes.

Nevertheless, you have to go to a shop or research online to buy the brush. But when you convert your cleaning process from wire brush to organic ways, you don’t have to face all of these things. 

Organic Means a Healthy Way: Organic is the synonym for healthy things. And it is also true when I am talking about cleaning your grills. When you use natural elements to clean the grill, you can ensure maintaining your hygiene.

Disadvantages Of Cleaning Grill Grates With A Wire Brush

Before, I was using the wire brush to clean my grill after finishing every BBQ party. Because of that time, I didn’t know about the danger of wire brushes. 

But my friend told me all the things clearly and logically. Here are some disadvantages of wire brush cleaning

Break Off The Bristles: When you rub the brush over the grates to clean the grill, some bristles can break off and clog into the grates. And if you overlook it, then the bristles will stay on the grates. 

The Bristles Will Get Into The Foods: As the bristles will stay on the grates, they get into the foods and make the foods unhygienic when you cook the foods with these grates. 

So even when you eat the foods, the bristles can go to the stomach and can be a reason for your sickness.

Increase Your Medical Cost: Do you know every year, many people are admitted into the hospital emergency sections due to grilled food-related injuries? 

Once you ingest the wire bristles with grilled food, it can damage your mouth, stomach, throat, and many other useful body organs. So if these diseases affect you, it increases your health cost.    

You can avoid all the problems by only turning your grill cleaning process wire brush to organic ways. 

How often do you clean your grill grates?

If you frequently arrange BBQ parties or cook food with your grill, you have to go deep cleaning every two months. 

And it would be best if you washed your grill correctly after every time you cook food with the grill. These simple steps help you to cook delicious foods with it and increase your grill’s lifespan.

How to care for cast iron grill grates?

The cast iron grill grates and the porcelain coated grill grates are different. So both of their caring processes are also different. 

You have to use warm water and grill cleaner to clean the cast iron grill grates. And after cleaning the grates, don’t forget to make it dry with a dry cloth. 

How to clean the outside of a grill?

With cleaning the inside of a grill, you should also clean the outside of a grill. You can use warm water and a grill cleaner to clean the outside of the grill. After cleaning, wipe the grill to make it dry. It helps to prevent dust. 

You can clean the outside of the grill once a week to get better grilling food. And when you store the grill, cover it with a grill cover to prevent air dust.

What is the safest way to clean a grill?

Cleaning BBQ grill the magic way means the organic methods are the safest way. Since there are many organic ways so that you won’t face any problems cleaning the grill, you can even adopt the ways according to your needs, and you can change the ways if needed. 

How can I prevent rust from coming back to my grill?

Yes, coming back to rust is very irritating. But it can come if you don’t take essential steps after cooking and cleaning your grill. To prevent rust from coming back, always keep it dry after every use. 

When you don’t use the grill, please keep it in a safe place by covering the grill with a grill cover. When you use the grill again, remove the cover from the grill, wipe it with a paper towel, and fire up the grill to cook your tasty foods.

Conclusion

A clean grill can offer you hygienic foods; hygienic foods will ensure your food’s taste and good health. So when you use the best ways to clean grill grates without a brush, you ensure your better health. 

Of all the 6 ways, baking soda and vinegar are the best way to clean your grill deeply. Onion, aluminum foil, and using refined oil are the easiest and fastest ways. Steaming is suitable to remove the smell of the food.