Essential Tools To Upgrade Your Backyard Grilling

If you’re searching for essential tools to upgrade your backyard grilling, take a look at this list. It has everything you need!

Once you get comfortable with grilling, it becomes difficult to stop. Numerous doors are waiting to be opened where grilling is concerned. When the time comes, you realize that your supplies need reloading. 

The more you get involved in grilling, the more tools you need. There are tons of tools to add to your grilling toolset. However, not all of them are effective and work as you want them to.

So, I’ve created a specified guideline for you by categorizing the tools you need for specific grilling. Go through them, and you’ll know all about the essential tools to upgrade your backyard grilling.

What Are The Must-Have BBQ Tools That Every Grill Need 

Some tools come in handy no matter what grill you’re using. Keeping these tools near at hand can make everything more straightforward to get the perfect result you’re seeking in your dish. So, Let’s see the common grilling tools you can’t ignore!

Thermometer

We all know that the temperature is the key to grilling the perfect meat. If you can’t monitor the thermometer precisely, you’ll have to check your meat’s condition manually, resulting in inefficiency.

If your grill comes with an in-built thermometer, an external thermometer won’t be necessary. However, it’s never wise to let the temperature up to guessing.

Also Read: Meater Vs Yummly Smart Thermometer – Which Suits You Best?

Grill-Time App

This might be the most affordable item on your bucket list. Get an app on your phone to make your grilling more efficient. An app will guide you through the cooking time, remind you with alarms when you need to check on your food, and more. 

Getting a simple app will keep your cooking time on track while reminding you when you need it. 

Meat Injector Kit

There’s no better alternative to injecting flavors into your meat. A good injector kit will come with various needles for specific meat types. It’s mandatory if you want to keep your meat juicy and lock the moisture inside. 

Having a meat injector kit will enrich your grilling set in every way possible. It’s a small investment to make for better grilling.

Grill Gloves

If there’s one thing we’re sure about, safety should be the first concern. A pair of grill gloves prevent your hands from accidental burns. No matter how professional you are, accidents happen. 

So, it’s better to be prepared to avoid any unwanted situations like burning. Keep grill gloves in your grilling tools’ set to make the collection whole. 

Grilling Apron

A grilling apron may not look like a mandatory tool for your backyard, but trust me, it gets messy. You can’t get to grilling all dressed up. There’ll be spills and splashes, so you need to be prepared. 

An apron endures all the mess and keeps you motivated. No matter what you say, you’ll feel extra confident when you wear an apron while grilling.

Grill Basket 

If you intend to go diverse with your grilling, it’s recommended to get a grill basket for the collection. Grill baskets work wonders when you’re cooking fragile food like fish and vegetables. 

They prevent the food from falling into the grill and make your grilling cleaner than before. So, if you want to enrich your grilling set and facilitate the process, you should add a grill basket to the list. 

Grill Tongs

Having a pair of tongs explicitly for grilling makes your job a lot easier than usual tongs. This tool comes with the perfect structure for making your grilling experience more convenient. 

Regardless of what you’re grilling, turning, tossing, putting it on the grill, removing it from the grill, changing zones, everything becomes more manageable with grill tongs. 

So, if you are upgrading your backyard with the best grilling toolset, I recommend you include a pair of grill tongs in the collection. 

Silicone Brush

A silicone brush is your go-to tool every time you need to apply oil or sauce to your food. You can also use it to oil the grill grates. There’s no other way you can oil your meat you want when it’s on the grill. 

A silicone brush will evenly apply the oil throughout the surface without putting your hand at risk. Besides, these brushes are super easy to clean. 

Grill Pan

When using burners, grill pans are excellent for grilling. They’ll give you grill marks on the stove. Some pans come with a reversible griddle that expands your cooking possibilities even more. 

To sum up, if you’re going for stove grilling, there aren’t any other alternatives to a grill pan. Besides, a proper grill pan can make sure you get even heating to make a perfect dish. 

Grilling Planks

If you’ve been grilling for some time now, you already know what a grilling plank does. A plank is one of the most favorites among many experts to get the best smoky flavor out of your grilling.

Keeping a bunch of wood planks will upgrade your grilling set and make sure that you have everything you need to get started with any grilling. 

Also Read: Can You Reuse Cedar Planks For Grilling (Answered)

Skewers

As straightforward as skewers are, they’re one of the essential tools you want when grilling. They make your grilling a lot more convenient when it comes to flipping and assembling your meat and veggies. 

Skewers are particularly handy when your tongs can’t be. Smaller foods like veggies, marshmallows, and small cuts of meat will need a skewer. 

So, if you’re loading your grilling supplies, don’t compromise this tool, or you’ll find yourself lost in the middle of your grilling. 

Drip Pans

A drip pan makes your cooking a lot cleaner than you would imagine. The function of a drip pan is pretty simple. It catches the excess oil from the food, making it healthier. 

Besides, dripping oil can cause unwanted flare-ups that a drip pan reduces. You can use one-time aluminum-made drip pans to make cleaning easier. Once you’re done grilling, you can simply throw the pan away instead of cleaning it. 

Also Read: 10 Best Weber Drip Pan Alternatives: Finding the Perfect Fit for Your Grill

Sauce

You don’t need me to tell you why the sauce is essential for completing your grilling set. When you’re in the middle of a grilling session, and you find out that you’re out of sauce, the whole thing can flip. 

Keeping a grilling sauce nearby will always work in your favor. Besides, it comes in handy when you’re reheating meat too.

Also Read: Best BBQ Sauce For Burnt Ends (Top 6 Pick)

Must-Have Charcoal Grilling Tools

Grills that use charcoal as fuel are different from others in some ways. Charcoal can reach very high heat compared to others and offers a smokier flavor to your food. Below are some tools you’ll only need when using a charcoal grill.  

• Charcoal

Well, you need charcoal for charcoal grilling. Everyone knows that. What you don’t know is you need good-quality charcoal if you want to see the best results on your grill. 

Coals that can’t stay lit are one of the reasons for the lack of temperature control. And as you know, the temperature is crucial in grilling. 

If we are talking about grilling in general, charcoal grilling will provide you far better flavors than any other type. So, you can imagine the importance.

Also Read: Royal Oak Vs Kingsford Charcoal – Which You Need?

• Charcoal Chimney

You ask anyone about the best way to light charcoal for grilling, and they’ll tell you to get a charcoal chimney. It’s a pretty straightforward tool to get you started with your charcoal grilling. 

It’s a perforated metal cylinder. A wire rack divides this cylinder in two. To light the charcoal, fill the upper part of the chimney with the required amount of charcoal. 

Then, take some newspapers and curl them up. Light the newspapers and place the chimney starter on top of them. Wait for about 10 to 15 minutes till all your charcoal is lit.

Also Read: How To Make Charcoal Chimney At Home (5 Easy Methods)

• Looftlighter

One of the quickest ways of lighting charcoal is using a Looftlighter. There are more advantages of this tool than flaws. For starters, you don’t need any chemical substance or fuel to ignite the coals. It uses hot airflow to light your coals within a minute. 

It’s an easy-to-use tool to have. Anyone with the least experience in grilling can use it. There’s one downside, though. You need a power source to run this tool. You’ll have to connect it to an electric outlet to run a Looftlighter. 

Also Read: Looftlighter Vs Eggniter For Big Green Egg – Which One Is Best

• Lighter Cubes

Lighter cubes are made of paraffin waxes that help you ignite the charcoal. It’s an ash-free way to help you get a clean ignition. 

When using a chimney starter, you can use lighter cubes instead of newspaper for quicker and more efficient results. 

Besides, you only need one or two lighter cubes for lighting charcoal for one grilling session, so it’s an economical method too. Don’t forget to keep a few of them in your supply.

Must-Have Gas Grilling Tools

Gas grills are easier to use than charcoal grills. Tools like a smoker box or a gas watch are very convenient options if you’re cooking with a gas grill. 

Smoker Box: The purpose of a smoker box is to prevent the smoking chips from being exposed to high heat. Smoker chips work the best at a specific temperature. 

The smoker box makes sure that the chips don’t get exposed to more heat than they should. This way, you can bring out the best flavors no matter what grilling method you’re using. 

A proper smoker box will have the convenience of adding new wood chips whenever necessary. 

Gas Watch for Your Gas Grill: When using a gas grill, you don’t want to stop midway through your grilling session because you ran out of fuel. A gas watch is an indicator of your propane level. 

It lets you know from time to time how you’re doing on your fuel. It’s a must-have tool for grilling if you want to make sure that your operating system is more efficient.

Also Read: Best Ceramic Briquettes For Gas Grill (Top 5 Picks)

Must-Have Grill Cleaning Tools

After the cooking and eating part comes the cleaning part. Proper cleaning ensures a long-lasting grill and healthy foods. So, don’t forget to get the best tools to keep your beloved grill clean. 

Grill Brush: There isn’t a better cleaning tool for grills for manual washing other than a grill brush. You need something to remove all food particles and debris from the grates. 

A good grill brush makes sure of that. The better the grill brush, the cleaner the grill, the longer your grill lasts. 

While choosing a brush for your grill, make sure it has a good grip, and it comes with a durable quality so you won’t have to replace it anytime soon.

A Grill-Cleaning Robot: A grill cleaning robot is your ultimate cleaning bbq tool. Place the robot on your grill, turn it on, close the lid, and you’re done. 

If you’re passionate about grilling and it’s something that you do very frequently, a grill-cleaning robot will save you a lot of time. 

An innovative tool that reduces your manual labor of scratching the grill grates is a convenient addition to the collection.

Also Read: 5 Best Traeger Grill Cleaner Alternatives You Must Consider

Fuel You Need to Have While Grilling According to Your Grill and Smoker Type

• Wood Chips

Many people don’t put much thought into wood chips. The thing is, wood chips can help you get diverse smoky flavors on your meat than you can imagine. 

So, as long as we are on the grilling equipment list, wood chips are not something you want to ignore. 

Load your grilling set with different types of wood chips so that you can use any of them suitable to your dish. 

• Briquettes

Briquettes differ from charcoal in two ways. They burn longer than charcoal but don’t burn as hot as charcoal. Some recipes explicitly ask that you use briquettes to control the temperature. 

If you’re grilling something that requires low temperature, briquettes will be a better option. Besides, they save you money because they burn longer and you’ll have to replace them less frequently.

• Wood Pellets

If you like your grilling to be cleaner, wood pellets are one of the must-have BBQ tools there are. You can’t complete the shopping list of essential tools for grilling without a bag of wood pellets.

Wood pellets are small, easy to handle, and burn a lot cleaner than firewood. So, as a fuel source, wood pellets can be your low ash-producing option whenever you want.

Also Read: Best Wood Pellet Storage Containers For (Top 5 Picks)

Other Useful Tools You Do Not Need But You May Love

Some tools just make everything better. Having them will make you feel like a pro and ease your work without saying. 

Basting Brush

A basting brush is one kind of silicone brush. You can use one silicone brush for both basting and oiling. 

However, keeping separate brushes will make your job a lot easier. Once you baste your meat with a brush, you’ll have to wash and dry it before applying oil with it. 

Having two separate brushes saves you the trouble and time of doing extra chores. Besides, these brushes come at pretty affordable price ranges. 

Basting Pot

A basting pot may not be a must-have tool, but it sure makes your grilling experience more effortless. Various basting pots come with advanced features. 

Many basting pots feature a silicone brush fixed to the lid for easy maneuver. You can make a large amount of sauce at once and apply it from time to time to the meat using the brush. 

Having a basting pot makes your grilling tools more specific for each task. 

Ceramic Baking Stone

If you want to grill your pizzas outdoors, you’ll need a ceramic baking stone. Not all baking stones are suitable for using outdoors. Pick one that can withstand the heat of your grill without cracking. 

If you use your regular baking stone for outdoor grilling, you’ll find your baking stone cracked. So, keeping a ceramic baking stone only for your grill will save you a lot of trouble and money, for that matter. 

BBQ Light Set

If you’re going to keep your grill supply fully loaded, a set of BBQ lights will make your night-time grilling more enjoyable. 

Even if your backyard has enough lights to see everything clearly, BBQ light sets are placed directly above the grill so that you don’t misplace anything. 

The cooking process becomes a lot more manageable with a set of lights on top. 

Shredder Claws

Owning a pair of shredder claws will upgrade your grilling in no time. They’re a multi-purpose tool to make your grilling more convenient. 

You can use them to hold large-sized meat, hold them while cutting, or shred the meat with perfection. 

Shredding will take far less time with these claws, not to mention, they’ll uplift the aesthetics. 

Grilling Floor Mat

No matter if you’re using your backyard or patio for grilling, using a floor mat for grilling will keep the area clean. Grill floor mats are usually highly absorbent, which makes your cleaning easier. 

Placing a floor mat beneath your grill will allow you to be more flexible while grilling because you won’t have to worry about dropping something on the floor constantly. 

Grilling Mat

Dropping your food through the grill is one of the most annoying things to happen. A grilling mat prevents that, making the grilling cleaner. Besides, you can still get those beautiful grill marks while using a mat. 

So, if you don’t want your food falling through the grates, I suggest you add grilling mats to your bucket list.

Burger Press

If you want to upgrade your grilling game, a burger press will surely make the path smoother. It’s a simple tool made to create perfect and even burger patties. 

You don’t have to be a professional to create perfect patties anymore. A burger press will do the job for you. 

Press the meat, transfer the patty to the grill, and you’re done. 

Spatula With Bottle Opener

You’re going to need a spatula to do all the tossing and turning on the grill. So, you may as well get two tools in one. 

A spatula that comes with a bottle opener is like killing two birds with one stone. You don’t need two separate tools. It saves space, and due to the bottle opener part, you can hand it anywhere you want. Overall, it’s a smart addition to your grilling set. 

Nonstick Baking Sheet Pan

Using a nonstick baking sheet pan on the grill opens a lot of doors to cooking. However, not all baking sheets are grill-friendly. If you’re willing to expand your cooking with baking sheets, make sure to get the ones you can use on your grill. 

Conclusion

If you love grilling, there shouldn’t be a second thought about getting the tools you need. However, if you’re tight on budget, you can always stick to the basic tools. Take your time to fill your collection with all the glorious things that make grilling a hundred times better than before. When having people over, you can be the grill-lover guy who knows their way around the grill. Maybe you can even recommend them the tools you’re using!