The Best Ways To Remove Rust From Your Blackstone Griddle

Blackstone is the name of the game when it comes to cooking on an outdoor griddle. Since going viral on TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic, these griddles have taken the world by storm and become a cooking staple equal to grills and smokers in many households. These now-iconic carbon-rolled steel griddle tops are often the key to recreating restaurant favorites at home. However, like any metal surface that lives outdoors, Blackstone griddles are prone to rusting.

If you discover this happening to your Blackstone griddle, there is no need to panic. There are several different avenues to removing the rust that has formed on your steel griddle surface in response to its exposure to moisture and oxygen. From plain cooking oil to a fancy commercially-sold griddle cleaning solution and a few DIY solutions in between, there is always a way to remove rust from your Blackstone griddle and get it up and cooking again.

One of the most essential items in any Blackstone griddle toolkit is a grill stone. Basically a pumice stone on a handle, a grill stone makes scrubbing your griddle easy and convenient — even when it's still too warm to touch. If you haven't gotten your hands on a grill stone yet, however, you can use steel wool or medium-grit sandpaper along with some cooking oil to remove rust from your griddle instead.

First, turn your griddle on, set the burners to high, and let the surface heat for about 20 minutes. Once the griddle is hot, turn off the burners and let the surface cool until it's warm to the touch and the rust has loosened. Apply a few tablespoons of a high smoke-point cooking oil, like canola or avocado oil. Use your cleaning scraper or a metal spatula to scrape off as much rust as possible. Then, reapply your oil and scrub the remaining rust with your grill stone, steel wool, or sandpaper. Wipe the surface with a paper towel and then repeat the process until all the rust has been removed. This process can also prevent your grill — or other items, like woks — from rusting after it's been cleaned.

It's no secret that the mildly acidic fizzy reaction that occurs when baking soda and vinegar meet is an effective natural cleaning agent that lifts away stuck-on grime. Vinegar solutions are even known to get rusty outdoor furniture shining again, and the rust building up on your Blackstone griddle is also susceptible to the mixture. If you'd like a little help lifting away the rust, try sprinkling the griddle top with baking soda and then spraying it with a mixture of equal parts water and white vinegar.

Give the mixture a few moments to fizz and loosen the rust, then scrub the griddle with a grill stone or scouring pad. Wipe away the rust with a paper towel, repeating the application, scrubbing, and wiping process as many times as necessary to remove all the remaining rust from the cooking surface. Be sure to season your griddle with cooking oil after using a cleaning solution, even if the solution is a natural one.

No matter what you use to remove the rust from your Blackstone griddle, some scrubbing power is going to be required. Barkeeper's Friend is an iconic food-surface-safe powdered cleanser commonly used for heavily soiled stainless-steel pans and other stuck-on kitchen messes. The active ingredient in Barkeeper's Friend is oxalic acid, a natural compound found in certain edible plants like rhubarb that is known to lift rust and mineral deposits from metal — supercharging your scrubbing efforts.

To utilize Barkeeper's Friend for removing the rust from your griddle, simply sprinkle a thin layer of the powder over the cooktop and then spray or sprinkle enough water over it to make a paste. You can also opt for Barkeeper's Friend More + Foam, which features the same active ingredient, plus micro-abrasives, in a convenient spray. Let the paste or foam sit on the griddle for one minute, then start scrubbing with your grill stone, brush, or scouring pad. If you're using a scrubber without a handle, be sure to wear gloves when cleaning with barkeeper's friend. Thoroughly rinse away the product and the layer of rust it removes with more water and your griddle should be as good as new.

When it comes to removing rust from a metal surface, there are two ways to go about lifting the rust away from that surface: manual scrubbing and chemical lifting with an acidic solution. Both methods have the same goal of separating the layer of rust from the metal surface it has adhered to. If you prefer to stick to manual scrubbing, you can borrow a page from YouTuber WALTWINS' book and save a huge amount of time and effort by attaching a wire scrub brush attachment to a power drill.

You can currently purchase a six-pack of carbon steel brush attachments on Amazon for $7.99. Simply attach the brush to your drill and use it to scrub away the layer of rust that has built up on your griddle. For extra cleaning power, you can combine manual scrubbing with an acidic and/or abrasive cleaning solution like Barkeeper's Friend or vinegar and baking soda to remove any remaining remnants of rust after the bulk has been removed with the power brush.

If you don't mind spending a few more dollars to get your griddle back to its rust-free condition, Blackstone actually sells a kit for restoration and rust removal. The set — available for $19.99 at Walmart — includes a specialty restoration solution and an applicator pad. The manufacturer's instructions direct users to scrape away as much rust as possible with a scraper, then scrub the surface with warm soapy water, and then apply the restoration solution. Scrub the surface with the included applicator, then repeat the process two more times.

No matter which process you decide to use to rid your Blackstone griddle of rust, it's important to season the cooktop afterwards to seal it. This process consists of simply heating the just-cleaned griddle and then coating it with cooking oil (or Blackstone Griddle Seasoning & Cast Iron Conditioner). Leave your griddle on high heat until it appears to darken, then turn off the burners. Apply a very thin layer of cooking oil with paper towels, and then turn the burners to high again and let the griddle smoke and blacken for 30 minutes. Complete this process two or three times until the oil has burned away and left a polymer coating behind, resulting in the griddle feeling dry but coated.