7 Natural Cleaning Hacks For A Spotless Grill

Summer goes hand-in-hand with grilling. Like other cooking appliances though, grills need a bit of care to help get rid of messes as well as potentially harmful bacteria. While a wired grill brush is a common tool to have on hand, it's not adequate for getting rid of tough messes. Even worse, if you have a grill brush that's falling apart, some of the metals from the bristles can get into your grill — and potentially your food. 

As a rule of thumb, you can save yourself time by cleaning your grill on a regular basis. Before you go out and buy special grill cleaning products, consider first using natural recipes with ingredients you might already have at home. Not only does this save money, but natural DIY solutions may also be safer compared with chemical-based grill cleaners. Whether you're getting ready to bring out your grill after it's been hibernating for the winter, or you've already been grilling quite a bit for the season, consider some natural cleaning hacks that can help keep this important cooking appliance both clean and safe.

Baking soda can be useful for absorbing grease and scrubbing food that's stuck on the surfaces. This is all thanks to sodium bicarbonate, the active ingredient in the white powder. Chemically speaking, sodium bicarbonate is a crystalline salt, meaning it is slightly abrasive. Also, this kitchen staple can help clean your dirty grill because it is alkaline, and grease buildup is acidic thanks to its fatty acids. When they come into contact, a chemical reaction occurs that neutralizes the acid, breaking it down and making it easier to wipe away. 

Baking soda is used for a variety of chemical-free cleaning purposes. For cleaning a grill, you might consider using it to make a paste with water. Before getting started, rinse out your grill with water and remove the grates. Then, take a combination of 1 part water and 3 parts baking soda and apply it directly to the grill and grates. Rub the solution gently with a clean rag, allowing the baking soda to do most of the scrubbing work for you. Rinse with water and repeat as needed until you've removed all grease and debris. While this cleaning hack is safe for most grills, avoid using it on any aluminum surfaces, as it can lead to stains due to an oxidizing reaction. 

You may already know of other uses for dish soap around your house, such as a laundry hack to pre-treat grease stains. This tough detergent gets rid of grease at a molecular level, binding with fat and oil-based debris and breaking them down into smaller droplets, allowing water to easily rinse them away. It turns out that some of the same grease-fighting power in dish soap can be used for cleaning your grill, too. 

You can safely use dish soap on both the inside and outside of your grill. First, heat your grill for up to 15 minutes to help loosen any caked-on debris. Then, once the grill has cooled, clean off the grates with warm soapy water, and set them aside. Move on to scrubbing out the rest of the grill, first working through the interior before cleaning the outside components. Rinse off the soapy solution with clean water. But remember: Not all dish soap is made equally. Some have stronger and better formulations than others. Cleaning experts usually recommend Dawn dish soap specifically, which is also used by environmental agencies to wash wildlife after oil spills. This hack is particularly useful for deep cleaning your grill before storing it away for the winter, or any time it has sat unused and could use a good washing down. 

If you took a stroll down the grilling accessories aisle at your local home improvement store, you would see numerous cleaning tools such as wire grate brushes. If your own brush is more than a few years old, or if it is missing bristles, it may be time to toss it. This ensures that any additional bristles don't fall off and get stuck on the grates, and then in your food. You can either buy a new wire brush, or you can use a method that can scrub just as efficiently: aluminum foil. If you're wondering how aluminum foil can make cleaning your grill easy, it's thought that crumbled-up pieces of this product have the same abrasive action as a traditional wire brush to remove caked-on food. 

To use aluminum foil to clean grill grates, crumble up small sheets into a ball, and work it along the surface to remove food and debris in the same way as you would use a wire brush. Just be sure you use this method just after the grill has cooled to a safe-to-touch level. If you wait until the next time you're ready to cook, any caked-on food will have already hardened, making clean-up more difficult. Aside from using aluminum foil to scrub grill grates clean, you can also use sheets of it to line the grease trap in place of buying a separate commercial liner. 

White vinegar is a common "green" cleaning agent because it can help neutralize alkaline substances such as water stains, all while disinfecting surfaces. This kitchen staple is also thought to help dissolve sticky buildup. However, you might want to only use it for light residue. Since it's an acid, it won't be able to fully break down the fatty acids in grease. Instead, it can emulsify the oil, which means it breaks it down into smaller droplets, which can be easier to wipe away. Because of this, you will have to scrub a lot harder to lift it than you would with other degreasers. However, if the grill isn't particularly messy and you have this handy, it can be worth a try. Vinegar also has the added benefit of being ideal for cleaning a rusty grill, as the natural acid can help dissolve the rust on metal surfaces. 

If you're new to using vinegar for grill cleaning, start with a basic recipe of equal parts white vinegar and hot water. You want to use hot water specifically so it can help soften the grease, making the vinegar more effective. Spray the solution around any area of your grill that needs cleaning, and wipe the debris away. Also, be sure to thoroughly rinse the vinegar with water after cleaning. If white vinegar is left to dry on metal surface, it can potentially damage them. If the smell of vinegar is too off-putting, consider adding a small amount of lemon juice to the combination.

The more you grill, the more likely you will face occasional problems with caked-on food and grease along the grates and other surfaces in the appliance. If you happen to have a lemon on hand, you may consider cleaning your grill with this common kitchen ingredient. We know what you're thinking — but lemon is an acid! Yes, but citric acid is different from acetic acid. It is slightly more acidic, which makes it better at emulsifying lipids, which make up grease. If you combine it with the abrasive scrubbing power of salt, you have yourself a pretty effective cleaner. However, it's not as effective as other base degreasers, so this hack is best reserved for light buildup. 

Before using this hack, heat your grill for a few minutes to loosen up food and grease. Then, once the surface has cooled, take a half of a lemon and sprinkle salt on top. Apply the lemon and salt scrubber directly to surfaces via a grill utensil. Thoroughly rinse the solution off with clean water. Also, while the lemon may be effective in cleaning your grill, this method might make the most sense if you already have extra lemons in your kitchen.

If you're a regular coffee drinker, you may be able to use the used grounds for other purposes. In fact, it's said there are numerous household items you can clean with coffee grounds, including oven and grill grates. Not only are they naturally acidic, which might, in theory, help break up alkaline material built up on the grates, such as water stains, but they are also naturally abrasive. The latter qualities can be useful in scrubbing caked-on materials from utensils, cookware, and more. 

To use coffee grounds on grill grates, proponents of this hack first recommend that you remove the grates and let them soak in water for an hour to loosen up any caked-on messes. Next, take a small amount of coffee grounds and place on a grill sponge or sturdy cloth, and scrub until food and grease comes up clean. Rinse with water when complete. Perhaps the biggest caveat to using coffee grounds as a natural cleaning hack is the potential mess. Despite their purported efficacy, these fine grounds might create additional messes you'll need to clean up, too. Also, using coffee cleaning hacks make the most sense if you happen to have used grounds on hand, rather than buying them just for cleaning (especially given the increasing cost). 

There are many unusual ways you can use onion around your home, but cleaning your grill may certainly be the most unexpected one. While you probably place onion slices on the grill on occasion, there's also speculation that this bulb vegetable can be used to help clean this outdoor appliance, too. It's thought that the onion can be used to help clean grill grates, with some proponents suggesting to use half of a whole onion in place of a grill brush to wipe them clean. This natural cleaning hack purportedly works by breaking down grease and residue with the vegetable's natural acids. The moisture that seeps off it can also help loosen it on the hot grates by creating steam, making it easier for the buildup to be wiped clean. As a bonus, if you like the taste of onion, this can add a bit of flavor to your foods the next time you grill. 

However, while possibly effective, it may not be worth buying extra onions just for the sake of cleaning your grill. If you do happen to have an extra onion on hand though, it might be worth giving this hack a try to see if it truly gets your grill grates clean. To do this method, place your grill on a high temperature to first help loosen up any gunk stuck on the grates. Then, take your half onion with a fork and place the cut-up portion against the grates, gently rubbing the metal until the debris loosens and cooks off of them.