How To Clean Grill Grates With 2 Basic Ingredients

The mere idea of outdoor grilling gets tummies rumbling, regardless of the season. It's often considered a causal event, pulling in friends, family, and neighbors for catch-up conversations and smoky, char-marked deliciousness. However, without some forethought and grill attention, it can also carry intense maintenance and cleaning chores. 

Fortunately, when it comes to cling-on grease and debris, tips for cleaning your grill abound. A pervasive misconception involves how to clean the grill grates, and here's a secret: You don't actually need special cleaners for your grill, especially not pricey chemical-based ones. Instead, one of the easiest ways to achieve whistle-clean grill grates requires only two common pantry items, ones likely perching on your kitchen shelf in full display: salt and vinegar.

Neither ingredient alters the taste of grilled meats and veggies or compromises food integrity by leaving behind residual chemicals. When working together, salt and vinegar serve as a natural degreaser, breaking down burnt food particles, sauce remnants, rust, and carbon deposits from grease and smoke. Those carbon deposits can give safe harbor to unhealthy bacteria while also causing uneven grill heat or damaging gas-grill components. To avoid these things, you'll need ordinary table salt and plain white vinegar, with ratios and procedures differing based on whether it's a quick spray-on approach or a longer submersion-style soak. 

Cleaning grill grates using salt and vinegar comes down to time and effort. It's ideal to clean your grill immediately after cooking, keeping a grill brush handy and scraping off any accumulation before it fully hardens. Even still, some immediate charred food or sauce remnants may be especially tough and clingy, requiring some degreasing assistance.

In that case, a spray bottle and 15 to 30 minutes of your time can go a long way. Create a cleaning solution using one part salt, one part white vinegar, and one part water, let the acidic mixture work its magic on the grate for up to 30 minutes, then scrub as usual. This method also works with minor rust or if you've waited a few days to address some buildup.

Then there's deep-cleaning your grill grates, which is advisable two to three times in a typical grilling season or with excessive buildup. Vinegar and salt is still a good solution, but you'll switch from spraying to soaking, and it requires hours instead of minutes. The ingredient ratios are also quite different than with the spray-bottle approach. You'll need a gallon of white vinegar and ½ cup of table salt mixed together in a large container or tub. Immerse the grill grates in the solution and soak overnight or for 10 to 12 hours, depending on debris severity. Then, scrub as usual, rinse, and get grilling again!