You don’t need to be a seasoned pit boss to impress your friends and family with great grilled food. All you need is a few simple tricks up your sleeve to help you master basic grilling techniques, keep your grill in top shape, and take your grilled dishes to the next level.
To aid you in your ascent to at-home grill master, we’ve compiled our top Grill Hacks into one convenient master list, including grill cleaning hacks, setting up heat zones, recipe tips, and more gas-grill hacks
Cleaning Your Cooking Grates with an Onion
For most grillers, cleaning their grill after every use is an annoying but necessary evil. If your grill brush has seen better days, never fear—you can clean your grill with a simple onion.
The onion hack is best for grills that are regularly cleaned. An onion might not cut it if you haven’t rubbed down your grill grates all summer long or there’s lots of crud on your grill grates, but if you routinely clean your grill after every use, giving it a quick rub with a cut onion is a simple way to keep the grates clean between uses.
Learn how to clean your grill with an onion in our quick and easy guide to this basic grill cleaning hack.
Direct vs. Indirect Grilling Methods
Understanding the difference between direct and indirect grilling methods will help you create perfectly grilled meals, whether you’re cooking on a gas or charcoal BBQ.
Read our illustrated guide to learn the difference between direct and indirect grilling, when to use each method, and how to set up a gas or charcoal grill, plus alternative indirect grilling methods like plank grilling.
How To Get Perfect Grill Marks
Perfectly cross-hatched grill marks make any BBQ meal look extra impressive, but there’s a trick to achieving this chef-quality look.
There are two common methods used to create grill marks—the standard method, and the trendy new reverse sear method. Read our step-by-step guide to learn how you can create perfect grill marks using both of these methods.
Steak Doneness Finger Test
A meat thermometer is great for large cuts of meat, but poking a hole—or worse, slicing—into a steak can let all those delicious juices out, leading to dry, tough meat.
This super simple grill hack takes all the guesswork out of checking if your steak is done, and all you need is your hand. Read our visual guide to learn how to check for steak doneness without a meat thermometer, whether you like your meat rare or well done.
How to Grill Vegetables in a Foil Packet
Grilling vegetables directly on the BBQ can be tricky thanks to their tendency to slip through the cooking grates. If you don’t have a vegetable basket, creating a simple foil pack is an easy fix for grilling up any vegetable.
Read our guide to learn how to prepare your vegetables for foil pack grilling, how to fold the foil pack, and how to grill it to perfection.
Rosemary Sprig Skewers
Swap your standard bamboo or metal shish kebab skewers for something that adds a little extra flavor with this clever grill hack. Instead of using a basic skewer, thread your meat or vegetables onto a sprig of rosemary. The stem is sturdy enough to keep everything in place and will infuse a delicious Mediterranean flavor into your meal.
The Best Way to Grill Asparagus Skewers
Grilled asparagus is a staple of early summer grilling, but these wily spears can be one of the toughest things to grill thanks to their long, pencil-like shape. A vegetable basket is an easy fix, but if you don’t have one, you can still grill asparagus without the headache. All you need is a few bamboo skewers.
Read our Grill Hack to learn the best way to grill asparagus without a vegetable basket.
Get Grilling!
With a few simple gas grill hacks, you can take your grilling game up a notch and impress your family and friends with your grill savvy and your perfectly BBQ’d dishes.
A few basic BBQ accessories like a grill brush or vegetable basket can save you a lot of elbow grease.
