Do you often find yourself preparing side dishes in the kitchen while your grill sizzles outdoors, forgetting entirely that your barbecue has a handy side burner exactly for this purpose? It’s time to take your grill’s side burner off the sidelines.
The often overlooked and underappreciated side burner is a powerful grilling tool, boasting better versatility, efficiency, and flavor than the stovetop. It’s the perfect sidekick for your barbecue, saving you from running in and out to check your stovetop so you can spend even more time enjoying the outdoors.
In this post, we’re making BBQ side burners center stage. We’ll cover all your side-burning questions, including:
- What is a side burner?
- The benefits of using your grill’s side burner
- How to maximize your side burner’s potential
- BBQ side burner uses
Now let’s get cooking.
What Is a Side Burner?
A side burner is an additional burner that is stationed at the side of your grill, outside of the main cookbox. It’s there for times when you need to cook things at a different temperature from the main grill, or for when you have something to cook in a pot or skillet, such as barbecue sauce or side dishes.
Grill side burners typically offer around 12,000 BTUs, and can be used for boiling, simmering, and sautéing while your grill is occupied with the main course.
The Benefits of Using Your Grill’s Side Burner
There are many reasons why a BBQ side burner is beneficial to your grilling setup:
- Convenience and efficiency – Firing up your side burner makes it easy to cook your meal faster and without having to go back and forth between the kitchen and the patio. That means no more struggling through the door with your hands full or sneaking past your pets while you grill.
- Versatility in cooking – Use your side burner to multitask without sacrificing quality or efficiency. A side burner gives you more cooking options when you’re at the grill, such as simmering sauces and glazes, sautéing vegetables, and boiling pasta or potatoes.
- Protect the kitchen – Using your grill for every facet of your meal keeps the heat outside so your kitchen stays cool—and also smell-free for those times when you are cooking things like fish.
- Energy-saving benefits – It doesn’t take that much more fuel to heat the side burner if you’re already using your grill, helping to reduce the cost of air-conditioning by not heating your home or letting the cold air out every time you come and go.
- Enhancing the outdoor cooking experience – Create a fully immersive outdoor cooking setup by preparing your entire meal outdoors. Using your side burner also makes hosting BBQs a smoother process because it skips all the back and forth.
- Adding subtle smoky flavor to side dishes – Cooking so near the grill can impart a subtle smoky aroma to your food.
BBQ Side Burner Uses
Use your side burner to:
- Whip up some classic barbecue sauce (or any sauce of your choosing). BBQ sauce tends to spatter, and prepping it outdoors will save you from scrubbing your stovetop after your sauce has finished simmering.
- Saute vegetables or other side dishes, such as mushrooms or onions
- Boil pasta or potatoes
- Boil corn on the cob before finishing it off on your grill for those perfect char marks
- Fry bacon, eggs, or anything else you don’t have room for on your grill
- Steaming seafood like crab or clams
- Deep frying to avoid grease splatters indoors, but only if you aren’t using the grill as well
You can even use your side burner for non-culinary adventures, thanks to a tip from this ingenious redditor:
Comment
byu/TedderFace from discussion
inwebergrills
GRILL SPOT TIP: Don’t use your side burner to light charcoal for your charcoal grill—it can destroy the burner if your coals get too hot or if they ash into it.
Tools to Maximize Your Grill’s Side Burner Potential
The right equipment will streamline the cooking process and maximize the amount of things you can make using your grill’s side burner. These accessories will help you get the greatest use out of your side burner:
- Wind guards (to protect the flame)
- Pots and pans (you can use your regular kitchen pots and pans)
- Gloves or mitts
- Tongs
- Cutting board
- Thermometer
Shop for grilling tools:
What To Do If Your BBQ Side Burners Don’t Work
If your side burner doesn’t start, don’t worry. Follow these steps:
- Check that the connections are attached properly and that the igniter wire is plugged into the igniter module. If your grill came pre-assembled, there’s a good chance the igniter wire was just never plugged in.
- Try lighting it manually with a barbecue lighter. If it doesn’t light after 4-5 seconds, turn the gas off and give it a moment to dissipate before you try again.
- Check that your fuel isn’t empty.
- Check the burner for blockages and clean them using a pin or needle.
If it isn’t any of those problems, inspect the burner for damage. Read our troubleshooting guides to learn more:
- Troubleshooting Guide: Rusted Grill Burners
- Troubleshooting Guide: Only One Burner Lights On My Grill
If none of these troubleshooting tips help, you may have to replace your burners.
Shop for replacement side burners:
Wrap-Up: Elevate Your Grilling Game
The side burner is a powerful tool that can make grilling easier and more immersive. It can be used for cooking activities like boiling, steaming, searing, and sautéing, and saves you from having to cook side dishes in the kitchen while your grill is occupied doing the main course.
