Easily Clean Dirty Grill Grates With One (Obvious) Cleaning Agent

Dirty, grimy grates are the sign of a well-loved grill, but that doesn't make them less annoying to clean. If you're not wiping them down after every use, they'll get crusted in excess grime in no time, especially if you use extra oil on your grates to amplify flavor in your food. When the grease sticks and subsequently hardens, an obvious (though often overlooked) helper is likely already sitting in your kitchen: oven cleaner. These high-pH cleaning sprays fight grease using powerful chemicals, making them a convenient one-and-done solution for ovens, grills, and more.

First off, wipe down the grill grates as best you can. You can even use an onion to wipe your grill if it's still warm — no, really. This step will drastically reduce the scrubbing work you have to put in. Then, spray a generous amount of oven cleaner on the grates. It's better to do this over a trash bag or anything else you can just throw out after, in order to minimize any mess or damage to surfaces that shouldn't touch the oven cleaner.

Allow the detergent to soak in for 30 to 40 minutes, and rinse off after. Finally, it's a good idea to wash the grates with soap and water to finish the job and remove any excess chemicals. After that, the grates will be ready to use immediately. Just make sure to wear gloves throughout the process, as oven cleaner can cause surface-level irritation or burns when it comes into direct contact with skin.

Due to the strength of oven cleaner, it can help in a lot of other places around your kitchen. Stove tops and stainless steel sinks are two such areas, and both require only a brief wipe down with the cleaning agent. For harder grime, such as crust or stains as on pots, pans, and even glassware, oven cleaner can be used in the same way as with your grill grates. Wipe down the items, spray with the detergent, and leave them to sit for a while. You can leave them in a bag with the cleaner overnight. After that, rinse them with soap and water, and they'll be close to good as new.

While it gets your grill grates and other items sparkling clean in a snap, a big consideration with using oven cleaner is how comfortable you are with strong chemicals. Some people prefer to naturally clean their kitchen with baking soda or lemons, while others maintain that the chemicals may be harsh, but the results speak for themselves. Just make sure to protect your skin, and never inhale the fumes from oven cleaner. If you'd rather try some natural solutions, baking soda and water make for an easy way to clean grease off a grill, or clean your kitchen with aluminum foil as a heavy-duty, non-chemical scrubber.