Best Way to Clean a Flat Top Grill in 2024

A grill is an essential household appliance to own. You can use it to entertain guests in the outdoors or for outdoor cooking with your family. The flat top grill is one of the best investments in any home. It offers more versatility than grates grills in terms of the number of meals you can make with it.

As ideal as a flat top grill is, keeping it clean can prove to be a challenge for most users. These types of grills are exposed to high temperatures when in use, and grease from food is left on the flat surface. Before your next cookout, you first need to clean your flat top grill thoroughly. This helps to get rid of leftover foods from the previous grilling session and ensures you can maintain the perfect taste of grilled foods without the residue of the prior cookout.

Here are the easiest ways to clean flat top grills at home.

Best way to clean a flat top grill with lemon juice

The most common foods cooked on flat top grills include vegetables eggs and meats. Soy sauce, herbs, and salt are commonly used for seasoning, not forgetting oil. With time, the oil used to grill the foods mixes with food debris, causing a buildup of grease on the flat top surface. If not cleaned after every use, this buildup can stick on the flat top cooking surface, creating a hard surface that affects how well your grill works.

Lemon juice can help to rid our flat top from this debris. To do this:

• Soften the hardened debris on the flat top surface by heating the grill
• Scrape off the residue and grease using a scraper. Ensure you use a heavy-duty triangular scraper. This is the best choice if you want to reach the corners of the flat top.
• Spray the grill with soda water and lemon juice mixture and leave it for five minutes. This allows the mixture to sip through the debris and char.
• After five minutes, it will be easier to remove food residue and grease with a bit of scrubbing. Ensure you scrub in circular motions using a scouring pad. A heat resistant grill squeegee is also a fantastic scrubbing tool. It helps to rid the flat surface of any debris left after the cleaning.
• Wipe the surface with a grill rag. It is now ready for the next use.

Best way to clean a flat top grill using vinegar

Whether you are a professional chef or you grill socially, a flat top grill can give you better results if it is cleaned regularly. If you prefer cleaning it after each use, you can use vinegar as a natural cleaning agent. When properly cared for, a flat top grill can give you years of service. Vinegar is not only a recommended cleaning agent, but it also helps to prevent rusting and allows you to use oil to season the flat top surface.

To clean a flat top grill using vinegar:

• Mix the required amount of vinegar and water in a 2:1 ratio and pour half the mixture into a spray bucket.
• Spray the first half onto the flat surface and leave it for about five minutes. This allows the water and vinegar mixture to soak into the debris. Once it is soaked in, use a grill brush to get rid of the debris on the flat top.
• Dip a rag in the other half of the mixture, wring it and wipe the surface of the flat top with the rag. Ensure the cloth is clean to prevent contaminating the flat top with dirt.
  • Treat the clean surface by wiping oil on it. This will give it a non-stick effect, which prevents debris buildup for some time. The oil treatment also makes cleaning the grill easier in the future.

Best way to clean a flat top grill using a grill brick

Grill bricks make it easier to remove food debris and grease from the surface of a flat top grill. The best thing about grills bricks is that they do not absorb the grease and bad odor from the grill. This makes it easy to clean after using for flat top cleaning process. Grill bricks are also the best cleaning tools when you want to get rid of small food residues from your flat top. The best ones come with handles that make using the brick easier.

• Pour a cup of olive oil on a hot flat top grill
• Use the grill brick to scrub the surface of the flat top using circular motions until all the debris is removed.
• Scrape off the olive oil through the grease trough to get rid of it
• Pour a cup of soda water onto the hot flat top to remove any hardened grease
• Again, use the grill brick to scrub the surface in circular motions as you drain the remaining liquid through the grease trough.
• Pour half a cup of lemon juice/soda water mixture or the vinegar and water mix, onto the grill’s surface
• Rub the cleaning mixture off the surface using a clean grill rag until it gets a polished finish.

Conclusion

Cleaning your flat top grills comes with numerous benefits. It ensures your grilled food is clean from leftover debris and prolongs the lifespan of your grill.  Scrapping grease and food remnants as soon as you finish grilling ensures your grill is decontaminated and ready for use again. Also, regular cleaning helps to prevent the growth of molds and bacteria, especially if you do not use it regularly. It is also the perfect way of preventing rusting.

After cleaning, it is essential to season the flat top grill. It is the best way to prevent rusting and to create a non-stick surface on your flat top. This will make cleaning easier in the future. Seasoning is also done to avoid the buildup of debris and leftover food particles.

By investing in the right cleaning tools and products, you can ensure your flat top grill is clean at all times. The best part is that you can use readily available natural products in your home.