Grilling is, without a doubt, one of the best parts of summer. What’s not so fun is cleaning all the stuck bits of food off of your grill every evening when you’re done. It can turn a quick dinner outside into a boring chore. We have the solution. Instead of busting out the wire brush and chemical cleansers next time you need to clean your grill, use a potato to get your grill shiny and new again.
How Using a Potato Can Give You a Clean Grill
Why a potato? Potatoes are excellent for cleaning, thanks to their high starch content. In addition, potatoes tend to be fairly bland. Using a strong-tasting onion or using heavy chemical-laden cleansers can give your food a distinctive (and unpleasant) aftertaste. Potatoes remove the taste of burnt-on food without affecting the taste of your future grilling endeavors. Cleaning experts report that the oxalic acid in potatoes help cut through tough-to-clean substances.
How to Use a Potato to Clean Your Grill
It’s time to grill, but your grill still bears the evidence of the last time you cooked out. Take care of it quickly and easily with a potato. You may want to use a Russet potato (also known as a baking potato or an Idaho potato), since these have the highest starch content.
Cut the potato in half length-wise to give yourself the most coverage on your grill. Stick a fork into the skin side of the potato, making sure it is wedged in deeply enough so that the potato does not slide off the fork.
Heat the grill as hot as you can get it for several minutes. Though this trick can work on regular food, it works best with completely burnt food remains. Letting the grill heat up and cook through the remaining food can make this super quick.
Once the food is cooked off, carefully rub the potato cut-side down on the grill, running it over all of the burnt food. As the potato starts to sizzle and release its juices, the burnt food should slide right off the grill rack and leave you with a sparkling new grill.
How Often to Clean Your Grill
The best part of using a potato on your grill is that it helps make future grilling days easier. The starch in the potato coats the grill plate in addition to cleaning off food bits. Every time you finish grilling, simply heat up your grill to high and wipe off the grill plate with your potato.
If you find yourself without an extra potato when you grill, no worries. Many grilling pros use onions in the same way. Whichever route you decide to go, you’re helping your family skip the side effects that come with chemical cleansers.
Get more out of your summer with this quick and easy grill cleaning tip. Once you try this out, don’t be surprised if you start looking for excuses to use your grill.
