How to Clean Grill Mats – The Easy way 2022

Grill mats are a great way to make any grill cooking surface cleaner, and more even too. Many people won’t start grilling with meat until they clean their grill. It’s out of fear that the meat will stick, or the grill will be unevenly cooked.

Grill mat is a thin plastic sheet that fits right on top of any type of grill grates.  In doing so, it eliminates the need to clean your whole grill between each session with soap or water, and lets you keep cooking without washing off all your previous efforts.

It’s not a pan for your food, so you can’t wash them between uses. It does effectively keep the grill clean by trapping everything even after superficial cleaning, or wiping away charred bits and pieces before or during cooking.

What are Grill Mats Used for?

Grill mat is a great way to cook anything that might fall through to the grill grates, or even better to keep your food from sticking to them. You can cook stuff like vegetables, dessert without worrying about whether or not your food will be stuck when it’s finished cooking.

One of the most common uses for Grill mat is probably grilling fish, but anything that needs a little more time in contact with heat and some oil, such as steak.

How to Use Grill Mats?

Grill mat can be used on any type of grill that has grates that heat up on the bottom of the cooking surface. This means they’ll work on charcoal and gas grills, and smokers too. However, you do need to make sure your grill’s grates are as clean as possible before you put them on.

Most people like to use a wire brush, but if your grill doesn’t have one, or it’s too small to reach all the areas well, you could make a paste of water and baking soda and scrub the grates with that.

Once you’ve done this (or not) and cleaned off any residue, it’s time to put them on. Simply set your grill mats right on top of the built-in grates, and that’s all there is to it.

10 WAYS TO CLEAN GRILL MATS:

1) The simplest and most efficient way to clean your grill mat is in the sink or shower when you’re cleaning yourself. Just rinse them with water and wipe them dry, then put them away for next time. This works whether it’s a brand new mat or one that already has some built up grates on it from cooking.

2) A second way to clean your mat is to scrape it with a spatula, or a grill scraper if you have one. Scrape the mat off of the grates and into a trash bag, then throw it away when you get home. You can also do this immediately after use. Just pick up your mat from the grates and scrape it all off into the trash. It’s best to do this when it’s still fairly warm, but if you can’t, just go ahead and pour some water over it too before taking it inside.

3) If that doesn’t work, or your mat is looking pretty bad, you can also use a scouring pad to scrub it. Just pour some warm water on the mat and go to town with a scouring pad or brush. You can use the same baking soda paste here if you want to add extra cleaning power, but you might end up wasting some water since it does take a while for the wash to get through all of that plastic.

4) Sometimes clean water just isn’t enough to get your mat clean. To avoid using harsh chemicals, you can try boiling it instead. Put the grill mat in a pot of cold water and bring it to a boil. Let it cook for about five minutes, then take it out and drain the water before letting the mat air dry or rinsing with cold water. This is a good idea if your mat still has some residue or other stubborn buildup on it from previous uses.

5) A spray bottle filled with water and dish soap can also get your mat pretty clean without any harsh chemicals necessary. Just add a little bit of liquid soap to the sprayer, fill it up with warm water, and give it a few quick squirts on your mat. Then use either a grill scraper or stiff-bristled brush to take care of the grates and rinse everything off with water.

6) You can also buy special mats to clean all sorts of stuff, including your grill mat. A heavy-duty grill brush like this one is specifically designed to scrape off built up gunk, but it can also work on your mat if you want something more gentle than scouring pads. Just make sure the bristles are made of plastic or nylon, not metal. Metal will tear into the mat and ruin it before long.

7) You can also use a hand-held steam cleaner if you have one around the house. These are good for getting rid of mildew or soap scum in your bathroom, but they also work on grill mats. Just put some water in the machine and let it heat up till it’s really hot before attaching the nozzle to the hose. Then, holding the nozzle a few inches away from your mat, give it a quick blast of steam. The water should loosen up all of the gunk on the mat before evaporating into steam that will rise off of it.

8) Another way to clean your grill mats is with some warm vinegar and salt. Just dump some white distilled vinegar into a bucket of hot water, then add a bit of salt to the mix. Dip your mat into the vinegar and water, then scrub it with a brush or scouring pad if necessary. Wait for a few minutes before rinsing it off with warm water and hanging it out to dry.

9) You can also try some other household products like dish soap or baking soda to clean your mat. Mix a few tablespoons of liquid dish soap with water in a sprayer, then give it a quick spritz before scrubbing away any built up gunk you might have. If that doesn’t do the trick, just double down and add two tablespoons of baking soda to the sprayer. Then give it another quick spritz and scrub away. Just remember that both of these will take a bit more effort than just plain water, so you might as well stick with those if your mat is really dirty.

10) If all else fails, you can always buy a brand new grill mat to replace your old one. They usually cost about the same as a large pack of cigarettes, so it’s not too expensive to get a few extra mats around. With all the different mats out there, you’ll probably find something that works for you, whether it’s an anti-stick mat or a heavy duty grill pad. There are also different colors available if you don’t just want something black.

I HOPE THIS HELPED YOU!

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