The 4 best grill cleaners, tested and reviewed

When the weather cooperates and you’re cooking meals on the grill, it can be such a pleasure … until you have to clean the grates when they’re loaded with oily or sticky sauces and burned bits of food. If you’ve scraped them down with a grill brush and you need more help getting the job done, it’s time to try a cleaning product that can give you a leg up on the crud. Rather than let the grates languish for weeks, you can enlist the help of one of the best grill cleaners of 2025.

As a culinary school graduate, kitchen gear expert and mom of two, I cook a lot, and if there’s a grill available, I’ll use it, but I don’t relish the idea of cleaning up. I get lazy once the meal is cooked and we’ve sat down to eat and enjoy each other’s company. This is where the best grill cleaners come in — they make getting stubborn food and grease off the grates faster and easier, even when you let them go for days or weeks. After considering dozens of cleaners, I narrowed the testing pool to eight popular options and put them to work on some dauntingly dirty grates.

Table of contents

Best grill cleaners of 2025

Dawn

Pros

• Easy to apply
• Can be used for many other household cleaning tasks
• Refillable

Cons

• Strong scent

$8 at Amazon

Goo Gone

Pros

• Foam clings to grates
• Dissolves grease and grime
• Biodegradable, food-safe formula

Cons

• Not safe for use on aluminum or faux stainless steel

$10 at Amazon

Iberia

Pros

• All-natural
• Common pantry item
• Affordable

Cons

• You need a spray bottle to use it
• Grill brush is needed to scrape off stubborn bits

$13 at Amazon

Carbona

Pros

• Hands-off cleaning system
• Includes disposable gloves
• Works on oven racks, too

Cons

• Single-use product
• High-pressure hose may be needed

$12 at Amazon

Lisa Schweitzer/Yahoo

best grill brush in our testing earlier this year.

I liked the scraper, which has helpful notches at the corners, for my initial pass at cleaning the grates. And I really appreciated the angle of the rows of bristles for reaching all the grime on top of and between the grates with less elbow grease than I thought I’d have to use. 

This, in conjunction with a cleaning solution, is a great addition to your grill maintenance arsenal.

Pros

• Reasonably priced
• Works well on a hot grill
• Long handle

Cons

• The brush itself will need cleaning periodically

$22 at Amazon

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How to choose a grill cleaner

My time spent testing grill cleaners yielded these considerations to keep in mind when you’re shopping.

Format: Spray (both aerosol and non-aerosol), foam and liquids are just a few of the grill cleaners on the market. Wipes are also an option, though we didn’t include them in this testing pool. And if you’re sensitive to strong scents, know that some products are more heavily fragranced than others.

Compatibility: Always read product labels to ensure that a cleaner works on your type of grates, whether they’re cast iron, stainless steel or ceramic. Never assume a grate cleaner is also suitable for the exterior of the grill, which often requires a cleaning product specifically formulated for stainless steel.

Value: This depends on how often you’ll use a grill cleaner. If it’s weekly, you’ll want a product that’s efficient and not too expensive. If you’re doing an end-of-season cleanup, this might be the time to splurge on a deep-cleaning kit that you leave to soak overnight. Or, you can make use of pantry items like vinegar and baking soda that you have on hand year-round.

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How we tested grill cleaners

After reviewing each cleaner’s directions, I noted how it was meant to be used — whether on warm or cold grates and what other supplies were needed (gloves, paper towel, sponge, etc.). Then I dirtied up uncleaned grates from both charcoal and gas grills with sticky, sauce-covered meats that I cooked until they formed a harden crusted on them. Finally, I tested each cleaner according to package directions, using a grill brush and scraper to remove as much debris as possible.

To rank on our list, the cleaners had to excel in the following test:

• “Gettin’ saucy” test: I slathered pork ribs and chicken drumsticks with layers of barbecue sauce and let them cook on both a gas and a charcoal grill, periodically basting them with more sauce. Then I cleaned the grates as instructed. I noted if it took a particularly long time and a lot of effort to cut through the mess.

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Other grill cleaners we tested

Parker & Bailey BBQ Grill Cleaner ($16): Though it’s sold as a grill cleaner, it falls short when it comes to the grates. The nozzle delivers a narrow stream that makes even coverage tricky, and the liquid slides right off the metal. Where it does shine is as an all-purpose spray for countertops, stainless steel and tile. At $16 for 24 ounces, though, it’s on the spendy side.

Weber Grill Grate Cleaner and Degreaser ($11): Of all the non-foaming sprays, the Weber was the best, and rightfully so. The maker of one of our best-tested grills should produce a product that dovetails with its grates. I love that the USDA-approved formula is unscented, non-flammable and non-corrosive and designed to be gentle on skin (read: no gloves required). Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best at dissolving major debris.

Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner ($9 for a pack of 3): This product may be inexpensive, but it performed more like a general household cleaning spray and wasn’t particularly effective at tackling the crustiest grill grates.

Easy-Off Barbecue Grill Cleaner ($9): I was skeptical of an aerosol cleaner, but thought back to the old Easy-Off oven cleaner commercials, which always featured a happy woman clearing every bit of grime away with a simple wipe of a sponge. Not so with the grate cleaner. It didn’t foam up the way I expected it to, and the results were just OK.

Kona/Safe Clean Grill Cleaner Spray ($17): This liquid-y spray was hard to target at the grates because the nozzle delivered a more concentrated stream. It was pleasantly unscented, which for me was a huge win, but it was not very effective at clearing away dirt and grime. I let it sit on the grates for more than ten minutes before brushing and hosing off, and the grates were still in need of TLC.

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FAQs

What’s the best way to clean a grill?

There are several methods for getting a grill gleaming, but if you’re comfortable with cleaning it while it’s hot, Steven Raichlen, author of The Barbecue! Bible cookbook series suggests you “heat the grill as high as it will go, then brush it clean. Let it cool a little, then oil the grate with a tightly folded paper towel dipped in vegetable oil and drawn across … with tongs.”

As for cleaning a cold grill, you can remove the grates and place them on newspaper or a garbage bag to minimize the mess. Then spray or soak them with your preferred cleaning solution, according to the package directions. Before rinsing, if necessary, use a metal-bristle brush and scraper to loosen any remaining debris.

How often should I clean my grill grates?

The answer depends on how much you use the grill and how well you clean it on a regular basis. If you use it all week without doing much cleanup, then you’re going to want to degrease and scrape away burnt-on food more than once a season. If you routinely clean the grates after most grill sessions, you can probably wait until the end of the season and do a deep clean before closing it up for the winter.

Can I put grill grates in the dishwasher?

Like most pots and pans, even if a brand says its grates are dishwasher-safe, we would not recommend it. You run the risk of them developing rust, and you will certainly prolong their lifespan by hand-washing them.

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Meet the experts

• Steven Raichlen, TV host and author, The Barbecue! Bible cookbook series

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We received complimentary samples of some products and purchased others ourselves, but we reviewed all products using the same objective criteria.

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