The 6 Biggest Mistakes People Make While Grilling—And How to Fix Them, According to Experts
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Key Takeaways
- Always start with a clean grill to ensure proper searing, avoid off-flavors, and create those signature grill marks without sticking or tearing your food.
- Avoid overcrowding and overusing high heat—give your food space to cook evenly and use lower temperatures for larger or delicate items to prevent burning or drying out.
- For safety and consistent cooking, use separate utensils for raw and cooked meat, and resist opening the grill too often to maintain steady heat and avoid uneven results.
With summer in full swing, it’s time to fire up the grill! Whether you’re in the mood for steak, potatoes, or any one of your go-to barbecue recipes, there are so many foods you can prepare on the grill. The cooking method is also relatively straightforward, though it’s common to make certain mistakes while grilling. To ensure your grill recipes are perfect, take note of the following mistakes you should never make while grilling (and what to do instead) according to experts.
- Michal Handal, chef at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City
- Samuel-Drake Jones, grilling and live-fire cooking expert, and executive chef of Hudson VU in New York City
- Ashley Lonsdale, chef-in-residence at ButcherBox, a meat delivery subscription service
Not Cleaning the Grill
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Understandably, cleaning the grill after every cooking session can feel like a daunting task. But if you want your dish to be a success, it’s worth taking the time to clean your appliance. “When a grill has not been properly cleaned after a previous use, food is likely to stick or tear on the grates”, says Michael Handal, chef at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. Also, Handal notes that “stuff” on the grill is actually charred remnants of food, which is both unsanitary and unsafe. This charred material will transfer to new food placed on the grill, accompanied by an acrid and burned taste. Gross!
“Ultimately, without a smooth and clean surface, grilled food will not sear properly,” Handal explains. “It also won’t pick up the attractive grill marks commonly associated with properly grilled food,” he adds. For the best results, Handal suggests thoroughly cleaning your grill either once you’re done cooking with the appliance, or before a new grilling session.
Grilling Without Preheating
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Much like preheating an oven before baking or roasting, preheating the grill is a crucial step, notes Handal. “Without preheating, there’s a much greater chance of food sticking to a cold grill,” he explains. As a result, the food will not fully sear and caramelize. To properly preheat a grill, choose the appropriate setting for your food, then allow 20 minutes for the grill to heat, advises Handal.
Overcrowding the Grill
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If you’re cooking for a crowd, it can be tempting to fill the grill as much as possible. But this is a grilling mistake, experts say. “Overcrowding a grill can unintentionally steam food, because there’s not enough room for moisture to escape,” explains Ashley Lonsdale, chef-in-residence at ButcherBox. This can lead to soggy (rather than crispy) textures in your food, notes Samuel-Drake Jones, a grilling and live-fire cooking expert and executive chef at Hudson VU in New York City. What’s more, “overcrowding can reduce the temperature of the grill, which can increase cooking time and make it difficult to get a good sear,” Jones adds.
Instead, Jones recommends leaving between a half to one inch between items so heat can circulate properly. “Work in batches—it’s better to cook in stages and serve food hot than cook everything together and compromise quality,” he shares.
If you’re worried about grilled food getting cold when cooking in batches, Lonsdale suggests setting your home oven to a very low temperature and moving finished grilled foods, such as vegetables, inside to keep warm as you finish cooking.
Cooking Everything on High Heat
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“High heat has its place, like when searing a steak, but using it to grill everything often leads to problems,” explains Jones. First, high temperatures can burn the outside of food before the inside cooks through, resulting in an unevenly cooked dish. It can also cause a rapid loss of moisture, making the food dry or tough, according to Jones. “Plus, high temperatures may lead to inconsistent results (especially when cooking delicate foods like fish) and excessive smoke and flare-ups due to fat dripping into the grill,” Jones says.
With that in mind, some foods are best cooked low and slow. Examples include “large pieces of meat and proteins with a lot of connective tissue, such as pork shoulder, brisket, and ribs,” says Lonsdale. The reason? “Connective tissue needs a more extended period of cooking time to break down and become tender,” Lonsdale adds.
Using the Same Utensils for Raw and Cooked Meat
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While it’s more convenient to use the same tongs to handle raw and cooked meat, it’s a serious food safety risk. Here’s why: If you use tongs to place raw chicken on the grill, the tongs will be covered in raw chicken juices. These juices may contain sickness-causing bacteria, including salmonella. Then, if you use the same pair of tongs to flip the chicken, the raw chicken juices might transfer to the cooked food, which may not be heated enough to kill said bacteria, according to Handal. “The best practice is to use one set of tongs for raw food, and a clean set for the food being cooked,” Handal advises. Additionally, it’s helpful to remove any plates, platters, or utensils that have touched the raw food from the grilling area once the raw food is on the grill, he notes.
Opening the Grill Too Often
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When you’re cooking on a new grill, it can take some time to understand how it cooks specific foods. With that said, it can be tempting to frequently check on your meal, but this is a big grilling mistake. “Opening the grill during the cooking process will cause the grill to lose ambient heat and can cool the surface of the grill grates,” explains Handal. This may lengthen the overall cooking time, or lead to unevenly cooked foods. With time and experience, you’ll be able to determine how often you should open the grill—but it’s also worth practicing patience.
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