Household Ammonia. Some people have used it for household cleaning for years and won’t use anything else. It works wonders when used to clean stove burners, ovens and BBQ grills. What makes cleaning with household ammonia so wonderful? It does all the dirty work for you! (pun intended).
I love using ammonia to clean because it is inexpensive, saves me time, money and effort. However, not everyone appreciates the magical cleaning powers of ammonia the way I do.
So, this post is for anyone who is looking for a non-ammonia method for cleaning your BBQ grill.
When I did my post about how to clean your BBQ grill with ammonia, I only cleaned on half of the grill, so I could take a before and after picture. I got busy and forgot to clean the half that I left uncleaned for the before picture. Oops!
But as it turns out, that was a blessing in disguise because now I can use it to try this non-ammonia cleaning method!
Its quite simple actually. Place your BBQ grill on the top rack in your oven and place a cookie sheet or foil on the rack below your BBQ grill to catch any of the yucky stuff that might fall through. Set your oven to 500 degrees and let it “cook itself clean” for one hour. Let it cool off before handling.
Here is the trade off from the ammonia method – instead of the strong odor of ammonia, you might get a smoky kitchen. You can avoid most of the smoke by opening a few windows and turning the fan on over your stove. Problem solved!
Once your grill has cooled, you will notice it looks very similar to the way it looked before you put it in. Don’t be fooled. What was crusted on gook has now become ash, and most of it can easily be brushed off. After you brush off the ash, give your grill a quick wash off with some Dawn dish detergent and hot water.
Here is how my grill looks after cleaning. Don’t judge my old BBQ too harshly! The light spots you see are wear and tear, pretty obvious it’s time for us to upgrade to a new grill! Sadly this is the cleanest my BBQ grill has been in years!
I had a few very stubborn areas that required a small amount of elbow grease. Other than the stubborn spots, this method worked almost as well as well as the ammonia method. So if you have adverse feelings towards using ammonia to clean your BBQ grills, I just have to tell ya that……
This Pin ROCKS!
Check out how to clean your oven, stove burners and yes BBQ grills with ammonia.
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Tracy, I’ve long cleaned cast iron in my self-cleaning oven but never barbeque grills. I want to add one word of caution to doing that: Stainless steel is never supposed to be put into an oven for self-cleaning as it does something to the metal. I wish I could do that as I have heavy, heavy stainless steel grates on my indoor Wolf grill which are a bear to clean. Even the surrounding areas of that grill have burnt-on grease which I’m unable to remove–it’s stainless as well. I haven’t had time to try the ammonia method as yet but I’m hoping that will do the trick. When my husband bought me a Big Green Egg for Christmas, he got a cast iron grate so that it could be cleaned in the oven.
Ann
Oven cleaning is accomplished at high temperatures, 500 degrees. Stainless steel grates operate often at BBQ grill temperatures in excess of 600 degrees. I don’t see how oven temps of 500 degrees would affect SS grates while on “clean mode”. Concerned about the 1 cup of left over ammonia used to clean the grate in the plastic bag? After removing the grate from the bag, dilute the ammonia in the plastic bag with water, and use to fertilize your flowers or vegetables.
Ann, You can use Easy Off oven cleaner. The strong one in the yellow can. Spray everything and let it sit overnight. You can then put the grates in the bathtub and fill it with hot water and spic and span. The rest of it I hose down and use a bucket of hot water and a rag. Not a lot of elbow grease needed if you let it sit long enough. Make sure you use gloves and don’t breath the fumes. It usually takes me close to two cans of this stuff, but the grill always comes out grate ( pun intended)! I did this with a 56 chevy on all the chrome, which is stainless steel! People are always amazed when they see the old chrome so shiny and looking new.
I have a stainless gas stove top and this is the absolute best stuff I have ever found. Virtually no scrubbing … I just spray it on and let it sit for a while … great stuff — https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Dishwasher-Pre–Treatment-12-8oz/dp/B006K3Y44O/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1464819072&sr=8-6&keywords=dawn+power+dissolver
I pinned it and forwarded the link to my husband (who is our grill master). 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I’m visiting today from Thursday’s Favorite Things.
I’m not sure which way I like better! I may have to try both the ammonia and non ammonia way! Thanks for another helpful Pin test! =D
Hey Lillian,
If I had to choose between the two….it would be the ammonia method for me. Sure nice to know that we have multiple options! Happy grilling! Tracy – The Middle Child
What a great idea! And what a difference it makes. Thanks so much for the great tip. Have a great weekend!
Brooke,
You are welcome! I love that we can find multiple options for our readers. This is one of the rare occasions where everyone is happy! Have a great week. Tracy – The Middle Child
Well that certainly looks easy. The results look fantastic. Thanks so much for linking up at the Real Family Fun link party! Hope to see you next week.
KC
This is a great tip. Thanks so much. We would love to have you share this at our link party. Here is the link
https://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/06/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop.html
Hope to see you there.
Debi and Charly
Debi and Charly,
OK, just went to your site and joined the link party. Thanks for the invite and see ya next week! Tracy – The Middle Child
Wouldn’t leaving it the grill and hiking up the heat to 500′ do the samething?
Julie,
I thought the same thing, but for some reason the oven works better! Give a try and see what you think. Tracy – The Middle Child
Does anyone know how to get aluminum foil off the bottom of the oven?
Oven cleaning is accomplished at high temperatures, 500 degrees. Stainless steel grates operate often at BBQ grill temperatures in excess of 600 degrees. I don’t see how oven temps of 500 degrees would affect SS grates while on “clean mode”. Concerned about the 1 cup of left over ammonia used to clean the grate in the plastic bag? After removing the grate from the bag, dilute the ammonia in the plastic bag with water, and use to fertilize your flowers or vegetables.
I like this method. Can I just use the self cleaning mode? The stove and the oven in my house are separate so the hood isn’t near the oven. I’d have a very smoky kitchen without.
Vincent,
Thanks! So glad you liked this post, hope you have a great day! Tracy
I took this idea and re-cooked (boiled) my oven burners (enamel kind) in a pot of boiling water. This did it and saved me from scrubbing all my free time away. THANK YOU. The ammonia trick wasn’t working for me.
Great to hear that boiling your burners worked so well for you. Thanks so much for following us and leaving your comment! Tracy