Rusty grills are unsightly, and consuming food made on them is risky to your health. When you prepare food on rusty grills, food becomes exposed to loose rust particles, causing you to consume iron oxide, which is harmful to your health when ingested frequently. Most grill gates will come in a coating to protect the underneath metal from rusting. However, when the grill is often used repeatedly, the coating will wear off, and eventually, the grill grates will rust. Different rust prevention tactics will prolong the protective layer. Unfortunately, inevitably, every grill will ultimately rust. Therefore, it is essential to know how to clean rusty grill grates. Show
How To Remove Rust From Grill GratesRust stains are stubborn and hard to clean. These step-by-step tips will help you remove the rust that has built up on your grill. 1. Check the Material of Your Grill gratesIt is the foremost step in cleaning your barbeque grill, as the type of material will determine the kind of cleaning equipment you are going to use to prevent causing further damage to the grates when getting rid of the rust. For instance, stainless steel, cast iron, and porcelain-coated grates will require different equipment due to their varying sensitivity. 2. Gather the Cleaning Equipment and ProductsAfter determining the material of your grill grates, you will now collect the cleaning equipment and products that are suitable for your grills. For instance, for sensitive porcelain and stainless steel, you will need a soft brush that will not graze their surfaces, causing tougher rust stains later. While rugged iron cast grills may require a wire brush to remove the rust adequately, this should not be a daily cleaning tool since a wire brush will destroy the grates when used frequently. A piece of aluminum foil will gently clean any grill grate surface without causing it any damage. Choose non-toxic and non-generic cleaning as these may expose your grilled food to harmful chemical residues. Some home products such as baking soda, lemon juice, soapy water, and vinegar can be used to clean rusty grill grates. However, they are usually time-consuming and may not adequately remove the rust. It is best to use non-toxic commercial rust removers such as Magica. 3. Clean the Rusty Grill GratesDetach the grates from the grill and place them on an even surface. Sprinkle some Magica on the grates, wait for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse thoroughly using water. Wipe the grates dry with a dry and oiled cloth. Magica is a non-generic rust remover that does not contain harmful chemical products. It instantly removes rust, leaving no harmful chemical traces behind. 4. Keep Your Grates Rust FreeIt is obvious that after cleaning, the grates will later gather some rust and will require you to constantly clean the rust, which is tedious and harmful to the grills. Clean the grills immediately after use, oil them, and tightly cover them with a well-fitting grill cover to avoid frequent rusting and prolong the life of your grill grates. Cleaning rusty grills can be a painstaking task that you will probably not enjoy doing. Using a fast-cleaning and safe product, commercial rust remover like Magica will ease the cleaning process and give you a better shine to your grill grates. Use the cleaning and care tips mentioned to keep you from incurring the cost of replacing the grill following extreme damage caused by rust. TheGrillingDad.com is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no added cost to you. We use our affiliate earnings to buy tasty snacks and new toys.
Are you trying to find to remove rust from your cast iron grates? You’re definitely in the right place! In this guide, you’ll learn:  All the ingredients are prepared—the meat skewered, the side dishes prepped, and the desserts baked and ready to go. We spend hours and hours of preparation, and everyone is waiting for the main event, the barbecue. And when it’s time to get up and grillin’, we stop only to find out that our cast iron grates are full of rust. Removing rust from our grates can be really annoying, especially when we’re eager to get grilling! As it happens, we know just the way to solve this dilemma in no time. Keep reading to know how we can properly care for our cast iron grates, how to prevent rust from forming, and most importantly, how to remove rust right now! Read More: Top 5 Best Grill Brushes For Cast Iron Grill Grates Table of ContentsWhat We Need to Know About Cast Iron GratesCast iron grills are known for their durability, and when properly cared for, they can even outlive most of the other sturdy appliances we have. When used continually, they can become non-stick like our cast iron pans. They leave beautiful grill marks on our meat, and they can retain high heat. Unlike stainless steel, cast iron grates are very resilient. We can brush, scrape, and also use different chemical substances, and it won’t even budge. However, they require regular cleaning, oiling, and general maintenance so that they can retain their quality. If a cast iron grate is not properly cleaned and stored with moisture inside, it will rust. So, the best way to avoid the forming of rust is to prevent it. Read More: Best Flat Top Grills (2022 Review) How To Prevent Rust From Cast Iron Gates?It is important that we clean the grates after use. How are we cleaning your cast iron grill grates? To clean rust off the grates after use:
After that,
Use The Secret Weapon
If the grill is still hot after cleaning, drop some vegetable oil on a clean cloth and wipe the grill with it—not too heavy, just enough to thinly coat it. If the grill is already cooled-off after cleaning, turn it on and run it until the temperature reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. It needs to reach high heat for the oil to polymerize into the cast iron. Applying vegetable oil to the grill is called ‘seasoning’. It is a process where the oil is used to bake the pores of the cast iron, therefore preventing it from rusting. So, now that we have learned that prevention is better than the cure, let’s get back to our main problem: how to remove the rust from our cast iron grates. Read More: How To Grill Frozen Burgers (3 Quick Steps) Supplies You’ll Need To Remove Rust From Iron GratesIt’s quite easy to clean the rust forming in our grates. However, it will take some time. In this process, we will need:
Now that’s everything prepared, let’s start getting rid of the rust! Read More: How To Clean A Flat Top Grill (4 Easy Steps) How to Remove Rust From Cast Iron Grates: (A 5-Step Guide)1. Wash the grates in warm, soapy water.2. Soak the grates in a vinegar and baking soda solution.3. Use an oven cleaner.4. Put it into an oven to dry.5. Re-seasoning the grates.This step-by-step guide on removing rust from cast iron depends on how much rust has formed on the cast iron grates. If the rust has already formed its way into the cast iron, we can always use an oven cleaner, which we will also discuss later on. Step 1: Wash the grates in warm, soapy water.Washing them before soaking them in a solution helps remove excess food and dirt from the grates, therefore making the vinegar/baking soda solution more effective. Use a steel brush to remove dirt that is stuck in between grates, or we can also use crumpled aluminum foil if we don’t have a steel brush. Step 2: Soak the grates in a vinegar and baking soda solution.Prepare the solution by combining a bottle of vinegar and a cup of baking soda and letting the grates soak there for an hour or overnight, depending on the rust formation. It may even take days if the rust is very bad. This process allows the solution to penetrate and soften up the rust. After soaking, the rust should now easily come off when we use a steel brush or steel wool. Step 3: Use an oven cleaner.When the rust formation on our cast-iron grates is at its worst and none of the processes above worked, we can always opt to use an oven cleaner. It is a chemical that will provide the deepest clean for our grates. However, since it’s a chemical, we must use precautionary measures when handling it. Here’s how to use an oven cleaner effectively:
Step 4: Put it into an oven to dry.It is very important not to leave any moisture on the cast-iron grates to prevent the building of rust, so we have to make sure that they are dry before we store them again. The most effective way of drying them is by putting them inside an oven on low heat. Step 5: Re-seasoning the grates.Now that our grates are back to their clean state, reseasoning them again will be the last step. To do this, we must get our grills working and heated to 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Apply vegetable oil thinly in the grates using a cloth; then put them inside the grill. After every 20-30 minutes, take them out, re-apply the oil, and continue the steps until the cast-iron grates are black and shiny again. Read More: Best Wood For Smoking Chicken (2022 Review) Learn More About GrillingIf you want to learn more about grilling, check out these other helpful resources!
How to Drain Hamburger Meat (3 Easy Methods)How Much Hamburger Meat Per Person?(For Hamburgers, Meatballs, and More)How Long Can Cooked Hamburger Sit Out? (And How To Tell if it’s Bad)5 Easy Ways How to Make Hamburger Patties Stick TogetherHow to Clean a Grill Without a Brush (4 Easy Methods)Beef Wellington Recipe (Easy Method)Search Shawn HillHey, I'm Shawn and I run this site. With a wife and 7 kids, I get most of my grilling practice from feeding my own family. I'm here to help you learn more about grilling, smoking, and backyard BBQ! With almost a decade of manning the grill and helping over 25,000 aspiring grill masters, you're in great hands! I've tried just about every type of grill, accessory, and gadget you can imagine. Because of that, I am here to help guide you to the best of the best and help you save time and money by avoiding the junk. About The Grilling DadYou’ve got grilling questions. We’ve got the best grilling answers from a network of seasoned grilling pros. Our team has spent hundreds of hours researching products. Learn more about why you can trust our recommendations. Does porcelain coated cast iron rust?Porcelain-coated steel or cast iron is a good choice, but the coating does have a nasty habit of chipping away. This can expose the metal underneath to moisture and may result in a rusty surface over time. This is especially true of coated cast iron, though coated steel can develop problems as well.
Why do porcelain grill grates rust?Porcelain grill grates hold heat well and are rust-resistant, but you want to keep them cleaned and cared for. Any chips or scrapes in the porcelain will expose the metal underneath and allow water to seep in, which can create rust. So when cooking with metal tools be careful not to scrape or nick the grates.
Do I need to season porcelain coated cast iron grill grates?Since these grates have a porcelain enamel coating on them they will never need to be seasoned. The coating is baked on during the manufacturing process at extremely high temperatures resulting in a very durable and non-stick cooking surface.
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Rust on porcelain-coated cast iron grill grates
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